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Annie looked at Xavier and threw her hands up, frustrated about his seemingly pointless questions.“Why does that matter?”

Xavier shrugged.“Just curious.”

“Not all the admirals,” Colum confirmed.“As the archivist, I was invited to attend.Franco and I decided to introduce our idea of a joint archive at the first meeting of the Trinity Council.”

“A joint archive is a good idea,” Xavier said.

“It’s a grand idea, but one of the admirals wasn’t happy about the fact that Franco is married to the Grand Master, while I technically don’t have to answer to the fleet admiral.The admiral was worried the Trinity Masters would have better access through Franco than any of our admirals would, since—in my role as archivist—I’m exempt from the trinity marriage.”

“Wait.”Xavier leaned forward, placing his hand on Colum’s shoulder.“You’re a member, but don’t have to get married?”

Colum nodded.“That was the old rule.I misspoke.Iwasexempt from the trinity marriage.In order to convince the council to move forward with the joint archive, I had to agree to be placed in a trinity marriage, and my marriage had to be to an admiral within the Masters’ Admiralty.”

Xavier’s grip on Colum’s shoulder tightened.“An admiral?”

“Eric assigned me to a trinity with Sarah Ritter, a knight from Germany, and…” Colum swallowed hard.“Nikolett Varda, the admiral of Hungary.”

“Youhaveto be married to an admiral?”Xavier repeated as he leaned back, his brows furrowed, though Annie couldn’t tell if he was angry or frustrated.

“So why haven’t you met with your new spouses?”Annie asked.“And why do you think you’ll never have sex again?”

“Eric knew I didn’t want to be married, so he basically arranged an in-name-only marriage.Sarah is a knight in Germany, and I’m not really sure how this will impact her.Maybe she’ll stay there.Or become a knight in Hungary.She won’t be moving to Dublin.Nikolett is the admiral of a big, complicated territory.She’ll have to remain in her territory.I’m tied to the archive and Dublin…the marriage satisfied the requirement without forcing any of us out of our positions.”

Annie studied Colum.“If this Sarah is a knight, she should move to Dublin and protect you and the archive.”The idea of the other woman moving in with Colum and being his wife made Annie feel sick, but she was trying to look at this from a purely logical point of view, no emotions.

Colum’s eyes went wide.“What?No… Is she going to want to do that?”He sounded utterly panicked.

“Why wouldn’t she?And why is it you think you’re never going to have sex again?”

“Sarah will want, need, to protect a territory.”Colum sounded like he was trying to convince himself as much as them.“And with Nikolett…there’s a bigger problem.”

Xavier frowned.“What’s that?”

“Eric is in love with Nikolett.”

“What?!”Xavier cried out, rearing upright.“The fleet admiral is in love with the admiral of Hungary?How do you know this?”

Colum shrugged.“He told me.Well, not in so many words, I suppose, but I know him well enough to know he’s mad about Nikolett.”

“Eric, Nikolett,” Xavier repeated, staring at Colum.“You seem to know the fleet admiral quite well.”

Colum nodded, but in true Colum fashion, he didn’t pick up on the social cue to expound, so Annie addressed Xavier’s confusion.

“Colum is basically Eric’s adopted brother.They’ve known each other for a very long time,” she explained.“Since before Eric became fleet admiral and Colum a member.”

Colum nodded.“Right enough.”

While Xavier’s confusion had been dealt with, hers had not.“I don’t understand why Eric would put you in a trinity marriage with the woman he loves,” Annie said, hoping he’d offer her some clarity.

Xavier’s brows rose.“Because the admiral of Hungary is the only currently unmarried admiral.”

Colum nodded.“Yes.Nikolett was the only option.”

Annie shook her head.“What if there had been no unmarried admirals?There’s never only one option.Not really.”

“Fair enough like,” Colum said.“But…Eric’s been married before.Both of his wives died, and he grieved for a long time.He won’t let himself be with anyone else, convinced that bad things happen to women he cares for.”Colum looked away, his gaze focused on the night sky.It looked like Eric wasn’t the only one grieving.Had Colum known Eric’s wives?

“By putting me in a marriage with Nikolett, Eric was keeping me from having to, well…” Colum rubbed his temple.“I told you.I’m not good at relationships.This way, I can maintain my solitary life and…”