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Josephine turned to Cecilia, seeming to perk up. “Yes…I mean, that could work.”
“The Spartan Guard haven’t exactly been unscathed in all this.” Cecilia sounded defensive. One of her husbands had been captain of the Spartan Guard when the previous fleet admiral had died. One of Mateo’s best friends had been a traitor within the guard, and Alicia’s lover.
Josephine seemed to deflate. “That’s true.”
“Why do I feel like you have more to say?” Karl asked the Irishwoman.
Josephine pointed to the open book. Hugo could see just enough to tell it was a map of Europe. “If you go back to the ninth century, you have the kingdom of Kievan Rus’. It’s where parts of Russia, the Ukraine, and Belarus are now.”
Nyx straightened. Hugo had never actually figured out which territory she was from, but from her accent and name, he knew she had to be Eastern European. The northern parts of Eastern Europe, including half of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and sections of Belarus, were all in the Masters’ Admiralty territory of Bohemia. The southern part of Eastern Europe mostly belonged to the territory of Hungary, though everything that bordered the Black Sea was in Ottoman.
“You think it is someone from one of those territories?” Nyx asked softly.
“Nyx, where are you, right now?” James’s question was sharp, urgent.
“Antalya,” she replied.
“In Turkey?” Karl asked. “Are you with Grigoris?”
Nyx didn’t reply.
“Maybe that is it?” Josephine once more sounded hopeful, the emotion completely at odds with everyone else’s grim expressions.
“Josephine,” James barked. “Enough. What aren’t you telling us?”
She seemed to deflate. “Kievan Rus’ was the name of the medieval state. The people who founded Kievan Rus’ were the Varangians, but that’s not what they called themselves. It was the name given to them by the Greeks and Rus’ people.”
“So who were they?” Cecilia asked.
Josephine looked around, then whispered. “The Varangians were Vikings.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Hugo’s whole body went cold. “Eric. The mastermind is Eric.”
Josephine shook her head. “No. That’s why I didn’t want to tell you. I know him. It’s not him.”
“He’s smart. Smart enough to manipulate the situation so that he was the only possible person to become the new fleet admiral,” Karl said.
Josephine was pale, shaken. “You can’t think it’s really him.”
“I don’t…don’t,” Karl paused before quietly adding, “want to.”
“Sylvia,” Hugo breathed. “Sylvia is with him right now.”
Everyone went still.
“I’m calling Arthur. He and the knights, including Lancelot, can be there in two hours. Wait, fuck, the airport is closed.” James was stabbing at his phone.
“It’s not Eric!” Josephine yelled. “Everyone stop. It’s not him. I know him!”
“I agree,” Cecilia said. “It’s not the Fleet Admiral.”
“Sylvia is with him right now,” Hugo repeated.
“Perhaps there’s another traitor in the Spartan Guard,” Nyx said.
“I thought Charlotta cleaned house after Mateo left and Derrick was killed,” James said.
