Hidden Devotion (Trinity Masters #5)(4)

“Juliette, thank you for coming back so quickly. I hope it didn’t cause too much trouble.” Harrison was smiling slightly, the sort of uncomfortable expression he’d always worn around her.

She remembered when she was little wanting nothing more than to spend time with her handsome older brother, but their age difference was too large for them to have been companions. Later she’d realized that there had been tension in their parents’ trinity, a tension she hadn’t understood, but which Harrison had been all too aware of. Their disparate knowledge, along with the twenty-year age gap, meant they had never been close.

“I wasn’t going to solve Eastern Europe’s human trafficking problem in the next four days.”

“Is that what you were working on?” He smiled, like a parent encouraging a child to report on their day.

“As if you didn’t know.”

Harrison sat back, smile fading. Michael put a hand on his arm.

Juliette placed her hands gently on the table, each movement slow and meticulous. “Tell me what you did, and what happens next.”

Price seemed slightly taken aback, but then rubbed his lips, as if hiding a smile. She stared at him coolly, and Price dropped his hand. “I almost forgot you’re an Adams,” he said.

There was a moment of silence, during which the tension ratcheted up, her brother and his councilors seeming to realize that she was not going to meekly follow their orders.

Harrison cleared his throat then started talking. More had happened in the last month than she knew. Harrison’s failure to marry and his decision to be with Alexis no matter the cost was only part of the story, and Juliette was horrified to hear about the death threats he’d received. At the same time his councilors had been confronting him about his failure to marry and relationship with a non-Trinity Masters’ woman, he’d been receiving threats from an unknown enemy, who had first struck at more vulnerable members of the Trinity Masters. Though he had eventually married, his disregard for the rules meant he couldn’t keep his position. Juliette didn’t say it, but she found it romantic that Harrison had risked so much to be with the woman he loved. Losing his position as Grand Master was light punishment.

When he was done, Juliette leaned back, sorting through her questions to find the most important one. “What does everyone know?”

“About the threats? Only a handful of people are aware. About your brother stepping down?” Price was the one who responded. “Nothing.”

“Usually when there’s a new Grand Master it means the old one has died, and there’s usually some sort of ceremony acknowledging the death.” At the first event after her father had died, Harrison had stood silent and unmoving before the membership, a lit black candle in one hand. He’d extinguished it before addressing the crowd. “It seems wrong to light a candle when you’re not dead.”

“The Winter Gala is coming up. Perhaps you could make an announcement about the former Grand Master stepping down.”

“An announcement?” Juliette raised her brows. An announcement was both too informal and too ordinary for something like this.

“What happens if we don’t say anything?” Michael asked.

“You mean don’t acknowledge it?” Price shook his head. “The Grand Master’s identity is unknown, but Harrison’s height and voice are recognizable.”

“If it’s clear that there’s been a change in leadership, but no death, people will wonder what happened. They’ll wonder if there was a problem.”

“You want to make this seem voluntary?” Juliette asked.

“Yes,” Harrison replied.

“And will anyone believe that?”

Michael let out a startled bark of laughter. “I forgot how much you’re like your old man.”

“I’ll ignore that insult.” But she smiled—Michael had that kind of laugh.

Harrison shrugged. “Our members aren’t exactly known for being the kind of people who can’t put the pieces together.”

“If that’s the case, is stepping down enough punishment?”

Harrison sat back and his jaw clenched. Michael rose to his defense, insisting Harrison had sacrificed more than enough, but it was Price who really answered the question.

“I can only counsel the Grand Master, and stepping down seemed a fitting punishment. However, if you don’t think so, then as the next Grand Master, it would be up to you to make that decision.”

Michael opened his mouth to protest, but Harrison stopped him. “Price is right. It may not be enough. You’re both biased, Price less so, but it shouldn’t be either of your decisions.” Harrison looked worried, and the way he glanced at Michael made her think that it wasn’t for himself that he worried, but for the other members of his trinity.

“If I don’t step in as Grand Master, who would the position go to?” Juliette looked at Price. He certainly had the personality and power to handle the Trinity Masters.

Price shook his head. “We’d have to check the laws. It’s always been an Adams.”

“But never a woman,” she pointed out.

“Frankly, I think selecting a man over the traditional bloodline would cause more problems than a female Grand Master would.”

Juliette nodded in agreement with Price. Anyone who joined the Trinity Masters had to be accepting of nontraditional relationships since they’d be expected to be part of a ménage marriage. Throughout their history, female members had been some of the most powerful women in the nation, able to rely on the strength of the Trinity Masters to push political agendas and break glass ceilings. Misogyny was almost inherently against the ideals of the Trinity Masters.