Hidden Devotion (Trinity Masters #5)(5)
“While I agree, this is a break in tradition, and I’m young. Considering the condescending way the three of you were acting when I got here, I can only assume if I were to be Grand Master, it would be an uphill battle.”
“It would, but Price and I will serve as your councilors, help you transition.” Michael’s tone was cool—it seemed he hadn’t forgiven her for mentioning Harrison’s punishment.
“I’ll choose my own councilors.”
All three men exchanged glances. Clearly that wasn’t what they wanted to hear.
“The Winter Gala is coming up, so you have some time to make a decision.” Harrison reached out to her but paused, his hand slowly sinking to lie palm down on the table. “Juliette, I never expected this to pass to you. I never meant…”
She met her brother’s gaze and something passed between them. Others, people like Price and Michael, might think they understood, but in Harrison’s eyes she saw the weight of the responsibility that he’d born, the same weight that had made Juliette’s father such a hard man.
Juliette had come to this meeting knowing that there was no real choice. Price was right. Her age and gender were problematic, but it was her lineage that mattered most. She was willing, if not prepared, to become the Grand Master. Grudgingly, angrily, with the intention of making some serious changes, but willingly, she would take on the mantle of her family responsibility.
There was one aspect she hadn’t considered, until now.
Juliette placed her hand over Harrison’s and lowered her voice. Hoping only he could hear what she said next.
“I’m glad your children won’t have to grow up the way we did,” she whispered.
Harrison squeezed her fingers. “Juliette, I’m so sorry.”
She leaned back. “I’m ready.”
“Do you want time to think about it?”
“No.”
Her brother stood. “Price, Michael, if you’ll leave us.”
“Harrison, do you need…” Michael’s brow was furrowed.
“No. This is between the Grand Master and me.”
Juliette shivered to hear herself referred to as the Grand Master.
Both Price and Michael, who’d been councilors to the Grand Master and therefore part of the already secretive Trinity Masters’ most exclusive and reticent inner circle, looked surprised that something was about to happen that even they couldn’t know about.
In the ceremony room, Grand Master laid the book on the altar—his final task in this role. It was a thin tome, the paper thick but old, some of its few pages cracking in the corners. He wore the robe of his office, black velvet trimmed in gold, face shadowed by the deep hood. A gold chain draped his shoulders.
This ceremony was rarely used, the role of Grand Master usually passing with the previous Grand Master’s death. His movements were hesitant, like a man performing a dance he couldn’t remember the moves to.
She wore a white robe, the kind worn by women when called to the altar to meet their partners. Approaching the stone from the other side, she moved with grace, lacking the hesitance the Grand Master showed.
The book was opened, the short list of names revealed. The last name on the list, Harrison Adams, was stark black compared to the faded ink and stains of the others.
Taking a pen from his robe, Harrison wrote his initials next to his name, signifying the end of his time as Grand Master. Using the sharp tip of the fountain pen, he cut his finger, letting a drop of blood well then smearing it across his name. A sign that this had been done willingly. Above Harrison’s name, their father’s lacked the blood mark, his shaky, nearly illegible initials a sign that he’d relinquished the chain on his deathbed. Only one name was struck through, indicating that he’d been removed from the position. It was a gift to Harrison that his name would not bear that black mark.
The now former Grand Master took off the chain, laying it on the altar then shrugged out of his robe. Juliette shed hers, unashamedly naked beneath. Harrison helped her into his black robe, pulling the hood up to cover her hair, putting her face in shadow. She might have been short, and a bit more slender than other Grand Masters, but the robe did what it was meant to do—render her the anonymous, powerful Grand Master.
Harrison covered his nakedness with a plain gray robe before continuing. Draping the chain over her shoulders, Harrison spoke their words. “Mitimur in Vetitum.”
Juliette Adams, Grand Master of the Trinity Masters, took up the pen and signed her name under the bloodstained signature of her brother then closed the book.
Harrison bowed his head. “Grand Master.”
In the shadow of the hood, he couldn’t see the fear that twisted her face, or the tears that slid down Juliette’s cheeks as she said good-bye to her life as she’d known it.
Chapter Two
“You actually did it.”
“Yep.”
“You’re the Grand Master.”
“This conversation is getting repetitive.” Juliette shook out a sweater dress, wondering if it was too dated to wear again.
“I’m trying to process.” Sebastian’s voice cracked through her earbuds. The internet call had fairly good quality, but he’d gone back to a remote area outside of Diyarbakir, where he was working with the Kurdish ethnic minority communities. One of Sebastian’s strengths, thanks to his degrees in international relations and civics, was in helping communities make the transition to self-sustaining governments, an undervalued step in the process of raising a community from poverty and/or disarray to self-sustaining governance.