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“It’s nice when history preserves rather than destroys,” she added.
Their conversation paused as a Japanese tour group stopped just behind them, the guide gesturing to the gold-and-blue image of Jesus, quickly explaining his importance to the Christian faith before moving on to the subject of the restoration and the technicalities involved in uncovering this and other mosaics.
“Chai?” Seb asked.
“Actually, I’m hungry.”
Juliette followed her friend out then took the lead. Moving away from the tourist areas surrounding the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque, she headed for a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant, ordering two spiced-lamb flatbreads. A boy with thick black lashes brought them lamacun and cans of Coke.
Juliette ripped hers in half then took a bite of the soft middle section. Her thoughts drifted back to Boston and her stomach clenched.
“Are we going to talk about it?” Sebastian asked.
She looked up to see his meal mostly gone, while she’d had only a few bites.
“My brother called.”
Sebastian froze, can halfway to his lips. “Harrison called? Why?”
Juliette pulled her scarf off, the fabric she’d wound around her neck and over her head suddenly suffocating.
“It seems my oh-so-proper brother made a mistake.”
“The Grand Master doesn’t make mistakes.” He said it the way one states a fact—the sun rises in the east, the sky is blue, the Grand Master of the Trinity Masters doesn’t make mistakes.
“He hadn’t joined a trinity.”
Sebastian sat back. “I hadn’t realized he was that old.”
Juliette nodded. At forty-five, her brother Harrison was twenty years older than Juliette. Not surprising, since her mother had been nearly fifteen years younger than Juliette’s father, the Grand Master before Harrison, while Harrison’s mother had been the same age as their father.
“Well, it seemed that Harrison did make a mistake—and not just failing to join a trinity.”
“Oh?”
“He fell in love with a woman who wasn’t in the Trinity Masters.”
Sebastian whistled.
“Better than that. She was offered membership but refused.”
Sebastian blinked.
“And he was willing to quit to be with her.”
Shock froze Sebastian in place, and Juliette took advantage of the moment to take a few bites. Talking about it—and seeing Sebastian’s reaction—was making her feel better.
Sebastian understood in a way that very few people would. They’d grown up together, children who were taught not to be truthful and honest, but how to keep secrets and avoid questions about their parents and home lives.
Juliette and Sebastian were legacies of the Trinity Masters, America’s oldest and most powerful secret society. The society had been established as the country was born. Members were given unparalleled access to the resources and support of other members. Joining was a guarantee of success, and members excelled in every type of industry, from politics to art and science. The founders had seen the potential to strengthen the foundation of the new republic by taking the best and brightest Americans and having them support each other.
But there was more to it than a vague idea of support. Members had to agree to an arranged marriage—the price of security and success was their choice in who they’d marry.
And marriages between members of the Trinity Masters weren’t arranged between two people, but three.
Sebastian had finally found his voice. “Are we talking about the same Harrison?”
“Apparently he’d been in love with this woman forever and was willing to risk it all to be with her.”
