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ChapterOne

Franco: If you had a superpower what would it be?

Colum: What’s the solvent for dissolving?

Franco: Answer my question first.

Colum: Invisibility.Then no one would talk to me.

Franco: …

Franco: Juliette thinks you need therapy.I think you’re dumb because obviously the answer is teleportation.That’s the best superpower.

Tension made the air heavy, and Colum seriously considered sliding from his chair and trying to sneak out of the Long Room at Trinity College Dublin.

“You can’t leave, you’re the host.”

Colum startled, looking over at his best friend, who was seated beside him at the long conference table.

“Sure, I wasn’t planning to leave,” Colum lied.

Franco smiled, a genuine, amused smile.There had been plenty of smiles in this meeting so far, but they’d been sharp ones that made Colum’s social anxiety hit fever pitch.

Colum didn’t like people.

No, that was wrong.

He loved people.It was one of the reasons he loved history and information.People were interesting and tragic and funny…when he read about them.In person, people were emotionally draining, and socializing made him want to fling himself into a slurry pit.A particularly disgusting way to die, but better than interacting with others for hours on end.

Juliette Adams and Eric Ericsson, leaders of two powerful secret societies, stood side by side, speaking into a phone balanced on Juliette’s palm.Only moments ago, they’d decided to arrange an inter-society marriage and were informing the newly created trinity.

There were significant differences between the Trinity Masters and the Masters’ Admiralty, but the similarities were greater than the summed differences.Which made sense, because the Trinity Masters was the American version of the Masters’ Admiralty.

The Masters’ Admiralty had been formed during the Black Plague in a desperate bid by academics and scholars to keep the world from descending into darkness.The foundation of the society was secret trinity marriages.The leaders of the Masters’ Admiralty—though it had been called something else back then—arranged the marriages with an eye to creating connections and relationships that strengthened society.A military leader with the scion of a powerful family and a priest.A nobleman married to a scholar and an artist.

Colum looked around the table at the people attending this inaugural Trinity Council meeting.It was the first time since the founding of the Trinity Masters that the societies were formally meeting to work together, versus the previous times when their association had been driven by outside forces.It was an historical moment, though no one outside the societies would ever know about it.

The one drawback was just how many people were here.

Colum leaned toward Franco, away from the simmering anger he could feel coming off Nikolett and Hande.If he could, he’d have just walked out of the meeting rather than sit there, awkwardly aware of the emotional tension but with no idea how to defuse it.More than once, when his social battery and tolerance for other people’s emotions ran low, he’d simply walk away, not even bothering to make excuses as to why he was leaving.And most of the time that had been fine because he’d had Josephine to offer up acceptable reasons for his abrupt departures.

Thinking of his sister made Colum’s gaze slide to the side, down the center aisle of the long room to where?—

He wouldn’t be thinking about that right now.

Colum forced his attention back to the table.He should make a list of who was here.Lists always made him feel better.

Eric Ericsson—Fleet Admiral.The leader of the Masters’ Admiralty, and a man Colum considered his brother.Former mercenary with a terrifying temper but an easygoing manner the rest of the time.Josephine had once told Colum that he was the reason Eric had mellowed.When Eric first came into their lives, the rage and grief in him had made Colum freeze up every time they interacted.Josephine was sure that young Colum’s panic helped spur Eric to process and put aside the dark emotions that had gripped him after the loss of his wives.

Regina Kagy—Captain of the Spartan Guard.The Spartan Guard protected the fleet admiral and lived with him at the Masters’ Admiralty headquarters on the Isle of Man.

Arthur Billings—admiral of England.Though Eric was the head of the Masters’ Admiralty, his position was like being president of the EU.He had power, and even some veto rights, but each of the Masters’ Admiralty territories was a governing body unto itself, with an admiral at the helm.

Sophia Starabba—the power behind all the thrones.Sophia came from a long line of Masters’ Admiralty leadership but was placed in an arranged marriage with Arthur and James Rathmann, back when Arthur went by another name and was a territory knight.Once he stepped into the admiral of England role, Sophia left her home territory of Rome.Which brought him to…

Antonio Starabba—admiral of Rome and Sophia’s brother.He was quiet and dangerous, and hadn’t wanted to be admiral, though he was doing an excellent job.

Hande Demiratar—admiral of Ottoman, who’d recently gotten married to her trinity.Since the trinities were created by the admirals, Hande got to pick her own partners.Eric could have vetoed the marriage, if he felt it wasn’t a strong trinity, as the fleet admiral had to approve all trinities when they came to the Isle of Man to officially register their marriage.