Page 22 of Forgotten Promise

Kailani leaned her head back against her seat, watching them through her lashes. “I see your point. As my fiancés, you have the right to know about the keyholders.”

John spread his fingers, saying nothing. Benjamin stayed silent too. He’d noticed John switching between tenses when it came to their marriage. Benjamin had figured that by this point in time, he’d either be back to being single or on his way to Boston to be forced into a loveless marriage where he was always on the outside looking in.

Option three—the society under attack, Kailani responsible for the safety and continuity of society leadership—was one he’d never imagined.

“I’ll tell you…what I can. There’s some information I don’t think I’m meant to share with anyone. I wouldn’t even tell Makani.”

“That’s fair.” John relaxed into his seat. Benjamin held still, not wanting to do anything to alter the moment or make Kailani change her mind.

“You heard and figured out some of it,” she began. “But let me just start at the beginning.

“During WWI, the Grand Master at the time saw the potential to lose a whole generation of members, including the person who was meant to become the next Grand Master, most likely his son.”

“The Grand Master is a hereditary position?” John asked.

“Most people think so,” Benjamin answered. “My family does.”

“Does anyone know who it is?”

Benjamin shrugged. “Everyone likes to guess. We used to make a drinking game of it at the legacy house. Everyone would declare that their father, brother, etc., was the Grand Master, and we’d decide if they were lying. If we believed them—meaning, if they were either a good liar, or possibly telling the truth—we drank.”

“I’d forgotten about that.” Kailani’s expression softened into a smile and she turned to Benjamin. “Remember what’s-his-name? Last name was Madison. He was good. We all drank.”

“Maybe he was telling the truth about his father being the Grand Master.”

“The current Grand Master is a woman,” John pointed out.

“He had a sister, I think.” Kailani looked into middle distance, remembering, then shook her head.

“Sorry to get us off track,” John said.

“No, you’re right, the story only makes sense if you know that the position of Grand Master is hereditary, though it’s not like a monarchy.” Kailani finished her drink, and Benjamin rose to get her another one. “I know that people can be chosen and voted in,” she said.

“Yes,” Benjamin agreed from the galley, where he took a fresh flute and poured. “My parents said the same. I think I have an ancestor who was on the Grand Master’s council.”

“The Grand Master probably knew that the U.S. would enter the war. Probably guessed what was coming after the sinking of the Lusitania. He saw the potential to lose an entire generation of Trinity Masters members, and he thought it was possible that Boston would be attacked.”

Benjamin had recently started the phase he swore he’d never go through—reading and watching war documentaries—and he could easily imagine a Grand Master in 1915 playing out worst-case scenarios and seeing places like Boston and New York under fire from German ships.

“He created a backup plan. Both a person and a place that become the acting core of the society in times of crisis. And he chose a location as far away as possible from Boston for the vault, and a family with deep ties to that location.” Kailani smiled. “What’s now the Hale’ekolu was only a collection of what we’d call rental cottages, with one main house. We built the old hotel, the one that’s still there, specifically to house the waihona.”

“By vault, you mean that wall safe?” John asked.

Benjamin met Kailani’s gaze, and from her perfectly blank, give-nothing-away expression, he knew there was more than just a simple wall safe.

“It’s called the waihona. Nowadays we say that translates to depository, but I think the term vault probably fits better. And no, there’s more to it than the wall safe.”

“Isn’t it risky to have something like that in a semi-public place?” John asked.

“No,” Benjamin and Kailani said in unison.

She nodded to him, so Benjamin explained. “Like her brother said, the guests would be part of the protection. The constant presence of people does more to hide something than all the security in the world. It’s the same with the headquarters under the library. If someone were to attack, they’d risk mass casualties, including the death of innocent bystanders, which in turn brings major attention from both the media and law enforcement.”

John looked taken aback. “That’s smart but…calculating.”

“It is,” Benjamin agreed.

“My great-great-grandmother was the first keyholder,” Kailani said, pulling their attention back to her. “At the time, they chose a woman, since she couldn’t enlist and there was no chance she’d be drafted. She was given a very specialized key, a literal key. But she wasn’t the only one. The Grand Master identified two other families, making sure they weren’t based either on Oahu or in Boston. They also have keys, keys that were passed down the way mine was.”

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