Free My Ruthless Prince by Gaelen Foley Page B

he said as he tossed his cloak aside and joined them.
    "What's all this about?" Jordan asked.
    Max reached into his breast pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper. "I've just received a letter from Drake's little friend."
    "The gamekeeper's daughter?" Rohan echoed in surprise.
    Max nodded. "Emily Harper. They're in Germany."
    "What, she followed him?"
    He nodded wryly, and every man there reacted with the same astonishment Max had felt when the courier had brought it to him.
    "How on earth . . . does she even speak German?"
    "She barely speaks at all," Max said. "A woman of few words."
    "Now there's a rarity," Beau muttered.
    "Well, she's discreet. Which is why I reckon Drake trusted her years ago with information he never should've shared."
    "Shite," Rohan muttered.
    "Exactly," Max replied. He hesitated. "It would seem Drake is now officially James Falkirk's head of security."
    Virgil cursed, got up from the table, and walked away.
    They all stared after him for a second, then Beau turned to Max with a dark look. "So, where exactly are they? Did she give specifics?"
    "Waldfort Castle in the Bavarian Alps. It's north of Munich. She says various men have been arriving. It sounds to me like Falkirk has called a number of the leaders together to meet there. Now we know why Drake took off."
    "Not necessarily," Jordan cautioned.
    "When do we leave?" Rohan asked bluntly.
    "Wait a second," Jordan insisted. "What makes you think this girl can really be trusted? As much as it chagrins me to remind you of the incident, now that you've just barely let me live it down, none of you got hit in the head with a potato by this charming little miss. I did."
    Rohan laughed aloud. The other two couldn't help smiling. Virgil merely frowned over his shoulder, arms folded across his chest.
    "The girl's got damned fine aim, I'll give her that," Jordan muttered. "But one thing only drives her: Whatever helps Drake. Why would she tell us where he is when she knows what we intend?"
    "He's right, it could be a trap," Beau agreed, but Max scoffed, shaking his head.
    Max threw the paper down. "Read it. She's begging for his life. That's why she wrote it. She says she's gone to bring him back. Only, at this point, she's not sure she'll be able to do it by herself."
    "But she helped him escape," Jordan said skeptically. "You told us at the time that you thought she might have even been in on that whole charade of Drake's putting a knife to her throat and taking her hostage. That's how he made you back off."
    Max shrugged. "I considered the possibility that she might be in on it, but she was genuinely devastated after he escaped."
    "Devastated enough to go after him," Rohan agreed. "I wonder if Kate would do that for me."
    Beau smirked at him.
    "This girl is no actress," Max said grimly. "She struck me as the sort who can barely tell a lie."
    "Oh, that'll really help if the Prometheans get a chance to question her," Beau muttered.
    "So, what do you want to do?" Jordan asked.
    Max shrugged. "We've got to go get him."
    Rohan nodded in agreement. "We'll just make sure we're ready for whatever we might find."
    "Virgil, what do you think?" Max asked.
    The Highlander walked back slowly to the table. "Jordan makes a good point. This could be an ambush. Either way, leaving Drake out there is not an option we can entertain. He can identify all of you, and if he has turned traitor as a result of all he's been through, the consequences could be disastrous."
    "Don't forget, Falkirk has the Alchemist's Scrolls now," Jordan reminded them. "That's sure to impress the rest of the Council. We've known for some time he's been trying to find a way to overthrow Malcolm. James could seek to use these scrolls as a tool to rally supporters against your brother." He directed his words to Virgil, for it was no small irony that the head of the Order and the head of the Promethean Council were brothers.
    With very bad blood between them.
    Max nodded, meanwhile, resting his