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“Please do not do this, Ridge,” Josephine begged quietly. “I am sorry I lied to you. I did not do it intentionally. I promise I shall behave myself from now on if you will only leave Sully alone.”

She sounded sincere enough but Ridge was resolute. “Alas, I cannot leave him,” he said. “He is a threat and threats must be dealt with.”

Josephine flared. “He is not a threat,” she said.

“Please, Ridge… there is more to this that you do not know. There is a reason why Sully and Andrew are here. I did not tell you before because I did not want you to know, but now you must. I do not want you to think Andrew and Sully have come to commit foolish crimes against the king. There is a reason for everything.”

Ridge cocked an eyebrow. “More lies to spare them?”

Josephine shook her head. “I swear upon my mother’s grave that this is the truth,” she said quietly. “You may or may not know that Andrew and the Earl of Annan and Blackbank are brothers.”

Ridge didn’t look so suspicious any longer. Now, he looked surprised but tried to pretend he wasn’t. “Brothers?” he said thoughtfully. “I suppose it did not occur to me. The name d’Vant is not uncommon. And except for their size, they do not favor one another.”

Josephine nodded. “I cannot speak to whether or not they look similar, for I have not seen the earl, but he is Andrew’s older brother,” she said.

“When their father died, the earl imprisoned their mother and banished Andrew, so he escaped. Because of this, Andrew has sworn to kill his brother and that is why he is here. To kill the earl.”

Ridge stared at her a moment in disbelief before looking to Sully. “Is this true?”

Sully nodded slowly. “It is,” he said. “Andrew has sworn to avenge his mother by killing his brother. All of this– the betrothal, and of you bringing Josephine to Edinburgh, is simply an incredible coincidence. It is true that Andrew has come to protect Josephine as best he can, but his first objective is to kill his brother. He is not here to take her away, at least not yet. I swear this upon my oath as a knight.”

“Does the king know that Andrew and Blackbank are brothers?”

Josephine nodded. “He knows,” she said. “But he does not know that Andrew has sworn to kill the man. At least, I have not told him that. If he knows, he did not hear it from me.”

Ridge sighed heavily. This was grave and serious information, something the king needed to be aware of. With The Red Fury bent on vengeance, Blackbank’s life was in jeopardy. But given what Ridge thought of the man, and what he thought of this whole situation, maybe that was a good thing.

Maybe the king didn’t need to know, after all.

Still, the situation was serious enough that he had to do something about Sully’s presence. The fact remained that he was here to thwart the king’s plans and that, on the whole, couldn’t be allowed.

“You will come with me now, Montgomery,” he said after a moment.

Josephine was back to struggling against Ridge. “Why? We told you the truth! Sully has not done anything wrong!”

Ridge cocked a dark eyebrow. “ Yet ,” he emphasized. “I must make sure it remains that way.”

Josephine geared up for a verbal battle with the man but a word from Sully stopped her. “Joey, stop ,” he said. “Fighting the man will not change his mind.”

Ridge could see that Sully was surrendering. It was in the man’s stance, in his manner. Frankly, he was glad he wasn’t going to have a fight on his hands. Obviously, for the lady’s sake, Sully would not resist. As Josephine unhappily backed down, Ridge spoke quietly.

“The sword,” he said. “Drop it.”

Sully looked at the broadsword strapped to his leg. “Can I at least take it inside? I do not want to leave it here in the alley.”

“I said drop it.”

With a heavy sigh, Sully unbuckled the sheath and the sword fell to filthy dirt of the alley.

“Now,” Ridge said. “Walk to the street.”

Sully turned and walked out of the alley, right into the road, and Ridge and Josephine followed, but not before Ridge stopped to pick up the sword. He wasn’t going to let it remain in the alley where someone could steal it. He wasn’t so cruel.

Together, the three of them made their way back up the road leading to the castle.

Upon reaching the main gatehouse, Ridge turned Sully over to the soldiers at the gate with the instructions to treat him well but take him to the dungeon.

The last Josephine saw of Sully was of the man being surrounded by four guards, who escorted him away from the gatehouse.

Her heart sank as Ridge took her by the arm and led her back to her chamber.

He took her right up to the door, not taking any chance that she would deviate if he left her at the building entry and told her to go inside.

Ridge was coming to learn that the lady had a mind of her own and even though she knew what her duty was, to obey the king, it was clear that she didn’t want to do it.

Nothing about her was complacent to the situation and Ridge was well aware.

The pity he felt for her, the brotherly protection, was going to get him into trouble if he wasn’t careful.

When Josephine entered her chamber and shut the door, Ridge could hear the sobs through the panel.

As much as he thought he should comfort her and assure her that he wasn’t trying to be cruel, merely following orders, he thought it best not to.

She already knew his role in all of this. It wouldn’t do any good to repeat it.

Trying to block out the sounds of Josephine’s weeping, Ridge went about his business.