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I laughed. “You knew I were a bitch and a liar when you married me, Guy. It’s your own damn fault for agreeing to it. ”

I made it to the raf ters with muscles burning, and I clung to the wood for a long moment, trying to breathe, trying to force down the beating pain in my shoulder, my cheek, my whole body. I searched for John as I hung there, and it took me precious seconds to fi nd him.

I saw John’s head pressed tight against Gisbourne’s, the two of them twisting as one, whipping each other round. John got an inch of space and fi red a ham-fi sted punch to Gisbourne’s cruel mug.

Gisbourne sprawled out at John’s feet. John dropped to his knee to grab Gisbourne’s sword and rose with fl ashing steel in his hand, ready to make me a widow.

But he didn’t. John’s face jerked up, and when he saw me on the crossbeam he just froze.

Panic rushed through me. “JOHN! DO SOMETHING!”

I shrieked, but he couldn’t hear me.

The sheriff broke from the crowd behind John and came at him, his sword raised and an awful snarl on his face, like a wolf in a fi ght.

I screamed to the high heavens and pointed, but John still couldn’t hear me. He saw me point, and his face folded like he were fair confused as the sheriff made it a step closer to him. My feet ran on the rafter before I knew what I were ’bout, but there were no way I’d get to him. This weren’t a battle I had a place in, and I were set to watch my friend die for it. The sheriff ’s foot struck the ground, coming to my eyes 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 275

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unnatural slow, like it were staged so that I could see every move, every turn. His sword came down at John’s neck as John just bare started to turn. I screamed again, and screamed and screamed. The blade never cut. The steel fl ashed and fl ew in the air as the sheriff were swept sideways. Men poured over him like a tide, and I could see James Mason in the fore, pinning the sheriff down. Someone dragged the sheriff ’s chin back, and Mason didn’t hold but for a moment before he made the sheriff ’s neck bloom like red roses, drawing the same line over his throat that been done drawn over Ravenna’s. The blood poured down over the side of his neck and dripped down, and from the raf ters it all looked like one big puddle, Ravenna’s blood and the sheriff ’s mixing together, married in gruesome truth as they died side by side.

James Mason had avenged his daughter, even if it were his awful fi xings that got her into the marriage to start. It weren’t as if our problems were over, but on this day the villagers, and not just Rob and my mates, stood up and fought back the fl ood. Even if the wave of evil and pain and injustice would break over us again, just this once it were pressed back. And that were more a start than anything we’d done.

Gisbourne got on his feet again, and John fought back against him, moving like lightning so none could interfere. They circled and fought, and I hung on the rafter. Part of me thought I should be fi ghting ’longside John, but part of me thought damned little of that plan, and so I hung there, not moving.

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I heard a sound like thunder outside, and breath snaked away from me as the raf ters shook; one broke off , snapping from the side and falling to the ground. The whole structure began to wobble and I moved like I were sparked. The roof were made of thick layers of thatch, and I clung to a beam and kicked my way through it, running along the edge of the roof to the castle wall. My whole body hurt and ached and burned, but I weren’t stopping till I saw Robin again. Making it to the outer wall of the castle, I scrambled up, huffi ng hard with breath. I slid off the wall and ran into the forest, my heart pounding louder than I’d ever heard. I didn’t know which way they’d take to the cave, and it were a long time before I heard footsteps crunching over leaves. I ran faster, feeling tears streak out of my eyes and my heartbeat break into a fl uttering.

I saw the shapes ahead, small and slight for Much, tall and thin for Godfrey, and the last shape, the one that meant everything, leaning a little on Godfrey.

“Robin!” I shrieked.

He turned, standing away from Godfrey as I came at him, slamming into him and tumbling him to the ground. I gripped him tight, sobbing into his chest. I felt hot blood from his back on my hands, but I let it wash my skin, pulling his weight on top of me so his back weren’t in the dirt. I didn’t care none, even knowing how much we both were hurting. I heard a ragged sound, and I felt water on my neck. “Tell me you didn’t marry him, Scar, ” he whispered. 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 277

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“I had to, ” I mewled. “I gave him my word. ”

“But you’re here. ”

I nodded. “And married or not, I ain’t never leaving you, Rob. ”

His nose rubbed at my neck, then along my right cheek.

“You’re married, Scar. ”

New tears squeezed out my eyes. “I know. ”

“To him. ”

I nodded, hiccuping.

He rested his face against mine, blood and all. “Let me heal up a bit, and we’ll see if we can make his part of ‘so long as ye both shall live’ a little shorter. ”

I gave a short, watery laugh, and I sat up, dragging him with me. I pressed my hand over his heart, and he covered mine.

“Those eyes, ” he murmured, stroking hair back from my face, careful to avoid the new slice on my cheek.

“Come on, Robin Hood. I’ll heal you up fast as I can, ” I told him, taking his hands and pulling us both to our feet.

“As soon as we stitch you up, Scar, ” Much reminded. Robin leaned heavy on me, and I looked to Much and Godfrey. I’d forgotten ’bout them. They just stared at us, and I felt my cheeks go red. Under the blood, leastways.

“I felt the blast. How much tumbled?”

Much smiled. “Wasn’t even that hard. With everything going on, they never noticed us or the rope fuse. I’ll tell you, the fuse took longer than I thought it would. I thought they must have found it or cut it, but then I felt the blast and saw Robin. ”

“What did it do?” Rob asked.

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“Toppled most of the middle bailey, ” Much told him. “What happened in the hall?”

“John’s still fi ghting: he told me to go on. ” I told him. “The sheriff ’s dead. ”

“Dead?” Much asked, his face forlorn. “Christ. Christ, we’ll just get a new one, won’t we? Worse, probably!”

Robin’s mouth worked before he spoke. “The position can never be vacant, and it’s true, we have no way of knowing who Prince John will next appoint, but it’s still something. We needed time. For the moment, the people— their homes and their children and their very lives— are safe. ” He closed his eyes and sagged against me. “For now, it’s more than enough. ”

Much stepped forward, his eyes full of worrying. “Let’s get you two back to the cave. ”

Rob nodded, and we started to walk, but Godfrey hesitated.

“I don’t . . . I can’t go back to my father. Not after he agreed to this, and let her die. ” He closed his eyes, like just saying it hurt him. “I don’t know what I can off er you lot, and I know you won’t trust me after all I’ve done, but—” He stopped short, like someone cut his tongue off .

I slid slow away from Rob, making sure he could stand on his own. I walked to Godfrey, and I touched his hand. “It were your father what killed the sheriff , ” I told him. His face twisted up like he were bare keeping something in behind it. “We trust you, Godfrey. You’re one of us now, and you’ll always be. ”

“She told me how you tried to get her out, ” Godfrey said soft, his voice snapping like a twig. “And she— she wanted to stay. ”

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I nodded.

“Christ, I’m so sorry I hit you. ”

“I know. Come on, you need to rest. We all need a bit of fi xing up. ” I went back to Rob, slipping under his arm again, and he kissed the bit of my forehead on the side. It made warm heat shoot through my head, run over my body, and slide around my wounded shoulder like it were healing it.

k

“I’ll patch you up fi rst, Scar, ” Much said to me as we got to the cave. “Your shoulder must be awful and your cheek doesn’t look so good either. ”

I shied away, hugging tight to Robin. “Not a chance. I ain’t the one been tortured. ”

“I’ll fi x her, Much, ” Rob told him. Close to my ear and quiet he said, “From now on, no one but me sees you with your shirt off , Scar. ”

I rolled my eyes, but fair true, I didn’t want no one but him doing the same. “Come on, ” I said, leading him into the cave.

“Let’s get your shirt nixed for starting. ”

He chuckled, but he were leaning heavy on me, and it scared me deep.

“John!” Much yelled.

We turned to see John jogging into the camp, blood and lumps and a big idiot grin on his face. Robin curled forward a little, swaying on his feet.

“What happened?” I asked.

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John pushed his thumb over his busted lip. “Gisbourne ran, ”

he said. “But I either broke his arm or rolled his shoulder. Either way, he won’t be holding a sword for a while. Most of the hall fell after a minute, and we got the people out. ” Robin’s face twisted, and John looked to him, losing the grin. “You all right, Rob?”

I hugged him tighter. “He will be. ”

John nodded, looking at me, but I pulled away from his eyes and took Rob into the cave, helping him sit. “Don’t move none, ” I said. “I’ll get the supplies. ”

I went back out and John were standing there, right at the mouth, with his arms crossed. Much and Godfrey were wandering farther, going to get the little food we had stored. John raised his eyebrows.

“What happened with Gisbourne, John?”

“Told you. He ran. ”

“Before that. ”

John full looked at me, staring at my face. “I got distracted. ”

“Don’t look at me for your distractions. I didn’t do nothing for it. ”

His face twisted in a funny way, sad and confused. “You did. I went to kill him, and I just thought, if he dies, you’re with Rob. You’re with Rob forever, and I haven’t got a chance. I didn’t mean to think it. It was just there. And it stopped me cold. ”

My breath died in my chest and my skin roared with blood.

“What?”

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chance was gone. ” John’s eyes fi xed on the ground. “I’m sorry, Scar. ” He lifted off from the mouth of the cave and went over to Much and Godfrey, leaving me staring after him. It were anger rushing through me more than anything as I thought over his fool words and gathered the supplies. I weren’t even sure what it meant, him not killing Gisbourne, but hearing him say it like that— like he wanted to keep me and Rob from the other? I could have killed him for it. Least until I went into the cave again and saw Rob there, bent and hurt. Then every other thought vanished from my mind, and my heart set to a strange sort of beating and the anger left me. John’s words didn’t matter none, and the awful band on my fi nger didn’t neither. Walking into that cave, it crashed over me again: I loved Rob.

I loved Rob, and there were so many things he damn well better explain.

“Come on, Godfrey, let’s show you more of Sherwood, ”

I heard John say. “Get the lay of the forest. Much, come along with us. ”

I blushed a bit, but I were happy for the chance to be alone with Rob after all that had happened.

In the cave were cooler than outside, and it felt like everything had peeled back like the skin of an orange and I were left with this, the heart of it all.

I came quiet behind Rob, touching his side and picking up the edge of the shirt. He nodded and raised his arms, letting me pull his blood-black shirt off him. Hundreds of holes punched 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 282

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his back, bleeding and red and oozing. Some looked sick and poisoned already. “Christ, Rob. I can clean it now, but I’ll have to go to the friars for a poultice. ”

He nodded, his body easing out, muscles loosening. I set to work, taking some of our water and the last of our muslin ban dages to rinse the blood away and draw out the dirt and grime of the prison. I started a fi re and set some water by it to warm, and by the time I rinsed him once, the water were warm and my hands were shaking a touch. I soaked ban dages and laid them in strips ’cross the mass of wounds, trying to pull out anything sick and deep in there. I stayed lip shut, letting my heart lay down its drummer’s sticks and feeling doubt slide into my ribs.

I stroked my fi ngers light along the strips, pressing them gentle as. I stared at the back of his head.

“Time for the reckoning, Rob, ” I said soft. “What did you mean back there?” The muscles in his shoulders rolled, like he were trying to move or turn, but I touched his back to keep him still. Maybe also to keep it so his face weren’t to me as I said it; I weren’t sure. “I know . . . I know you thought I’d die in there. Thought you failed, thought all kinds of wrong things. I ain’t going to be murderous if you didn’t mean it all. ” Lie. If he hadn’t meant it . . . I weren’t sure what I’d do. Maybe go back to Gisbourne and let him fi nish the job for me.

“If you’re not going to let me move, you damn well better come where I can see you, Scar, ” he said, and his voice were awful rough.

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Careful and slow, I went round front of him, my back to the fi re so its full dancing light shone bright on his face. He took my hand, tugging my fi ngers out from a fi st and twining his through. He gripped it tight. “Christ’s bones, Scar. ” He heaved a sigh, and his hand squeezed mine. “You changed everything. Everything. That day in the market in London, you don’t know what my life was like before that, when I came home and found everything just gone. I had nothing. I hadn’t a soul. And then you appeared with your magic eyes, and you just changed everything. ”

Every pain fl ew from my bones and I stood still as a pillory.

“But . . . you hate me. ”

He sighed, and his eyes fl icked up to mine. The storms were gone, the seas the kind of calm that comes after waves have wrecked a ship. “I hate myself. I wish I didn’t feel anything. I wish I could protect these people—
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—like I want to, but I can’t. I don’t. In the Crusades, in my whole life . . . ” He trailed off , his eyes and hand left mine, and his throat worked, the sound fair loud. “There’s so much I have to atone for, so much I’ve done wrong. If I were a better man, I would have sent you far from here long ago, but I haven’t, and I can’t. I wish I could stop thinking about you, Scar, stop caring about you. Most days I wish I never met you, because it is torture. ” A dry cough came that half sounded like a laugh. “More than, you know, just bodily torture. ”

I quieted for a moment, chewing my lip. “You called me a whore, Rob. You said awful things. ”

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