“They will.” She stopped walking to make a point of it. For the first time she truly took in his face, the forced clench of his jaw, the slight twitch to his eye. There was the young boy he once was, and the potential for friendliness in his dour lines. It was so easy to label him as Guardsman. Here was a decent man named Jon Bassett who was tied up in the woods by those he thought meant to kill him. Of course he was terrified, and of course he would antagonize her. “You’ll go home safely. You have my promise on that.”

Jon Bassett shook his head. “I’ve already seen your promises. They only last until the first thief pulls steel.”

Marion had no response.

“Why not turn them in?” he added, his eyes darting toward the others. “Get us to the horses. The three of us leave right now, and you can still land on the right side of this. And you…” he shifted his attention to Amon, “… you might even keep your knighthood.”

Amon wouldn’t betray her in a thousand years, but the point was real enough. Their safety was only as strong as the weakest of them.

Worse, she felt the prod of that weakness within herself. She would be lying to say she did not see the reason in his offer. Marion risked losing too much by all these complications, and not just for herself. If she were disgraced or labeled a criminal, it would be blamed on her “woman’s folly.” And woe unto the next ambitious woman who braved her head amongst the men of court, if Marion set such a precedent. Her responsibilities extended so much farther than herself.

Far off across the glen, a flurry of birds took to the air.

“You know I’m right,” Jon Bassett urged.

She shook it off. “You realize what you’re offering me, don’t you?” she asked. “I believe they call it a thieves bargain. I’m told that no decent person would ever take one.”

TWENTY-TWO

GUY OF GISBOURNE

THIEVES’ CAMP