Chapters (76)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- PART III
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- INTERLUDE
- PART IV
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- INTERLUDE
- PART V
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART VI
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- INTERLUDE
- PART VII
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- PART VIII
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
She wiped her eyes and tried to remember what it was like to believe in the impossible.
TWENTY-FOUR
WILLIAM DE WENDENAL
NOTTINGHAM CASTLE
FOR A WHILE HE thought she wouldn’t come. What began as a grand romantic gesture quickly became an hour of William curled in a ball, freezing in the stables loft, regretting not bringing a heavier cloak or some blankets. Of course he could have left to find something warmer, at the risk of missing Arable or bumping into her in a corridor and spoiling the entire thing. So instead he sat, second-guessing every inch of it, as well as his reasons for being in Nottingham at all.
He had hoped to make short work of the business with the outlaws. It should have been no more difficult than organizing the peace talks already suggested by the Lady Marion Fitzwalter, and then he and Robin could finish their business by working to secure the existing supply routes. But Roger de Lacy had stopped him cold as soon as he made the first suggestion.
“Peace talks? What are you talking about?”
“Peace talks,” William had explained, thinking he had slurred his words. “They were willing to come to an agreement. If your captain had a better temper, they would have come to the castle and already—”
“Who authorized this? Gisbourne wanted peace talks?”
“You … you authorized this.”
“I did no such thing.” De Lacy massaged his temples with his forefingers, then pushed the skin back in a crazed stare. “I asked you for a peaceful resolution, and you mistook that for a peace treaty?”
William had simply stared and started over, as if explaining it to a child. “A peace treaty would be a peaceful resolution.”
“Ever a soldier, aren’t you? Peace is defined by more than an absence of violence. A peace is also something private, something personal. You had an opportunity to make amends quietly, but you squandered it.”
“What is the difference whether it’s here or—”
“I thought you were your father’s son,” the Sheriff reeked of disappointment, “but you don’t understand at all, do you? I wanted you to make this problem go away, not invite it to the dinner table.”
Their conversation went no farther than that. The only concession William had won was a temporary advisory seat by de Lacy’s side, although the Sheriff clearly thought this was more likely to change William’s mind than his own. William even tried to leverage the authority of King Richard’s letters, which earned him nothing more than a grave laugh.
“Ah, precisely what Nottingham needs. Instruction from someone who doesn’t live here.”