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
Robin hissed in some air and held it. “Well, if I fail and get you all arrested, you’re not exactly going to want me around. Besides, you’re all much better outlaws than I am. When we see the Sheriff’s Guard, you all instinctively hide. Whereas I think, Oh good, they’re here to help. You all have legitimate reasons to hate them. I can only pretend. It won’t be the first time I’ve pretended to be something I wasn’t.”
“That’s true for everyone, I imagine,” Tuck mused.
“Well, I made a career out of it.”
Another pause passed, but Tuck cleared his throat. “I’m been thinking of asking you about that. You say that you would dress up as the king, and give orders as the king, so that if an enemy were to attack they would kill the wrong man, yes?”
Robin nodded.
“You know what I find interesting about that?” Tuck asked. “It’s a clever ruse, designed to trick your enemy. But I’m willing to bet it worked on your friends as well. Well, not friends, I suppose, but the men he commanded.”
Robin bobbed his head. “It did. In the armor, there was no way to tell I wasn’t the king.”
“Ah, but weren’t you? What’s the difference between being dressed as the king, if you are the king in the ways that matter? People don’t know the face, they simply know what he represents. You tell someone, Look there, do you see that crown? That’s the King, and they’ll believe you. It’s not the man who’s important, it’s the crown, and the illusion of power. The armor and bodyguards, they help tell a story, you see? The story that the man is important.”
Robin took his time to think on that. “King Robin.”
“Robin Hood,” Marion added importantly, but he didn’t respond. The fire lit his face softly, his features transformed into the young, hopeful man he’d once been.
THEY WERE NOT QUITE finished with dinner when a bell rang at the edge of camp, and a collective pause followed as they listened for a response. When the second bell came, indicating an outsider, they flew into commotion. Some shoveled the last bits of food into their mouths, while others scrambled to arm themselves. Marion watched Elena pounce down to look Much in the face.
“What do we do when there are strangers?” she whispered, prompting Much to run with determination.
As Marion moved away from the fire, reaching out to grab Robin’s arm, she realized how cold the night air had become.