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Back Nottingham
Chapters (76)
  1. Title Page
  2. Copyright Notice
  3. Dedication
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. PART I
  6. ONE
  7. TWO
  8. THREE
  9. FOUR
  10. FIVE
  11. SIX
  12. SEVEN
  13. EIGHT
  14. NINE
  15. PART II
  16. TEN
  17. ELEVEN
  18. TWELVE
  19. THIRTEEN
  20. FOURTEEN
  21. FIFTEEN
  22. SIXTEEN
  23. SEVENTEEN
  24. EIGHTEEN
  25. NINETEEN
  26. PART III
  27. TWENTY
  28. TWENTY-ONE
  29. TWENTY-TWO
  30. TWENTY-THREE
  31. TWENTY-FOUR
  32. TWENTY-FIVE
  33. TWENTY-SIX
  34. INTERLUDE
  35. PART IV
  36. TWENTY-SEVEN
  37. TWENTY-EIGHT
  38. TWENTY-NINE
  39. THIRTY
  40. THIRTY-ONE
  41. THIRTY-TWO
  42. THIRTY-THREE
  43. THIRTY-FOUR
  44. INTERLUDE
  45. PART V
  46. THIRTY-FIVE
  47. THIRTY-SIX
  48. THIRTY-SEVEN
  49. THIRTY-EIGHT
  50. PART VI
  51. THIRTY-NINE
  52. FORTY
  53. FORTY-ONE
  54. FORTY-TWO
  55. FORTY-THREE
  56. FORTY-FOUR
  57. FORTY-FIVE
  58. INTERLUDE
  59. PART VII
  60. FORTY-SIX
  61. FORTY-SEVEN
  62. FORTY-EIGHT
  63. FORTY-NINE
  64. FIFTY
  65. FIFTY-ONE
  66. FIFTY-TWO
  67. PART VIII
  68. FIFTY-THREE
  69. FIFTY-FOUR
  70. FIFTY-FIVE
  71. FIFTY-SIX
  72. EPILOGUE
  73. AUTHOR’S NOTE
  74. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  75. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  76. Newsletter Sign-up

But there was no way to communicate with Robin now, even if William had the words to persuade him. Sending Arable out in a carriage hoping to get robbed would not work a second time, and if Robin meant not to be found he was going to be successful at it.

But there were exactly two people in the castle who knew where to look.

THEY CALLED IT THE Rabbit Hole, apparently, a square cell in the center of a small courtyard in the middle bailey, whose only door could not possibly open from within. Inside that cage was a gullet staircase leading down into the caves below Nottingham Castle’s sandstone base, into the catacomb of underground prisons. It held a single occupant at the moment. A beast of a Guardsman named Marshall had deposited her before withdrawing down into the tunnels again.

William had to ready himself at the sight of her. Such a small thing, so thin, but she had driven a knife into Roger de Lacy’s chest a dozen times.

“Good morning, Elena.”

“A good morning? Did you die?” she asked him, out of the corner of her eye, as if she could not be bothered by his presence.

“No.”

“Then not good enough.”

Of course she was impertinent. She had decided she was the victim.

“And what do you suppose would happen if I died this morning?” William aimed for an indifferent tone, the one that all inquisitors adopted. He wasn’t sure he was successful at it. “You’ve started a career in killing sheriffs, so am I next? I presume you thought this out. Baron de Lacy is dead. You were successful. Congratulations. But you don’t strike me, at this exact moment, as much of a winner.”

“You’re welcome.” She smiled at him.

“So what were you hoping would happen? Am I to stop all taxes in the entire county and start giving out coin for free? As you and Robin do? If I die this morning, will the next sheriff do just that?”

“This is a nice castle.” Elena glanced up at the keep towering above her. “It must have nice beds.”

As much as he wanted to reach through the bars and strangle her, he needed the information she had. “Is that why you killed Roger de Lacy? For his bed?”

She scoffed, and it drove a piercing iron nail into William’s patience. Her scoff said she thought Roger’s life was hers to take, for whatever minor trifles she’d suffered. She had not known the man. He’d just been a symbol to her of the world she saw as an enemy. Bitter little souls like Elena Gamwell were born every day, while a Roger de Lacy came along once in a century.