“You want me to help you kill my friends?” she asked dumbly, but he could tell she had wavered. She was impulsive, but not without some intelligence. “What sort of an offer is that?”

“Not kill. Arrest. They’ll stand trial, and only the men. The women and children will be left alone, I can promise that. It is a far better option than what Gisbourne will do with them. With a little time, most of your people will receive leniency. Some time in the prisons, yes, but nobody dies.”

“Except Will.”

“Scarlet?” William scowled. “Do yourself a favor and forget about him. He’d already be dead if we didn’t need to make a show of killing him. A lot of important people will come to watch the Sheriff’s murderer die. But nobody outside these walls knows there were two killers. And besides, a woman on the rope is a hard sight.”

Elena rolled her head. “Will’s is the only life I’m ‘willing to bargain’ for.”

William brushed himself off and stood taller, that she would have to look up at him. He dropped any pretense of civility. “Let’s not mistake this situation for something it isn’t. There is no scenario in which Will walks away, not one. You two snuck into this castle and assassinated the Sheriff. Will isn’t in prison because I’m a terrible person, he’s in prison because he is. Death is exactly what he deserves. Hell, it may be what you deserve as well, but at least do me the favor of pretending it was all Will’s idea. There’s no bargain that gets him out of that cell until he goes straight to the gallows. That’s not how real life works. If he doesn’t hang, I would be seen as the most incompetent sheriff in England.”

“Then your competence is the price of peace.” She stepped up to the bars, her breasts pushed against them, just barely. William tried not to look. “You’re asking me to sacrifice my friends, and you’re unwilling to sacrifice your reputation?”

“I’m asking you to save your friends!” he spat. He shouldn’t have. She shouldn’t have been able to rile him, but he could feel the potential for success slipping deeper into the earth than the cells below. “Goddamn it, we can help each other here. I am trying to strengthen my position, to keep Gisbourne away from you, don’t you see that? I’ve got everyone after me, I don’t have enough men, and if I lose this position, you lose your life. My reputation is the only thing that keeps you alive. So yes, it is paramount. I wouldn’t expect you to understand.”

“What would you sacrifice for your peace, then?” she asked, raising an eyebrow. Her fingertips gently traced the bars. “Would you sacrifice a friend? A lover?”