BooksBarbecue
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

“Don’t go out of your way now,” he had insisted. “But keep an ear out for anyone up to no good. I don’t have as many friends in this castle as a sheriff should.”

Nearly two years she had been here now, almost as long as de Lacy himself. The longest she had lived in a single place for fifteen years, and the closest thing she had to a home since she had been forced to flee her real one. Arable had played the role of a forgettable face in dozens of places since, almost always in exchange for her privacy. But she had learned that staying small rarely meant staying safe. Before Nottingham, she had spent half a year outside Grantham assisting an aging cartwright with his clerical and household chores, and happily seen nary another soul in that time. But her security there was exactly as unreliable as his failing business. When Roger de Lacy was made High Sheriff, Arable dared to write him. He was an old acquaintance of her family and gave her pity enough to bring her in. But that stability, too, brought risk. A position within Nottingham Castle, so close to Derby, might mingle her with those who could have once recognized her.

Fortunately, she had found advantage in the role’s anonymity. It was better than hiding, because as a servant she was invisible. Perhaps that was what gave her the courage now to breathe through the pitch black of the corridor, softfoot by softfoot, into the vegetable larder beside the wine cellar. A tiny spot of light trickled through a hole between the rooms, back against the wall and impossible to see through, but when Arable pressed her ear to the stones she could hear the muffled whispers of the Guardsmen much clearer.

She snuggled up against a sack of potatoes and let her weight down slowly, one limb at a time, into a position she could keep. It was cold down here, more a cave than a room, and her ear went quickly numb against the stone. She listened as long as she could stand it, and though she could not make out all of what was said, she heard enough to know she had to visit Sheriff de Lacy as soon as possible.