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

She pushed the thought down. There would be a chance to leave this place. She chose to be sharp enough to find it. Half of luck was simply having the courage to act when the moment was right. Killing the Sheriff, for instance, had been a perfect chance with a tiny window of opportunity. If she and Will had debated it with the others, it would have passed them by. Instead they’d jumped on instinct, and everything she suffered now was worth it. It would be over, soon enough. She just had to keep her eyes open for that next window.

Still, it was harder without Will. He was somewhere down here, too, “down the north tunnel,” she had overheard. Every now and then, after waiting too long and then even longer, she’d give a trill little whistle from her cell to let Will know she was still there. Every now and then, after dying of fear and pinching herself to keep from crying, and then longer, she’d hear the response, just barely from down the tunnel. Or maybe she didn’t. Or maybe she thought she did. Or maybe some other prisoner was just copying her.

She wouldn’t let this place get the better of her. That’s what they wanted, it’s why they built it. It was cold and damp because they wanted her to be uncomfortable. If she let that bother her, they got what they wanted. When she missed Will so much it hurt, when she wanted to scratch her own hair out, that was their plan, too. It wouldn’t work, not on her. She wouldn’t be staying here. This was just a place. It was just a place.

Her mind flirted with a thought. Like scratching a bug bite, she’d realize she was doing it before remembering not to.

William de Wendenal’s offer.

No, that wasn’t the way they’d get out of this. Not by someone else’s hand. No, they would get through it together, her and Will. That was her choice.

You’ll have to make another choice, her fear whispered. The choice to leave him behind.

Will. She didn’t see his face when she thought of him, but rather a collection of expressions, just an instant long each. A flash of his eyebrows. A wrinkling of his nose. A guilty smile he couldn’t hide. That stupid way he’d flick his tongue out when he thought he was being intimidating. The way he’d brush a floppy wave of blondfire off his forehead just to have it tumble forward again. His little half utterances that weren’t words when he was trying to think. The stubble on his cheek, it felt differently on her hand than it did on her lips, than it did on her thighs.