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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

He would come and meet her again. He’d make the offer again, hoping she would be more desperate. She could still make a choice, the choice to say no. She couldn’t give up the camp, not even if Wendenal swore to let the women and children leave safely. She couldn’t be responsible for bringing them here. Not Arthur and David, who’d kept her safe more times than she could remember. Not Alan and his silly crush on her he thought nobody knew about. And certainly not John Little, who had been a father to her, the kindest soul she had ever known. She could protect them, by saying no.

You brought Much to Bernesdale, it laughed.

That wasn’t on her.

You couldn’t save him.

It was on the Captain, for trapping them. It was on the Sheriff, for ordering it. It was on Robin, for lying to them.

You can’t save Will, it bled.

She pushed it down.

But you can still save yourself.

She pushed it down, down.

FORTY-FIVE

ROBIN OF LOCKSLEY

THE OAK CAMP

PRINCE JOHN’S FACE HARDENED around a lunatic’s smile, as if he could not fathom the concept of being denied that which he wanted. “I wonder if you misheard everything I said. You need help. I want to give you help. And as far as help goes, I’m about as spectacular a friend as you could possibly hope for.”

“Oh, I heard it all,” Robin laughed, stepping down from the carriage’s sideboard as the prince closed the door on himself. A moment later his head popped out its window, begging for a different answer. Robin leaned closer. “I’ll consider your offer, but I’m sure you can understand I need to speak with the group before I can make any promises.”

“I can understand that, but I willfully choose not to.” John lilted his head dramatically against the window’s intricately whittled frame. “That’s why I became a prince. You’ll find you get your way more often if you ignore everyone else’s feelings. You should try it. I’ve already heard someone refer to you as the prince of thieves.”

Robin didn’t care for that moniker at all. “Who said that?”

“A very fat man who hates princes. Of all kinds.”

A clatter of tortured wood and metal distracted them, as Hadrian’s blade freed the carriage of its tail of broken instruments. So too went the colorful banners and sleigh bells that had draped along the sides.

“Nobody’s going to believe us,” Alan exclaimed, hopping at the side of the road in excitement. “I wish you would have come back to meet everyone!”

“Were you counting?” the prince asked him, staring at his own fingers.

“I’m sorry?”

“Were you counting?”

Alan paused to look down to the ground. “No, sorry, I wasn’t.”