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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

The gate swings both ways, he told the men whose calves he’d slashed. My friends will reward you if you tell us about Robin Hood. But if I find he’s visited you and nobody told us, then I’ll take increasingly large pieces of you until the majority of your body is mine. I’ll let you decide for each other which part I take next. Do we understand one another?

They did. Gilbert thought about sliding his knife through one of their throats, he would have enjoyed it, wouldn’t he? It would have satisfied the buzzing. It had been over a year since he’d scratched it, since he’d needed to. But for a breathless nagging reason he didn’t. Something about the idea that Much had gone the same way.

That had been new. He didn’t want to call it grief, but it rang of the ugly thing.

He didn’t tell Silas or Quillen about that little incident. It was well understood, wasn’t it, that cutting calves was considered rude amongst strangers. Until he spent more time with his new companions, he would have to keep certain sides of himself hidden, as he had with Marion’s men. A few of them understood there was wonderful depth to darkness. But for those who believed that God was made of light, Gilbert would always have to only pretend to live in their world.

THEY KEPT QUARTERS IN the barracks of the middle bailey, four to a room. Gilbert housed with Silas, Marshall, and Peveril. But he spent much of his nights out, studying the castle, memorizing distances between doors, finding the darkest nooks where one could conceal oneself, or a body. Whether he would ever need this information he couldn’t say, but he wouldn’t be in want of its knowledge. As the honorary ghost story of whichever group he found himself, it was his duty to play the part. There were not many private indulgences he allowed himself, but playing to this caricature was one of them.

He’d already heard the usual bevy of theories on his glove go around the castle and back again. That he was saving his hand until it could take Robin Hood’s life. That he only had two fingers and that he killed anyone who ever saw him take the glove off. One was that he only wore the glove to make people talk of it.