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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

Fortunately, Acre’s defenders had been equally surprised. The shortage of shortarms had not crippled the English battalions as much as Robin predicted, but mostly because a bulk of Saladin’s army had apparently already withdrawn from Acre to Jerusalem. But even with those advantages, the invasion was hardly easy. Robin had marveled at William, who somehow flourished under the pressure of chaos. Nobles study war scholastically, or command from the back ranks, but William seemed to know it by its first name. He knew the frenzy and confusion, the sweat and blood and horror of fighting for your life and for the lives of those around you. Taking a city isn’t about well-ordered soldiers in rank and file, it’s all elbows and corners and nobody knowing anything. It’s a blur of noise and action, more than most people can handle, which is why so many soldiers get killed by a friendly blade, and innocent people get butchered.

But that had not been this city’s fate. William had earned the name of Lionheart that day, and the city was rightfully his. Robin had been at his side, protecting him, but the victory was William’s.

The King had neither commented nor chastised William yet for his decision to don the warcrown, and returned to his new aversion toward their doubling, even despite his lingering sickness. But William currently lounged in the safety of the opulent tower Richard had seized for himself, which seemed like approval compared to Robin’s role of carrying weapons up the staircase. There were several degrees of bullshit at play there. Protecting the king still had its benefits, but Robin had to admit he missed the weight of the crown.

Kings, after all, didn’t have to haul lost weapons.

The slatted ceiling beams groaned and creaked, as the movement of men above scattered the light to dance about the cluttered room. Its musk was of grains and vegetables, a storage area for those on guard. The rest of the room was all structural, holding up the walkway above, providing plenty of nooks and shadows that concealed the boy with the knife with whom Robin casually found himself locking eyes.

Neither moved for several heartbeats.