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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

Not until he answered the important question. “What about us, William?”

He tried to touch her again, and this time she stopped him more forcefully. He thought he was apologizing, but he wasn’t. “You don’t need to go to France. We can still…” and he waved his hand ambiguously about. That. That was the entirety of their relationship to him, a vague sexual gesture he couldn’t even put into words.

“We can still … what? No, we can’t still…” she repeated his little hand flail back at him, “I can’t still … with a man whose wife has the ear of the King. Are you insane?”

“I’m so sorry,” he said, stepping away from her. So sorry.

“Don’t be so sorry. Be something better than sorry. By proving it. Put a stop to this now.”

His shoulders slumped, his face sagged. He wasn’t handsome anymore. He looked old, and defeated, unwilling to fight for himself, much less fight for her.

“I am so sorry,” he repeated, the same empty words, and he sat back in his chair, in Roger’s chair. With his back to her. Roger was there, on the wall, judging him, too. Whatever was left of William said, “But I stand by my decision.”

She wouldn’t be waiting three days this time. There was no point in wasting even another minute on him. She had nowhere to go, but nowhere alone was better than anywhere with him.

“You’re worthless,” she told the back of his head. “You could marry the King himself, and you’d still be worthless.”

FORTY-NINE

GUY OF GISBOURNE

SHERWOOD FOREST

“DON’T KNOW THAT ANYONE here can help you,” a craven husk of a man whined, in some little armpit farm near Carleton. “Where did you say you was from now?”

They had started in the smaller villages, and instantly noticed the stark difference in how they were treated. Without their colors they were disguised as nobodies, entering a world in which they were only as valuable as their valuables. At least within a city, there was always the mutual agreement that civilization had merit. Even the filth at the bottom still loved that city as much as anyone. Rabble such as the Red Lions and the other wharfside gangs had fought side by side with the Nottingham blue when war came to their streets fifteen years ago, because there was recognition, within a city, that all their fates were irreparably bound together. But as Guy and the men of the Black Guard strayed away from that safety, they entered the great perilous experiment of lawlessness.

“We have information we need to get to Robin Hood.” Guy drawled out his words to hide his education. “It’s a matter of grave importance.”