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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

“I can give you a poison.” Ferrers was meeting with the visiting Bishop of Hereford even as they spoke, procuring the rare vial. “You mix it into a drink, it only takes a small amount. It takes a few hours, so no one will know it was you.”

Scarlet’s eyes retracted into slits. “What if I didn’t go through with it? You would be setting both of us free, I could simply lie to you and walk out of here.”

“You could, I suppose,” Guy bluffed, “but my instinct tells me you care about more than just your life. If all you cared about was yourself, you wouldn’t be here in the first place.”

In reality, it didn’t matter at all if Will went through with it. If Scarlet and Elena escaped now, Wendenal would be humiliated—and Locksley’s men wouldn’t have any excuse to come on Sunday at all. Guy could spoil Wendenal’s scheming just by setting the captives free, and if they killed Robin in return then that was simply gravy.

It was curious. Dying was literally the only thing Guy did not want Will Scarlet to do.

“The escape,” Will asked. “How will it work?”

IT WASN’T THE LAWFUL path. Disguises and lies, deceptions. Guy had become that which he hated. But under the thumb of such corruption, at the mercy of unprecedented danger, what other tactics were there? What was the value of an honest life if it served no others? By doing nothing, Guy would have doomed those that had no other voice. Once this threat was over, he would live with the weight of his decisions, balanced by the lives that would be saved. That was his sacrifice to make.

He wondered if this was how the outlaws justified their crimes.

For there was one more deed Guy needed to do this night, and it was the darkest one yet. It grew a black pit in his stomach to even think upon. He had strategized with himself in circles, finally resigning on the necessity of this last action. It played to the worst of man’s nature, to prey on the vulnerable, and Guy trembled already at the prospect of going through with it. But it had to be done.

Poor, poor Arable.

FIFTY

ARABLE DE BUREL

NOTTINGHAM CASTLE