Chapters (76)
- Title Page
- Copyright Notice
- Dedication
- PROLOGUE
- PART I
- ONE
- TWO
- THREE
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- PART II
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- PART III
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- INTERLUDE
- PART IV
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- INTERLUDE
- PART V
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- PART VI
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- INTERLUDE
- PART VII
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- PART VIII
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- EPILOGUE
- AUTHOR’S NOTE
- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
- ABOUT THE AUTHOR
- Newsletter Sign-up
In front of John was Will’s face, so close, his eyes bloated and red, his face half-bruised, somehow his hands were on John’s lapel, he was pulling. The world was out of focus. Had he done it yet? No, she was crying still. His fingers felt too big to fit on his hands.
“Turn your head, Will. You shouldn’t see this.”
Elena said something. John couldn’t hear her.
“Please.” Will again. “Let her go. I’ll go with her. I’ll leave, too. This is my fault, I brought her here.”
“They’ll catch her, Will.” John recognized this voice as his own. “They’ll torture her. You won’t be able to live with yourself. It’s better if we do it. There’s a pity there.”
“I would hate you for it, John. I don’t want that. I’d rather hate myself.”
Every part of John was old. He should have left with Marley.
“I can take it,” he lied. “You can’t.”
John closed his eyes
and
watched himself snap his arms together, to break her neck.
But he couldn’t do it. In a gasp of life his anger vanished, his vision was clear, and he wanted it all to go away. Anything for her to still be there, brash little Elena curling her lip like a brat. He let her go and she slipped away.
Behind, someone yelled, “Stop her!”
Let her run, John thought. Let her run.
He turned to watch her disappear into the woods, but she wasn’t running. She was at the campfire, finishing the last of the cup.
Robin’s cup.
“I’m so sorry,” she said as she dropped it.
Then there was nothing left to do.
Will moved, he grabbed her, he kissed her, his hands brushed her hair.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it,” he whispered an inch from her face. “We’ll get out of here, together. Let’s just go.”
“I love you.” She said it flatly, calmly. “You know that, right?”
“We’ll go back to the road, we can go anywhere you want, like we’ve always done. This was just a place. We’ll go to the next one. Come on.”
“You’re the best man I’ve ever met.” She pulled his head even closer to her own. “Of course you said no to Gisbourne because you’re so good, and I’m not.”
“No, no.” Will put his hands on her cheeks. “Let’s go. Let’s go now.”
She tugged his hair and smiled. “You did the right thing when nobody else would.”
“But it wasn’t the right thing, Lena,” he said as they both lowered down to the ground, and he cradled her in his arms. “It wasn’t the right thing to do.”