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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

“As I said earlier, you’re all my prisoners. I’ll have to take you in immediately, I’m afraid. I can offer you the finest cells in all of England—lots of open air, no walls, that sort of thing. Your trials will be held the day after never, and your punishment is that you’ll have to work to earn your keep. In exchange you can live your lives in a way that best suits you. John. Get your families out of the woods. Stop robbing the caravans to Richard’s army. My father will help you out with the tax collectors, and I can get back to where I belong.”

It was the best offer they’d ever receive, and they would be fools not to see it. With one leg tied behind his back, Robin had just saved the war. His only regret was that William wasn’t there to marvel at his victory.

Still, it surprised him that John did not put up any resistance.

“We ought to see the place, then,” he said. “Just a handful of us, for now. Spend the night here. In the morning, we’ll follow you home.”

FIFTEEN

ARABLE DE BUREL

NOTTINGHAM CASTLE

SEVERAL BURLAP BUNDLES OF wrapped meats and hard sausages waited side by side—meals for a dozen Guardsmen and a few days’ worth of travel. Arable had been instructed to deliver them to the stables, and it did not yet appear they would deliver themselves.

Gunny could do it instead, but if word got back to Mistress Roana, questions would be raised that Arable did not want to answer. The truth was she felt like a captive in the castle of late, existing only at the mercy of the secrets she had told, and yet knew so little about.

It had been three months since she informed Captain Gisbourne of Jon Bassett’s unusual late-night meetings in the wine cellar. So far as Arable could tell, absolutely nothing had come of it excepting her own misery. How foolish. The moment she recognized Bassett’s face, she should have realized he was too important to be punished. But seeing Gisbourne laugh with Bassett in the dining hall that night, she couldn’t help herself. She could have held back, pretended she knew nothing. Instead she’d pounded that infernal cup by Bassett’s plate, thinking someway it would matter. She thought Gisbourne would do the right thing. But Bassett was not only still in the Guard, he was still in the Captain’s Regiment. And Gisbourne had not spoken to her since.