CHAPTER Two
John kicked my boot, and I jerked. It weren’t like I’d been sleeping, just tucked inside a half-frozen stillness that had settled down on my skin. Rob
kicked him back for it, and John stepped free. “You really want to take me on, Rob?” he asked. John were smiling, but he were standing between me and
Rob again.
“Not at the moment,” Rob allowed, standing and pulling me up, going round John to do it. He held me a moment, his hands on my arms, his face glowing
heat onto mine.
John looked over his shoulder at us.
“Don’t want to be late,” Much said.
Rob let me go and I glared at Much. It weren’t like me and Rob had more than our share of soft moments.
“What?” Much asked me, but I shook my head. The boy had less sense than a wooden post sometimes.
Rob led the way, and I followed behind him, with Much behind me and John at the flank. The winter forest were different for us; the snow covered the
ground and made everything in the forest a lie, a trick. Holes were covered over, once-strong branches were brittle and weak. Everything looked beautiful
and clear, like the world were at peace, but what it really meant was not a thing could live upon its frightful cold.
Not even me, and I were a creature meant for no warmth, no sun, no light. The winter forest wouldn’t hide me in its branches, weren’t strong enough for
me to run along the trees, and it made me stand out against its snow.
My forest had turned on me.
The closer we got to Edwinstowe, the more the thing turned into a dance. In the winter forest, you could see farther than were fair good for a thief or
her friends, so each step forward were a step to the side, stepping close to a tree to blend dark clothes to dark wood.
On the edge of Edwinstowe, the others stayed against the trees while I moved forward. I were still the best at this part, moving silent and unseen
through a place. I taught the others what I could, but there weren’t no teaching the shadows to welcome you in.
I stole through the rough rows of houses to the well in the center of town. I waited on the side of the nearest house, listening.
Their heavy footfalls were loud enough to announce them from far off. The knights strode through the town, the lane empty but for them. The villagers had
learned to stay well below their notice; the knights were wont to take whatever they pleased.
I heard a door open in the quiet, and the footfalls stopped. “Sirs,” said a breathlike voice, so oversoft I couldn’t tell who spoke.
“Miss,” the two returned.
“Why, I was just headed to the well for some water,” the voice purred out.
“Allow us to help.”
Quick moments passed before the two knights appeared, one holding a pail and the other holding the arm of Agatha Morgan, Mistress Morgan’s redheaded
eldest child. The first knight hooked the pail onto the rope and set to lowering it while Aggie leaned back against the well, batting her pretty lashes
up at the second knight.
“How do the menfolk fare?” she asked sweet. “My father is one of the men rebuilding the wall.”
“Is he?” the knight asked. “I’ll ask for him and bring you news. The reconstruction goes well, and since we’ve come to town the vagabonds
responsible for the destruction of the castle haven’t shown their faces.”
“Good thing,” the first knight responded, heaving back to pull up the full pail. “We’d show them what a few good English knights can do to lawless
rebels.”
“Is it true the king himself ordered you to come look after us?” she asked.
“King’s away,” the first knight reminded her. He weren’t quite noticing her game.
The second knight knew what she were about, and she arched her back from the well. He grinned. “The prince sent us. The castle, the wood, and the whole
county falls back to his care without a sheriff. And we promised to take very good care of it in his absence.” He stepped closer to Aggie, looking
shameless at her chest as she smiled at him. “Have you good ladies missed having your men about?” he asked.
It were meant to sound saucy, I’m sure, but it were all I could do not to spit. Honestly, all the knights were pigs and Aggie were a damn fool. Not many
women in Nottinghamshire—specially the married ones without their husbands—had slept peaceful and safe with their men forced to work for the Crown. And
Aggie may have giggled when he touched her, running his hand up her arm, but I stepped forward.
“Morning, Aggie,” I called. “Sirs.”
Aggie’s face dropped, and her body fell back against the well. She crossed her arms. “Imagine meeting you here.”
The second knight took in Aggie’s change and turned back to me, sauntering closer. “Why aren’t you at the wall, lad? All able-bodied men were called—
even small, rather flimsy-looking ones.”
“Oh, for Heaven’s sake, she’s a girl in pants.” Aggie pouted.
The knight took new interest in me, looking me over. “Well I suppose that’s lucky. Look, one for each of us. I’ll even let you have the pretty one.”
Aggie looked wounded as the first knight put the pail down.
“Don’t put your hands on her,” I warned him.
The second knight grinned. “Jealous? I’ll keep you busy, pet. Though it looks like you’ve already had a man’s hands on you.” His eyes hooked on my
neck.
I put my hand over it, swallowing under the pain. I knew it were swollen, but it must have bruised up overnight.
“I’m right glad Rob finally taught you a lesson,” Aggie told me with a sniff. “That’s what you get for being so meddlesome.”
The mood changed quick, and the first knight grabbed Aggie’s arm. “Rob?” he asked. “Robin Hood?”
“The vagabond?” the second knight said, and took quick steps toward me. I stepped to the side.
Aggie had the sense to be sorry, even if it were late and little at that. “N-no,” Aggie lied quick. “Her husband. Robert of Gisbourne.”
“Lord Gisbourne,” I snapped, and the knight halted his advance.
The knight laughed. “There’s no way in hell you’re Lady Leaford.”
His fellow coughed, though, and the second knight looked back to see the first one leaving Aggie be. “We should go.”
“She isn’t Lady Leaford!” the second said.
“Didn’t you hear any of the stories?” the first knight muttered to him. He shook his head and prodded his fellow farther down the lane.
As the knights disappeared, Aggie stomped her foot and turned on me. I frowned at her, going to the well and tying a scarlet ribbon to the hook. “How
could you?” she snapped. “How am I ever supposed to get a husband with you interfering?”
“Go home, Aggie,” John said, coming from behind a house with the others. “Or I’ll tell your father what you’re angling for.”
She crossed her arms. “Oh, I’ll tell him what you angled from me right back, John Little.”
John frowned at her like he were losing patience. “Yes, Aggie, I’m sure you’re eager to tell your father that.”
“Go,” Rob told her, bare glancing her way. “And don’t speak to Scar like that again, Agatha.”
“I didn’t mean to let it slip—” she started.
“No,” he said sharp. “You meant to be cruel to the girl who saved your father’s life. Who fed you when you were hungry. That’s what you meant. Go
home, Agatha.”
She turned heel and left, and Rob came close to me and let his fingers brush over mine. My heart caught the sunlight and tried to tuck it in so close I
felt near to bursting. I beamed at him, remembering again—he loves me.
He gave me a soft, small smile, but it blew off like smoke when his eyes dropped to my neck.
Rob turned from me, my fingers going cold where they had been warm, and I pulled my collar up tight against the bruises.
“Come on,” Rob told us, and we continued on to Lord Thoresby’s manor.
Thoresby’s loyal guards let us pass unbothered, and we went to the barn. It were warmer in there, full of animals and horses and wide-open space in the
middle. There were three little people waiting for us.
Jack and Will Clarke came over to us, trailed by the littlest Morgan girl, Missy. She came and stood beside me, quiet, in a way that always made me want
to tuck her under my coat. Jack went over to Rob and started yapping at him, and Will drifted slow to me.
“Hullo, Scarlet,” he said.
“Morning, Will.”
His cheeks threw up a red flame, and he looked at me and then away. His small chest puffed with breath and he looked at me again, his face turning angry
and sour. “Did someone hurt you?” he demanded, his voice loud. “Was it a knight? I’ll kill him! I’m a much better shot now!”
At twelve, he weren’t much shorter than me, but I felt a need to kneel down. “No, no,” I told him quick. “My coat snagged on a tree and yanked me
back, that were all.” I saw Rob turn away from me at the lie. “Besides, who would hurt me when you’re around to protect me?”
He looked at me, very solemn, and said, “I’ll cut down the tree if you show me which one. And if it’s not too tall.”
Trying to swallow my smile, I shook my head. “We can let the tree live.”
The barn door opened, and a few more of the children and women from the town came in. Will went to his brother, and Rob slipped up beside me.
“I hate to make you lie,” he whispered, his breath rushing over my ear and making shivers trickle down my spine like water.
I shrugged. “I’m a liar. Besides, he wouldn’t understand.”
“Are we supposed to understand?” John asked, glaring at Rob and not looking at me. “Because I don’t.”
“Shut it, John,” I told him with a frown.
“Will definitely wouldn’t. All he’d understand is someone that claims to love Scarlet is hurting her. He’d probably kill you, Rob,” John said,
coming close. “Or happily die trying. I think the young man has a crush on Scar.”
“You would know what that looks like, wouldn’t you, John?” Rob asked, his voice iron hard.
“Rob!” I snapped.
But John just chuckled. “Well, who could blame me. I mean, you’re the love of her life, but I’m the one who knows what her kiss tastes like, right?”
The boys were glaring at each other, not paying a lick of mind to me. Which were fair fine with me, for John didn’t see it coming when I kneed him in
the bits. He didn’t fall, but he howled and twisted away from me.
“What the damn hell, Scar!” he roared.
“You are my friend, John Little, you do not wag your chin about any bit of me like that,” I snapped. I whirled around. I wanted to slap Rob, but I didn
’t. “And you. John’s trying to protect me from your dreams, your nightmares, something none of us fair well understand, so don’t bait him like that.
It’s cruel and you know it.”
He swallowed, and he looked at me, his face open and worn. “I am cruel, Scar,” he said, like it were a confession. His eyes fell to my neck, and he
shook his head. “Come,” he called loud, his voice rougher. He stepped away from me. “Let’s practice with the bows. John, are you well enough to help?
”
John coughed and nodded to him. My heart twisted like a scrap of cloth, and I took the stairs two at a time to the hayloft. I sat on the edge, watching
as the nine children and two women what had come lined up to listen to Rob teach them to defend themselves, and their homes, and their families.
Much came and sat beside me with a sigh.
“You have to know, with John—”
“I know,” I said. “I know better than you think.”
“He just wants to protect you.”
“I know he does. And I’ll always love him for it and many more reasons. But he and Rob are so awful to each other sometimes.”
Much gave a soft noise, and I turned and took in his sad and mournful face. He saw me looking and shrugged. “They may be awful to each other, but only
because they know they’re brothers. And brothers can fight.” He paused a long stretch. “They don’t fight with me,” he said.
“We’re all family,” I told him. “They just think of you like the baby.”
He frowned. “I’m not a baby. I’ve grown a few inches, I think.”
“I know.”
He scowled. “You know?”
I laughed. “All your pants are short.”
“Scarlet?”
I turned and looked to the stair where Missy Morgan stood, hanging back. She were as pretty as milk and sun, more short and quiet than her two sisters,
but she were the jewel amongst them. She crowded the rail, her shoulders sunk in.
“I don’t want to learn the bow so much. Can we practice more with the knives?” she asked.
Nodding, I stood from the ledge and pulled Much up with me. Looking at her, making herself small even in this place where she knew there weren’t nothing
to fear, my breath caught. “I reckon so. Much, will you run and snatch a few?”
He looked at my vest where I had at least three, but I met his eyes full and he nodded. He went past Missy, touching her arm a little, and she raised her
eyes to him and held her breath till he passed.
Were Missy sweet on Much? That would be a match to be sure—though I weren’t the sort to know if a love could survive with so much shy and kind in it.
I waved her closer, and she drifted up to me. “Did something happen, Missy?” I asked her.
A wash of color went all over her face, splotches of pink and red like fast-blooming roses. “Y-yes,” she said. “Sort of. I was at market, and a man,
he put his arms on my waist and he said something—something awful,” she said, her gaze falling to the wooden floor and her hands shaking.
“Oh—” I started, but she weren’t finished.
“And I did what you said. I stepped on his foot, and I hit him with my elbow,” she said, wrapping her arms tight round herself. “And he let me go, and
I ran. But I think I’d feel better with a knife.”
My heart filled up hard and fast, bits of happiness spilling over the edges and slopping around inside my chest. Most nights it felt like God himself
were punishing me, but seeing a girl protect herself instead of asking someone to do it for her felt like some kind of redemption. “Then we’ll get you
a knife,” I told her.
It were late in the afternoon when Thoresby came in, two servants with him carrying food for the children. He nodded to us and came closer, leaving the
children—and John, the big hungry thing—to descend on the food.
Thoresby weren’t a big man. He weren’t an overstrong man, or clever, or young. But he were always fair, and I liked that about him.
“Have you heard anything?” Rob asked. His body turned a bit, leaning toward mine, like everything in him were pulling him closer to me and stopping
just short of touching.
Thoresby nodded. “The prince is coming to Nottinghamshire. They’re speeding up progress on the wall to be ready in time—a fortnight at the most.”
I sucked in a breath. “Will he name a sheriff?” I asked.
“If he’s decided, he hasn’t let me know.”
“But he received your petition for it?” Rob asked.
Thoresby sighed. “The messenger assured me he received it. Robin, I warned you not to rest too much hope on this. It’s a very political appointment,
and he has nothing to gain from appointing me.”
“Nonsense,” Rob said, waving this off. “You’re well thought of at court.”
“If I’m ever there,” he said. “It’s unlikely at best, Robin.”
“He’ll appoint you. Who else could he choose?”
“There are still unclaimed lands,” he said. “Most of your old Huntingdon properties are still unentailed. He could easily bring someone into the
county to make them eligible. And many minor landholders are eligible. There are a surprising number of possibilities.”
Muscle in Rob’s jaw flickered and bulged out. “Then gain his notice. Persuade him. Do something, Thoresby,” Rob snapped.
“I know how much you want me to be sheriff, but you must prepare yourself—” he said, clapping his hand on Rob’s shoulder.
Rob pushed it off. “No. No. What I must prepare myself for is defending the people again, because clearly I’m the only one willing to stand up for
them.”
Thoresby heaved a great sigh and looked round at the barn. “Things seem to be going well here, Robin. It was a good idea.”
“It was Scar’s idea,” he said, flat. “Good thing they’re learning to protect themselves—those children are growing up in a world where not one of
the people who are duty-bound to honor and shelter them care for their well-being. Or don’t you remember what they have suffered under the last sheriff?
They were taxed and tortured within an inch of their lives, Thoresby. Have you forgotten?”
Thoresby looked at me. I shook my head and opened my mouth to defend Thoresby, say something to allow for Rob’s short words and shorter temper, but
Thoresby’s eyes went to my neck.
My hand ran quick to it, covering up where I thought I had done. “It’s not—” I started, but Thoresby shook his head.
“You don’t owe me any kind of explanation.” He looked to Rob. “We all want to see these people safe and protected, Robin. And evidently, we all fail
in our own ways.” He sighed again, tucking his hands round back behind him. “Use the barn as long as you like.”
Thoresby left, and the children laughed at something John said.
Rob turned and slammed his foot against the nearest stall door. It wrenched with an awful noise, and the whole thing shattered, throwing chunks to the
ground and leaving rough pieces hanging on the hinge. Thank God there weren’t no horse in there, or Rob would have been kicked something awful.
The children stopped laughing.
“Go on home,” Much said to them. “We’ll be back again, when you see the ribbon at the well. Be careful.”
John started herding them out, and I crossed my arms. Rob snapped another bit of wood, color moving ’cross his face, wild and harsh. He bent down to
grab another piece, and I cursed at him, rushing forward.
I hit the wood from his hands and pushed him, pressing him up against the wall, my hands on his shoulders. It weren’t a fierce grip, not like John
might, but it were enough to stop him. “What are you doing?” I snapped.
He pushed up, using my grip against me and moving me back with his shoulders in my hands, powerful and strong but gentle. My back nudged the other wall
and he pressed closer, leaning against me. His breath were rough and hot and puffed over my cheek, my ear, my neck.
My hands curled slow around him, drawing him close to me, tight against me. “What are you doing, Rob?” I whispered.
He tucked his face into my shoulder and drew long, shuddering breaths. “We’re not going to make it through this, Scar. Not another sheriff. Not another
nightmare.” His voice dropped, and if it weren’t for the way the words slipped along my skin, I would have doubted he spoke them. “I’m not going to
make it through this again.”
I sighed against him, trying to think of the right thing to say. “Someone tried to hurt Missy,” I told him soft. He went tense, but I twisted my
fingers through his hair to keep him still and silent. “She fought him off. She saved herself.” He looked at me, a tendril of hope like a deep current
in his eyes. “We will make it through this, because you aren’t alone. I’m with you, the lads are with you, and now the town is with you. If Missy
Morgan can fight a man, we will make it through this.”
“What happened to Missy?” John asked, scowling into the horse stall where Rob and I were twined up against each other like ivy run wild.
“Nothing, and that’s the point,” I told him, pulling from Rob gentle.
Rob caught my hand and held it, tipping it up and pressing a kiss into the palm. He ran his thumb over the big vein there on my wrist, and it rippled
through me like a shock.
“I’m going to go to the castle,” I told them. “Thoresby said the prince is coming.”
“I’ll go with you,” John said.
“No, I’ll be well enough. Place is bare guarded now.”
“Save for the knights,” Much said.
I shrugged. “They’re lazy.”
John stared hard at me, even as Rob nodded. “You’ll be all right. Go on so you’re back before nightfall.”
I broke John’s gaze at that.
“Bring us news of the men,” Much said.
Nodding, I said, “You lot headed back to the monastery?”
“You go. Much, will you help me tidy up a bit first?” Rob asked.
Much went to it, and I went for the door.
“You’re not coming back before nightfall, are you?”
Lifting a shoulder, I saw John behind me. “I’ll be back, John.”
He met my eyes, dark and heavy. “Don’t hurry.”
I nodded, swallowing though it hurt my swollen throat. I went out the door and off for the castle, stealing myself some precious time to be alone and
think.