“What is it, Scar?” he asked, rubbing my back.
I shook my good hand out. “I saw my parents. You—you won’t need their permission for anything.”
“No? It didn’t go well?”
The swamping wave of their hate hit me again, and the shaking stopped, covered with dark and shame. “They think I killed Joanna. Their real daughter. Their only daughter,” I said, looking up at him.
“Only?” he repeated.
I nodded, feeling water draw up in my eyes. “They just kept saying it were my fault. My fault, and I weren’t theirs.”
“Love,” he murmured, hugging me tight. “From all you’ve told me, Joanna lived for you. She didn’t die because of you.”
It seemed easier—less painful—to remember her when I were inside Rob’s arms. Her smile. The way her long, elegant hands felt touching my face, tending to the scar Gisbourne put there. Rob stroked my hair, my neck, his hands on me melting everything away like butter in the sun.
“So they took you in?” he asked. “Did they tell you who from?”
“They didn’t,” I told him. “But Eleanor did.”
He pulled me off his chest to look at my face. “Eleanor of Aquitaine?”
I nodded.
“Who?” he asked.
“Richard,” I said, trying to find strength in my voice. “I am the daughter of Richard the Lionheart.”
Robin’s hands fell from me, and he staggered back a step. Then he stepped forward and kissed me.
I pushed him off. “What are you doing?” I snapped. “I just told you—”
“And I decided we’re just going to have to do this the dishonorable way, because there’s no way in hell I’m asking for his permission to marry you,” he told me, stepping forward again with a grin. “I love the man, but he terrifies me.”
I ducked his kiss. “Rob!”
He stopped, but caught me up anyway. “What?”
“This isn’t a joke. Eleanor told me herself.”
“Well, if you want me to, I’ll ask for your hand from him. Maybe I can just ask Eleanor. She seems to like me.”
“She does like you. But Rob! Please be serious.”
“Why?” he asked, losing the grin. “What problem do you see that I’m missing?”
“It’s why Prince John hates me. He’ll keep coming after me. There’s nothing to stop him.”
His arms tightened. “I already knew that he hates both of us. Why answers a bit of a mystery but doesn’t change anything. I’m sheriff now. I’ll have guards and the means to protect us and our children. And beyond that, I’ll protect you and you’ll protect me. I was thinking I should give you new knives for a wedding gift.”
My stomach twisted and my chest felt like stone. “Eleanor wants me to go to France. Or everywhere, with her, it seems.”
“Well, she can borrow you from time to time—this seems to make her your grandmother, yes?—but she can’t have you.” He stopped. “Do you want to go everywhere with her?”
“No,” I said. “I want to get to know her, but I told her I don’t ever want to leave Nottinghamshire.” I looked at him—how were it possible to feel so much love for a thing and feel so lost and hopeless at the same time?
“Then we’ll figure out something that satisfies you both. I can share.”
I blinked up at him. “This doesn’t change anything for you, does it?” I realized.
“Of course not.” He frowned. “Did you truly think it would?”
I nodded slow.
“Scarlet,” he murmured. His hands squeezed my waist. “I’ve told you all along, I knew who you were from the first. I know your heart. Names, titles, hair, odd clothing choices, none of that changes who you are. And I am madly in love with who you are.”
Staring at him seemed like the wisest thing to do.
“Do you know why I won today? How I won?” he asked.
I shook my head.
“I knew after the first shot they’d changed the arrows. I figured one more shot would never give me the feel of it enough to control the third. And then I imagined you, a tiny little ball of rage, berating me for ever doubting myself. Telling me that I’m the best damn archer you’ve ever seen and that there’s only one thing the prince didn’t count on—that I’m a better archer than he knows.”
A smile crept over me. “I dressed you right down, it seems.”
“You did. And you saw the effect it had on me.” He sighed. “Besides, it isn’t as if the nightmares are gone. It isn’t as if I won’t be dealing with this for a very, very long time, and if you can find it in you to love me despite all that, I don’t think you can really find it unfair for me to love you back.”