Lion Heart (20 page)

I nodded. “He is.”

She nodded hard. “Good. You tell him that, will you? He loves you.”

“I will,” I promised. “Come—you should rest, and I won't let you sleep on the floor in your state.”

She nodded again, wiping away more tears, and her friend and I both conspired to pull her up gentle. I went and found an empty room—though a boy came
in and I kicked him out, so maybe the chamber hadn't been very empty—and even with my awkward hands, I untied her dress and served as her maid to change her for bed.

“Thank you,” she said when I were done.

I nodded, my mouth opening. I frowned, not sure how to say the words. “I'm sorry, Bess,” I managed. “I'm so sorry. I got him killed.”

Her shoulders jumped a little. “On my worst days, Scarlet, I blamed you. And Robin, and Much. Everyone there. But it's not your fault. Prince John killed him. That's all.” Some pain came to her again, and I eased her onto the bed. “I'm just lucky he didn't take Much this time around. It was him that burned the city, wasn't it?” she asked.

“Yes,” I said. “I doubt we'll be able to prove that, but I know it was.”

“That's what I thought. So now . . . now I just pray he won't have the chance to hurt my baby, Scar.”

Unsure, I touched my fingertips to her belly, and she pressed them there. I felt something move, and I shut my eyes. “No one will hurt that baby, Bess. I promise.”

Tears leaked out the side of her eyes. “Is that a promise you can keep?” she whispered.

I nodded. “Yes.” I tried to smile. “If nothing else, John will haunt me all my days if I don't.”

She gave a tiny half laugh and nodded. “Will you tell Much where I am?” she asked.

“I will,” I said.

She relaxed onto the pillow, as much as she could in such a state, and I left her, closing my eyes. God, I prayed that were a promise I could keep.

I found Much and told him, and he quit the hall in a breath, telling me Rob had gone down to the treasury. Smiling after him, I went down there. It weren't much—just a heavily locked room deep in the rock the castle had been built on. But the door were in splinters on the ground and the room were empty, not including Rob, sitting in a chair. The other chair and the table were broken too.

He had a coin in his hand, and he were staring at it, looking just as broken as the table.

“Rob?” I called.

He looked up. He drew a deep breath and held up the coin. “All that's left,” he said. “All the county's money. All the tax for the ransom. This is it.” He flipped it and caught it. “You asked me what's happened here since you left, and it has been the hardest thing I've ever done. Being the sheriff, imposing a tax that breaks my people even though I want my king home more than most—these months have been brutal. I've never felt so responsible, so aware of the sacrifice I'm asking them to make. And
while I was trying to keep everyone alive, they came and stole our money. The people will be dead anyway, and I'm just a fool.”

“You're not a fool, Rob.”

He shook his head, looking down, leaning over his knees. He were broken. “It doesn't matter if I am or I'm not; the people don't have the money left. They'll starve as it is.” He held up the coin again. “This is all that stands between us and Prince John, Scarlet. Our overlord just stole our damn money so he can beat us within an inch of our lives.”

“Not our overlord,” I told him, looking at the splinters on the floor.

“What did you say?” he asked.

“Prince John isn't our overlord anymore,” I told him.

I looked up at him. Our eyes met, and held, and I didn't know if I could say the words.

“I am. I'm the Lady—” I faltered, looking down again. “Of Huntingdon.”

“But you can't be,” he said, and he sounded so confused it hurt. “Richard would have had to . . .” He trailed off, and I looked up, still hugged against the door, nervous to come into the room full. “And Eleanor would have asked him to do it the moment Prince John imprisoned you. Hell, she probably wrote to him from Nottingham.”

“Rob,” I said, coming forward.

He stood up before I got to him, and picked up the chair he'd sat on and heaved it against the wall, shattering it.

I jumped back. “Rob!” I yelled.

“Dammit, Scarlet!” Rob yelled back. “All this does is place
you
squarely in his sights. Now
you're
the one who won't pay the tax. You think he won't bury you for that?”

“I think he will try to kill me just about every which way he can,” I snapped back at him. “With or without a title. The only thing it changes is that maybe, if we have enough alliances, we can stop him. We can be more powerful than he is.”

His jaw worked, muscles twisting and bumping out, and he shook his head. He walked close to me, and I watched him, wary. He touched my cheek, and his lips pressed against mine, almost dry. I tilted my head, and he kissed me better, deeper, but he didn't touch me anywhere else. I raised my arms to put them around him, but he broke the kiss and stepped away from me. “Good night, Scar.”

Frowning, I watched him walk away from me.

I went to the Great Hall to sleep with the others, but Rob weren't there, and it weren't easy. Everywhere around me, I saw the death and pain that had brought us to this point.

I saw Ravenna, soaked in her own blood on the dais. I saw Rob in a gibbet. I saw Gisbourne and Prince John and the ridiculous excess of the feasts at Christmas that led these people to starvation now.

It were the dead of the night when I woke up, going out to the courtyard. It were a warm spring night with bare any breeze, and I crossed the way, going to the spot by the bailey that I remembered too well.

Someone had pried up the rocks that had been darkened with blood, and now the rocks there were too bright, a pale gray compared to the darker ones around them. Mismatched.

I stood there, looking at the place where John had died, until my legs started to sway, and I went back inside to sleep until the sun rose.

“My lady,” David called, shaking my shoulder. “My lady?”

Allan started playing some music damn close to my ear, and I frowned, opening my eyes. “Christ, Allan, stop that,” I snapped, putting my hands on the strings. I glanced around at the other, still-sleeping forms on the floor. “People are trying to sleep.”

“My lady, the Earl of Winchester is here,” David told me. “We thought you should greet him.”

“David thought,” Allan corrected.

“Yes, no one would accuse
you
of thinking, would they?” David drawled.

I sat up. “Very well. Where's Rob?”

“Just left for the gates. He didn't want us to wake you.”

I frowned at that, and stood.

Running quick for the city gates, I caught up with Rob as Winchester and a small company of knights came through. He and Winchester shook hands, and they both stared at each other with solemn faces. He turned, and I saw Essex behind him.

Christ. It were like three men all practicing how to scowl together.

Coming closer, I tried to straighten myself. I were still dressed like a man, not quite looking the lady. For Winchester and Rob I didn't think it mattered much, but I were still fair sure Essex didn't like me.

“Your Grace,” Essex said, sighting me first and bowing. Winchester followed suit, and Rob looked at me like he didn't know me anymore. After a moment, he bowed too, and it stung.

“My lords,” I said, dipping to them, which I'm sure looked fair foolish in breeches.

“We couldn't spare many men from the queen,” Winchester said, looking between me and Rob, “but I brought what I could. And Essex volunteered to help.” Winchester clapped Essex on the shoulder, and Essex looked stern at this.

“I wrote to Winchester for aid,” Rob explained. His throat worked. “After they burned the city. Before . . . everything.”

Winchester's eyes darted between us. “And we have knights to help you recover. As I said, not many, but surely any hands will help.”

Rob's mouth tightened, and he looked at me.

Because I were the noble now. I were the one in power, not him. “Thank you,” I told them. “Any help is needed. I'm still waiting for the Nottinghamshire knights to return from the prince's company.”

Winchester grimaced. “That won't go over well.”

I lifted my shoulders. “Little does.”

“I was sorry to see you leave Oxford so quickly,” Essex said to me. “I hope your wound is much improved.”

Rob's eyes cut sharp to me at this, and he crossed his arms.

“Yes,” I said flat. “Thank you. Come along, we will feed you and get to work,” I said.

They nodded, leading their men into Nottingham. I went toward Rob, but he turned to Essex and began speaking with him.

Winchester offered me his arm with a gentle smile. “My lady,” he said, dashing his head.

I took it, though I felt silly. “Your aid is very much appreciated,” I told him.

He shook his head as we started to walk up to the castle. “Think nothing of it,” he told me. He lifted a shoulder. “Besides, the queen told me to alert you that she will come as soon as she can. I figured it was an excellent way for me to see Margaret again.”

This made me smile. “Why haven't you married her already? You're an earl; surely her father would agree. And you both are absolutely terrible at hiding it.”

He grinned like a child. “I know. She has asked me not to ask for her hand until her brother returns from war. She believes—correctly, as I understand it—that her father would certainly agree, and press for a quick marriage as well. She doesn't want to be married without her brother, if she can avoid it. And I confess, I would do just about anything she asks.”

I looked at Rob. “You're a very good man, Winchester.”

He smiled at me, but we began walking through the worst of the city, and his smile left him. “This is Prince John's handiwork?” he asked.

“Not that he will admit it, but yes.”

His throat worked, and we were quiet for the rest of the walk.

CHAPTER