Lion Heart (30 page)

She raised her chin and her eyebrow both.

“Scar,” Much said, coming over. “He'll be here soon. If I'm going to give you away—”

“Don't be foolish,” Eleanor snapped, glancing at him. “She isn't yours, young man. You cannot give her to anyone. She is my granddaughter, and I will be the one giving her away.”

Much's eyes damn near jumped out of his skull. “Christ!” he yelped, dropping to all-fours on the ground. “Your royal, serene, um—holy? Highness,” Much stammered.

I laughed. “Much, get up. Much, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen Mother of England,” I introduced. “Much Miller.”

Her eyebrow arched up again, and she watched as Much got to his feet, brushing himself off. “One of your
fellow vagabonds?”

“The best of my fellow vagabonds,” I told her.

She gave him a regal nod. “You may address me as ‘my lady' or ‘my queen,' ” Eleanor told Much.

He turned red. “Yes, my lady. My queen. My lady Queen. And I didn't meant to—um—steal her from you, or imply—anything. Sorry. Sorry,
my queen
!” he babbled.

She touched his shoulder. “Thank you for your service, young man. You have honored me and my granddaughter. Why don't you join the rest of the wedding.”

Much looked like the Pope just canonized him, and he bowed deep to her. “Yes, my lady!” he said, turning and near running for the tree.

“He does know
you're
royal, doesn't he?” Eleanor asked.

I laughed, watching him go. “Sort of royal. How did you know about this?” I asked her.

“Oh, for Heaven's sake, how do I ever know anything? Between Margaret and Winchester there isn't much gossip I don't hear.” She took my hand, and drew a breath. “I will give you away, if you'll have me.”

I hugged her.

Townspeople were starting to come, climbing the ladders we'd made to get up to the branches and sitting in the tree. Nervous, I took up one of the candles, holding it in my hand as the sky grew pinker and he
weren't there yet.

I pushed the wax about. It were almost out. Raising my head, I stared into the forest.

Hearing someone coming, everyone went silent, and my heart stopped beating.

Winchester appeared, and he went to Margaret, taking her hand and kissing it before turning to me. “He's right behind me,” he told me with a wink. He kept her hand and led her into the tree.

More people had come than could fit in the tree, and they just stood round the clearing, waiting. Waiting like I were waiting.

And then more footsteps crunched, and when a body rounded the tree, it were Rob. Allan took up his strings, playing music with a bright smile.

Rob stopped, seeing all of this before him. Seeing me before him.

I put the candle down, and it doused. He were dressed well; I reckoned Winchester must have somehow managed to talk him into that. It set my heart to hammering, seeing him so handsome, standing before me, piecing it all together.

A slow smile dawned on his face, and his eyes darted past me for a breath. “My lady Queen,” he said, bowing to Eleanor.

She nodded, and he stepped closer to me.

“What is all this, Scarlet?” he asked.

I were shaking, and he took my hands, surprised. “I choose you, Rob. I will always choose you. And I may not be good at it just yet, but I will choose you every day of my life. Over and over and over until I do it the best of anyone. And together, we'll be strong enough to take on our enemies. We'll be strong enough to take on our demons.”

He squeezed my hands, rubbing his thumbs over my knuckles, his smile sliding off to the side. “And you couldn't have just told me this? This lot has sent me over half of Nottinghamshire looking for you.”

Grinning, I told him, “Our love has always been the grandest adventure, Rob. I couldn't let our wedding be any different.”

He blinked, and I saw water edging his bright eyes. “Our wedding.” He lifted my hands to his mouth. “Scar, you'll finally marry me?”

I nodded, and a tear shot down my cheek. “Yes. Finally.”

He wiped it off. “Our last sunset apart,” he said, looking to the trees as they were soaked in orange and pink.

He started to turn us toward the tree, but Eleanor stopped him, pushing at his chest. “I'll thank you not to take another step, young man. I have something to
say.”

He dropped his head to her.

“When Richard comes back, he will beat the stuffing out of you for marrying his only daughter without his consent.” Rob's face dropped. “But I give my consent, and my blessing, which will have to be enough for him. And, of course, the more evident it is to me that you adore her, the easier he will be to mollify.”

“You and your minstrels, you mean,” I told her.

She lifted a shoulder. “Who doesn't like a good song. Now just one more thing—” she told me. She turned to me, untying the cloak from under my chin. She pulled it gentle from my hair, and my shoulders, and Rob just looked at me. He looked at me like he were lost, and found, and like he loved me. I couldn't look at him, couldn't remember this face, and ever doubt that he loved me.

He took my hand in his, kissing it, and walked me forward to the tree.

I led him up one ladder and then another, everyone in the tree holding it steady, as we went up to the strongest part of the tree, where the priest teetered, unsettled by the height.

“The heartwood,” Rob murmured, looking at me. “You wanted to marry me in the heart of Major Oak.”

I beamed at him, grateful that he understood.

“And Scar,” he whispered.

I leaned in close.

“Are you wearing knives to our wedding?”

Nodding, I laughed, telling him, “I was going to get you here one way or another, Hood.”

He laughed, a bright, merry sound. Standing in the heart of the tree, he reached again for my hand, fingers sliding over mine. Touching his hand, a rope of lightning lashed round my fingers, like it seared us together. Now, and for always. His fingers moved on mine, rubbing over my hand before capturing it tight and turning me to the priest.

The priest looked over his shoulder, watching as the sun began to dip. He led us in prayer, he asked me to speak the same words I'd spoken not long past to Gisbourne, but that whole thing felt like a bad dream, like I were waking and it were fading and gone for good. “Lady Scarlet,” he asked me with a smile, “known to some as Lady Marian of Huntingdon, will thou have this lord to thy wedded husband, will thou love him and honor him, keep him and obey him, in health and in sickness, as a wife should a husband, forsaking all others on account of him, so long as ye both shall live?”

I looked at Robin, tears burning in my eyes. “I will,” I promised. “I will, always.”

Rob's face were beaming back at me, his ocean eyes shimmering bright. The priest smiled.

“Robin of Locksley, will thou have this lady to thy wedded wife, will thou love her and honor her, keep her and guard her, in health and in sickness, as a husband should a wife, forsaking all others on account of her, so long as ye both shall live?” the priest asked.

“Yes,” Rob said. “I will.”

“You have the rings?” the priest asked Rob.

“I do,” I told the priest, taking two rings from where Bess had tied them to my dress. I'd sent Godfrey out to buy them at market without Rob knowing. “I knew you weren't planning on this,” I told him.

Rob just grinned like a fool at me, taking the ring I handed him to put on my finger.

Laughs bubbled up inside of me, and I felt like I were smiling so wide something were stuck in my cheeks and holding me open. More shy and proud than I thought I'd be, I said, “I take you as my wedded husband, Robin. And thereto I plight my troth.” I pushed the ring onto his finger.

He took my half hand in one of his, but the other—holding the ring—went into his pocket. “I may not have known I would marry you today, Scar,” he said. “But I did know I would marry you.” He showed me a ring, a large ruby set in delicate gold. “This,” he said to me, “was my mother's. It's the last thing I have of hers, and when I met you and loved you and realized your name was the exact color of the stone—” He swallowed, and cleared his throat, looking at me with the blue eyes that shot right through me. “This was meant to be, Scarlet. I was always meant to love you. To marry you.”

The priest coughed. “Say the words, my son, and you
will
marry her.”

Rob grinned and I laughed, and Rob stepped closer, cradling my hand. “I take you as my wedded wife, Scarlet. And thereto I plight my troth.” He slipped the ring on my finger and it fit.

“Receive the Holy Spirit,” the priest said, and kissed Robin on the cheek.

Rob's happy grin turned a touch wolflike as he turned back to me, hauling me against him and angling his mouth over mine.
I wrapped my arms around him and my head spun—I couldn't tell if we were spinning, if I were dizzy, if my feet were on the ground anymore at all, but all I knew, all I cared for, were him, his mouth against mine, and letting the moment we became man and wife spin into eternity.

CHAPTER

There were so many people around us I couldn't count them all. I didn't much care to either—there were no hunger or thirst, no pain or weariness. Rob and I danced and kept dancing, close in each other's arms, as the light of the sunset gave way to the torch-lit dark of night.

I had no way of knowing what the time really were, but at some point Rob and I stole away a little, and he leaned me against a tree, kissing me until my whole body shivered and burned in the same strange moment.

“You look so beautiful,” he told me, pulling out one of the flowers that Missy had braided into my hair. “The most beautiful bride I've ever seen.”

“You're awful handsome yourself,” I told him, running my hands over his chest. “Too handsome by far. We'll have to make you much uglier now you're married,” I told him. “Make sure all the ladies want to keep their hands off.”

He grinned and kissed me. “I'll let them all know how fond my wife is of knives.”

My belly fluttered and a shiver ran through me.

“What?” he asked, his voice a low soft groan by my ear.

“
Wife
,” I said. “I'm your wife.”

“In almost every way that counts,” he told me, squeezing my hips. “And I like the way your eyes look when you say that.”

Blushing, I tried the word again. “Wife,” I murmured, gazing at him.

“Husband,” he growled, and that sent another shiver tumbling through me.

“Let's go back to the castle,” I whispered. “Or the manor. Or somewhere. Please?”

“Scarlet,” he said, very serious. “I'll tell you this once and don't go using this power for ill purposes, but when you say ‘please' like that, I'll agree to damn near anything, all right?”

I laughed and he turned, dragging me against him and walking me backward to the feast tables and dancing.

Kissing my neck, he murmured, “Christ, I know I left a horse around here somewhere.”

“Sheriff!” called Ellie. Missy and a few other girls were standing there, holding the reins of a beautiful gray horse.

“There it is,” he said, only letting go of me enough to hoist me onto it. He swung up behind me, tugging me tight against him, and Ellie held on to the reins. “Ellie?” he asked. “Can I have the horse back?”

“No,” she said, smiling. “We have a surprise for you two.”

Rob looked at me and I raised my shoulders. He kissed me, wrapping his arms around me. Much handed us a cloak and Bess waved up at us, and others began to cheer and hoot at us. Rob wrapped the cloak around me and tucked his arms round me tight. “All right, Ellie. Lead the way.”

Missy and a few of the other girls carried candles, and it felt like we were following fairies deep into the woods. The horse moved slow and careful, led along by the girls who looked back at us to giggle every now and again.