Scarlet (22 page)

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That gave me some sort of fl utter inside, but I put my hands on his big chest to push away. He let my waist go. “We’ve got work to do, John. ”

He sighed. “All right. Let’s be quick, and I’ll buy you a drink at Tuck’s after. ”

“Deal. ”

The others left, and me and Rob split the bag in two and started at opposite ends of Edwinstowe. It were two long rows of houses, with a big well in the middle and a church by the well, and more houses clustered there. There weren’t no village gates, just a big barn where they all kept their livestock. I started at the far end, and Rob started at Tuck’s end. This weren’t the type of delivery that I could just drop off , so I knocked quiet at every door, passed a handful of coin, enough for taxes and some food besides. Most were fair grateful, but some were more gruff

’bout it, and that were fi ne. I got that sometimes pride got in the way of things.

I got through maybe ten houses, which weren’t much—

there were about thirty-and-fi ve houses to go— when I heard a
whish
.

I turned in time to watch a branch slam my side, knocking me to the ground beside a house. The air ran from my chest and I couldn’t take none in. My nails clawed at the ground, but someone fl ipped me over, ripping back my hood.

“Thom?” I gasped. Pain shot through my chest, and I couldn’t breathe in. He grabbed my hair, dragging me back over the ground.

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A. C. Gaughen

and twisting against Thom’s hold. He dragged me behind the house by the woods, rocks cutting and scraping as I went. I managed a little breath, enough to fuel my rage and swing a kick to his knee. He crashed down, falling on top of me and knocking the air out again.

“Have it your way, then, ” he said. “Gisbourne said I only had to stall for a few minutes, and this is as good a way as any. ” His fi ngers dug in my hair, and his legs were pinning my legs down, one of his arms trapping mine.

“
Bastard,
” I hissed, snapping my forehead up to slam his. He roared in pain and slugged me ’cross the mug. I punched him one back, grabbing for a knife, but he took my wrist and wrenched my arm up, holding both my arms above my head. I fl opped angry like a caught fi sh, my hair fl ying out everywhere.

“How could you?” I asked. “Gisbourne?”

His free hand fi sted in my shirt and jerked, tearing the fabric down the front. “He pays well! But there are certainly some benefi ts to the position. ”

His hand grabbed my bits over the muslin, and I spat at him. I jerked up, headbutting him again. If he thought I were going to be some helpless lass, he were dead wrong. His eyes closed in pain, and I snapped my head against his nose once more.

“Rob!” I shrieked.

Thom jerked and yelled in pain, enough to free my leg to knee his male bits. He wrenched up and I drove my little fi st through his jaw. Then the damn fool collapsed, pressing all 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 214

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his weight straight on top of me. I tried to move him, but he were out cold.

“Rob!” I shrieked again. “Hurry!”

I angled to lever my leg out, and I heard crunching in the lane. I pushed him off me, standing to meet Rob. But it weren’t Rob’s shape I saw. It were Gisbourne up near the road, casting his shadow on me from between the houses. He chuckled, and I froze.

“I knew as soon as Thom mentioned your eyes. Before that, I didn’t dare hope, ” he said, his smile gleaming like a wolf ’s.

“But when he said you had eyes like moonstones, I knew I’d found my wayward girl at long last. So they call you Scarlet now, do they? How ironic that you ran so far from your old life and named yourself for your expensive ribbons. ” He walked closer. “What, no sweet words for your fi ancé?”

My back were pounding with pain and I steadied myself on the house. A shadow were moving closer to me from behind the house, and I could only pray it were Rob and not Gisbourne’s men. I spat on the ground, showing Gisbourne my teeth like some wild animal.

“Wonderful, ” he said. “My dear girl has become a heathen. Well, I’m sure it will be entertaining to break you of your bad habits. ” He tilted his head. “I see your last punishment healed nicely. Hopefully it will make you think better of leaving me again. ”

“You’re a monster, ” I snarled. “And I will never stay with you. ”

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“You
made
me a monster!” he roared. “You think I have nothing better to do than roam around London at the last mention of you? To scour the country for you? You haunt me, you little she-devil, and I won’t tolerate being left. So I’ll be a monster until you’re mine, in marriage or in death. ” His eyes blazed.

“Maybe both. ”

Rob came from behind the house before Gisbourne could come closer, grabbing my hand and yanking hard. My legs moved without never being told, running with him. “Rob, the gold!”

I cried, seeing it spilled on the ground and pulling back on his hand.

He didn’t even mark me, just plowed on, dragging my hand like a tether and running into the dark woods as Gisbourne called his men to follow us. I heard Gisbourne laughing as we ran, and the sound rattled around in my mind. Rob ran like he’d never tire, like demons were chasing him, with his hand clamped on mine like an iron shackle. His jaw were tense and hard, his eyes set forward like a hawk’s. My legs and strength were crumbling beneath me, but I kept moving if only to keep my hand in Rob’s as he wove a wild track through Sherwood. I couldn’t tell if we lost Gisbourne or if he never followed us to start with.

When we got to the cave, he let me go, and I found I were shaking hard. My shirt were all shredded in back and torn in front, and there were a sticky heat on my back that my tangled hair were sticking to. I clutched the shirt to me and it fell apart in my hands.

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I sank to the ground and curled over my knees. My back skin stretched and I yelped with the pain.

“Here. ” Rob handed me a cloak. “Hold it to your front; your back’s a mess. ”

He trotted into the cave, getting the kit. Our supplies were fair dwindling; I’d have to steal more soon. He sat behind me, and his fi ngertips touched the muslin. My back bunched up against him and he let go, pushing my hair over my shoulder. I could see pieces of fabric shiny black with blood. The fi rst pull of the cloth from my ripped skin were like fi re. I clutched the cloak tighter, shuddering. He plucked out bits of dirt and rock, and every touch seared. Water were leaking from my eyes. I didn’t make a sound, though. I just heard Gisbourne laughing over and over in my head like a sick ballad.

“Try to stop shaking, Scar, ” he said. He didn’t sound gentle, like usual, but tight and hard.

I curled tighter, and my back hurt worse.

He fi nished plucking things and started rubbing salve into my back, and I buried my face in the cloak as tears poured out. It hurt; it felt like pain on top of pain.

“Here, ” he said, and I hadn’t even realized he had stopped rubbing until I saw him in front of me. He stripped off his shirt and bunched it in one hand, pressing it to me. I looked up at him with my wet face, and his jaw muscles rippled. I took the shirt with a shaking hand, pulled it over me gingerly, and then handed him the cloak. His look were more like a glare. “No. Put it on. ”

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I obeyed, chewing my lip. “Rob, I’m sorry ’bout the coin—”

“Stop. ”

I stopped.

“Don’t you say anything. ”

I blinked.

“I don’t think I can listen to anything right now. Not after that. Not after seeing you, your shirt all torn like Thom—” His mouth tightened like a drawstring. “And then hearing Gisbourne say
fi ancé.
”

I were trembling so hard I felt like my belly were rattling loose. “Rob—”

“Not. A. Word. ” He shook his head, and his eyes went shut.

“I just don’t know which one is making me feel like this, like I’m going to vomit up my organs. Did Thom hurt you?”

I shook my head, too scared to speak.

He pointed a fi nger at me. He weren’t facing me but standing sideways, his arm stretched straight out and his chest bare. “And you’re Lady Marian Fitzwalter, aren’t you? Lord Leaford’s younger daughter. Gisbourne’s intended. ”

I clutched the cloak tight, frozen inside and out.

“Answer me!” he snapped.

I nodded. He looked away from me and my eyes stung like they’d been whipped, but truth were, I were crying. Crying like the stupid girl I were. My whole body were beating with pain, and it felt like someone were pressing their thumbs into my eyes.

He nodded, going into the cave and fi nding a tunic that 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 218

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looked foolish without a shirt. “Don’t move, ” he ordered as he walked back out and headed toward the woods.

“Where are you going?” I asked, a hiccup escaping. I pushed my face into my hands. I didn’t want to look at him.

“To warn the others. If Thom’s a traitor, Gisbourne will be on them soon. Stay here. ” He took a step. “No, go to Tuck’s. Have him
hide you
. If I see you sitting in the tavern, I swear I’ll murder you myself. ”

I ran all the way, letting the wind pull my tears away. Tuck put me in a small room at the inn, and I curled in a corner, taking the blanket from the bed and wrapping it around me. I twisted up over my knees and sobbed. It felt like losing Joanna all over again, like the only thing that loved me in the world were dead and gone.

k

An awful long time went by before someone knocked on the door. I jumped.

“Scar?” he called. I didn’t say nothing and he just opened the door. It were John, and the tears started again. I didn’t want it to be John. I wanted it to be Rob, saying everything were just fi ne and I hadn’t failed everyone and everything. “Aw, love, ” he said, and came over, sat beside me, and pulled me into his lap, letting me curl around him. I started to cry harder, and he rubbed my back.

I wailed, pulling away. He made soft noises, pulling me closer again, careful of my back. “Hush, ” he whispered, like 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 219

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I were a child. “I’m just glad you’re all right. Girls downstairs are awful worried about you. Well, they don’t know it’s you that Tuck put up here, but they said someone was crying. ”

I gripped his shirt. My tears were making me shake again, and I just wanted it all to stop.

“I’m here, Scar. I’m not going anywhere. ” His hands pushed back the tears on my cheek and his thumb stroked the side of my head. I looked at his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, Scar, because I love you. ”

He pulled my head closer and pushed his lips against mine, and I kissed him back. I knew it were a damn fool thing to do, but I couldn’t help it. He rubbed my neck and kept me close to his face.

It didn’t help any. Honestly, it made it worse than ever. I were hollowed out and twisted up, sick in all kinds of ways. I felt like nothing would ever be good again, and I pulled my lips back. His hand kept me right there. “John, ” I said soft. “I’m—”

“Don’t stop on my account. ”

I jerked to look at Rob, standing in the doorway, his fi st white-knuckling the door handle.

“Guess you’ve recovered, then. ”

“Did you fi nd Thom?” John asked.

“Not yet. ”

“Robin, ” Tuck said, appearing in the hall. “You lot need to come see this. ”

Rob glared at me again, and I stood up. John started to help me, but I were on my feet. Everything hurt. My side ached where 212-47765_ch01_1P.indd 220

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the branch hit me, my cheek were pulsing, and my back were throwing off heat like a fi re and making the rest of me feel shivery. My head felt like someone were banging a pot against it, and the kiss didn’t help any of it none.

Rob stopped me at the door, blocking my way. He wouldn’t look at me. “Cloak, ” he said. The word sounded like a curse. John put the cloak over my shoulders, pulling up the hood, and Rob let us both pass.

Much weren’t in the tavern, which I thought were odd. There weren’t anyone there. Tuck went outside and we followed. I stopped dead in my tracks. Everyone were quiet, standing in a circle. We pushed through, and vomit, pain, and blood all started fi ghting each other in my body.

I’m not proud of it. It were fair shameful. I took one look at the body and drew about four desperate breaths before the pain won and I fainted. Thom Walker were on the ground, his body staked out with knives, his shirt hanging off in tatters. His mouth were sewn shut with black blood-soaked thread, the mark of a traitor. Blood were dried all over his face, and on his chest, through a thick cover of blackening blood, Gisbourne carved the words give me marian.

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