David and Allan pulled the last body over the edge, and I cringed.

“We should go,” Rob said. “Rylan, I’m going to send Godfrey to help you. Get the bodies back as soon as you can.”

“Yes, Sheriff.”

Rob captured my hand and went to kiss it, but I hissed and he flipped it to see the burns and cuts from the rope. “Come. I’ll bring you back to the forest.”

I shook my head. “Rob, we came to help. Let us help.”

He sighed. “Things are still burning. It looks like rain tonight, though. Hopefully by morning much of the smoke will clear, and the fire will be gone. Until then—we just came back to get the bodies today,” he said soft.

I nodded.

“Here,” he said, producing two leather gloves from his pocket. I winced as he tugged them down over my hands, but once covered, it hurt less, even in the caverns of gloves meant for hands like Rob’s.

“Better?” he asked.

Pushing his forehead against mine, I twisted my hand in his until they clasped together like two pieces meant to fit.

He kissed me again.

Rob led us silent out of the castle, and David, Allan, and I mounted our horses. Rob glanced at the cart in the lane, being piled slow with bodies, and back at me.

I gave him a small smile. “You seem in need of a horse, my lord Sheriff.”

He came close and I offered him my arm. He stepped in the stirrup and swung up behind me, holding my hips and sliding close against me, razing heat all along my skin. He wrapped his arms around me, and I leaned back a little, covering his hand that held onto me. I felt our hearts meet and match, finding the beat that they had in common and settle into it.

“My love,” he whispered, putting his head on my shoulder.

I nodded against his head, and spurred the horse.

Chapter 14

Edwinstowe were abandoned. The houses were untouched, but there were a stillness that were absurd for the small working village. There were no animals in the pens, no children running ’cross the lane, no women creaking water from the well.

We rode through and into the forest.

The fresh hope of spring caught me up in its arms the moment we entered Sherwood. The trees were full and bright, sweet with sap and fir and pine. Weeds and grass and patches of wildflowers had shot up through the ground like they could pierce through the brush and clear away the death of winter.

We went to the caves. We’d stayed in one of the largest ones for many winters until the snows got too deep, and even on the nights when heavy rains forced us out of our tree-bound home. We rode up over the bank that protected the low, hidden clearing where several caves opened their wide mouths, and everyone froze.

Hundreds. Hundreds of people, easily all of Edwinstowe, and most of Nottingham and Worksop besides.

“You saved them all,” I whispered.

Rob’s hand clutched mine tight. “Not all. Not nearly all.”

My heart stuttered. “Much?” I asked. “Bess?”

“Scarlet!”

I turned to see Much, very much alive. I swung off the horse before Rob could let me down, running down the hill to get to him. He laughed and caught me up in a fierce hug.

I pulled away from him to look at him in full. He were taller still, tall as Rob now, and he looked older in a way I didn’t like. Sadder. Like he knew the sad things of the world.

Which, of course, he did now. We all did.

People started crowding round me. The Clarkes, the Morgan girls, the Percy family, everyone I’d known for years. Touching me, like all of the sudden they thought well of me. Like they’d missed me. It jumbled inside of me, with hurt and confusion and wonder that maybe that were the way of it—maybe they missed me. Maybe they loved me.

Allan set right about greeting the people he knew, and David waited for me to introduce him round, with a stern frown at Rob, who were still holding me close to him.

Robin were there, looking at me strange. People were all talking at once, and I felt so overtaken by all of it.

My people. They were my people now, in a way that had always been true but never so exact. I weren’t this strange hero-thief that they misremembered. I were their lady now.

And they were hurt, and sad, and frightened.

“Will you tell us what happened?” David asked, coming into the clearing.

“Sit,” Rob said over the din. “We can all eat together, and we’ll tell you.”

Rob took my hand and it felt like an anchor on rough seas. He tugged me toward the big cave; when we used to make this our shelter, we’d had one log chopped and laid out to sit on, and they’d brought more down so many more people could sit. It were near enough, and the children clumped together, bumping into one another, torn between playing or seeing what all the fuss were about. Their mothers sent them off to play. It were just as well. From the state of Nottingham, they didn’t need to hear what had happened.

We sat on the log, and Rob let my hand go to sit, but I threaded my fingers back through his. His eyes met mine, shadowed but smiling.

His smile faded. “Prince John came through many days ago, and gave an urgent call for the knights of the shire to aid him in collecting the king’s ransom. The knights went. Two days later, men on horseback came at dawn. Their only goal was destruction, and they made neat work of it.” Rob’s throat worked.

“Were they knights?” I asked.

“Yes and no,” Rob said. “I’m fairly certain they were the same men, but they weren’t wearing colors or armor. Our few remaining knights tried to keep them out of the gate. It didn’t work, but it bought enough time, and people flooded to the castle, thinking I would be able to protect them there. The men started to burn the city, and then they came for the castle.”