He nodded slow. “All right.”

“But I ain’t faking this anymore, Gisbourne. I’m not talking in the fancy way you want, I’m not wearing these damned skirts, I’m not going to supper tonight, and I’m not smiling and scraping to your princess. None of it.”

He shrugged. “Fine.” He sat before the fire. “Though I would recommend at least wearing the dresses. I haven’t any men’s clothing that would fit you.”

I crossed my arms. That were worth thinking over, but I weren’t going to say such to him.

He nodded and didn’t speak no more.

Gisbourne ordered the servants to bring an early supper to our chambers, and we ate in silence. He retired early and I stayed up, watching the fire, my stomach a knot.

Chapter Twenty

The morning came in hard. Shadowed skies blew out over Nottinghamshire, hailing the castle and grounds with snowy breath. I watched it through the window, and it did nothing to ease my heart. The cold and the damp would change the tension of the bows and arrows. But Rob wouldn’t never shoot without testing his arrows first. I wondered if they would let him use his own bow.

No. Why would the prince ever give Rob any such gift?

Rob would be fine—he knew any bow well enough and were no stranger to such weather. He were leaps and bounds better than Gisbourne if he had his own weapon, his own arrows, his own target. With such things taken from him, they’d still be a fair match. Rob would win. Rob had to win.

Or, at least, I prayed it were so.

With de Lacy out of the way, it were truly a contest between Gisbourne and Rob. Gisbourne slept sound as I watched and worried and ached. Gisbourne were in the best condition he could be. What if Rob hadn’t slept a lick? He were good with his weapon, but would he win?

I looked at my husband and thought of de Lacy’s hand. What would they do to Rob to keep him from winning? It seemed they were trying to beat him down yesterday, and it had been close to working. But he were still in for the archery, and I knew the prince wouldn’t never let it be won so easy.

My hand burned and I wondered what price Rob would have to pay for being the people’s favorite.

Gisbourne stirred and I tucked the blanket tighter round me. “Close the damn window, you crazy woman,” he grunted from the bed.

I didn’t. I stared outside, watching the swirls of snow like it were meant to sweep me into it, steal me away into its silence. Snow were a thief of noise, of sun, of darkness. No day would ever be bright and no night would ever be truly black under its curtain, and all that were under it fell silent and still.

It were a fair perfect thing for the archery competition.

Gisbourne cursed and threw off his blankets, bellowing for Eadric to come and dress him.

I felt Gisbourne’s eyes on me, and I looked to him. “Do you fear for your beloved?” he asked me, smiling dark.

“Always,” I told him. There didn’t seem any need to lie or bluster about now. “I think that’s the nature of loving someone. I fear for him with every breath.” I met Gisbourne’s eyes. “But I also trust with every bit of my heart that he can trounce you.”

Gisbourne’s smile twisted. “Don’t think for a second, my dear wife, that Prince John will ever let a vagabond be named sheriff.”

“And your honor can stand that?” I asked. “To win, knowing it were all false?”

“False?” he asked, chuckling. “No. The prince promised this seat to me long ago and he damn well better deliver. The winner isn’t the falsity; it’s the entire game. It’s been nothing but a farce from the start.”

“And what of me? What did he promise you to marry me? You say it were a bribe, but I don’t understand why he would ever do it.”

“You’ll figure it out.”

“I think you’re lying. Most because if the prince bribed you to marry me you’d never grant me an annulment. You’d never even think of it.”

His eyes met mine, dark and level. “He’s toyed with me for long enough. I have followed the letter of his orders. I don’t give a damn if he doesn’t like it.”

Staring at him, I almost believed it. I shook my head, looking out at the snow. “That ain’t the way of it at all, is it? You will always fear the prince and his wrath.” I laid my head on my knees as winter wind blew over my face. “You’re just his dog. That’s all you ever were.”

He made a grunting sort of noise but didn’t answer. Eadric came and began to dress him, and after a while, Mary came for me, in what I hoped would be the last day I ever sat in noble dress.

The nobles’ dais were bigger and fancier than before. The prince, Eleanor, Isabel, and Winchester were all on a platform higher still, the rest of us flanked out more careful than before. I were closer to the edge now, displayed, and I felt like some weak thing they had trussed up to remind Rob to keep his place.

A horn sounded and the contestants took the field. They high-stepped over the falling snow—which, in fair amusing fashion, pages were sweeping idiot-like from the field of play—and came to the cleared space several feet from the nobles’ dais, full across from the heaving, cheering, wild throng of common folk.

The men looked different now. Free from the metal of armor, it weren’t a game of defense now. Each man were bare of all but his skill.

Rob glowed. He were red-cheeked from the cold, but more than that, his eyes were bright, a lush blue like fall sky that every flake of snow seemed to make brighter, bolder, more beautiful. His shoulders were square and strong, standing firm against the world.