She shook in my arms. “I didn’t tell him,” she whispered. “I haven’t had a moment alone, and the words—I don’t know how to say such words.”

My heart sank. I should have known that, that she needed to talk to him in private. I could arrange such a thing, and I hadn’t thought to. “Come,” I said. “I will find a way for you to be alone with him.”

She shook her head. “No. Not now—he’s right, he needs to take the silver to London. But he’ll come back, and I’ll tell him then.”

I nodded. I pulled back from her, and she sniffed. I pulled my knife out, and put it in her hand, pushing her fingers to hold it right. “Keep the knife Winchester gave you in the carriage. Hold it like this. Remember, any man will be surprised that you fight back at all, so just jab this wherever you can and scream yourself hoarse. All right?”

She nodded, handing my knife back to me. “I will.”

I tucked it back into its hiding spot.

“You don’t know—I can never thank you—” she started, her face crumpling again.

“Hush,” I said, smoothing her tears away. “You can’t cry, or Winchester will wonder what’s wrong.”

She nodded, drawing a ragged breath. “Are you going to return to him?” she asked. “Robin Hood?”

My blood thrilled, and I had to nod. “I will always return to him. I can deny it all I like,” I told her in a whisper, “but when someone holds your heart, it’s impossible to stay away.”

She gave me a weak smile. “I know this as well.”

I smiled back, wrapping her arm round mine. I drew her forward to join the others, and when we walked into the room, I found Winchester’s eyes on the door, restless and worried.

They met hers, and she nodded once, and he nodded back.

I wondered if this were what Rob and I looked like—this secret, quiet language. Love clear enough for everyone to see.

Essex and Bigod were looking overhard at the fire, and I reckoned they saw what I saw. Eleanor beamed.

“Margaret, you look frozen. There’s a seat close to the fire by Winchester,” Eleanor said. “You must take it.”

Winchester dropped his head and gestured for her to take it. She sat, and he sat beside her, and Eleanor smiled.

“Meddlesome woman,” I murmured to Eleanor as I sat beside her.

“Meddling is my very favorite thing, Marian,” she murmured back.

Early the next morning, I changed into men’s clothing and made quick for the stables, asking the hands to ready my horse and leaving my pack bags with them. I went to the barracks, hearing drunken laughter loud inside. For a moment, if I shut my eyes, it were like I were walking into Tuck’s, and Rob would be beyond the door, Much would be bothering Tuck, and John would be alive.

Opening the door, I quick remembered it weren’t Tuck’s. The small group of men chasing spirits to the early morn went quiet, and a few of the more dutiful ones jumped up to attention. The others followed slower.

“Are Allan and David in here?” I asked one of them.

“They left,” he said.

“Left?” I demanded.

His shoulders lifted. “Forgive me, my lady. They keep to themselves most times.”

I frowned. “Which way?”

He pointed, and I thanked him and left. I went out to the yard, toward the gate.

Rounding the edge of the building, I heard a grunt and Allan rushed past me, tripping and falling flat on his back. “Goddammit, David!” he roared, touching his mouth, which were trickling blood.

“You—” David stalked toward him and they both caught sight of me. David went still and pale, and Allan groaned as he got himself off the ground.

“Gentlemen,” I drawled, crossing my arms.

“He started it,” David snapped out quick.

“I’ve no doubt. Are you two drunk?”

They shook their heads. I couldn’t smell the reek of alcohol on them, so I reckoned it were true.

“Care to tell me what this is about?”

Allan looked to David, and David looked back at him. It were Allan that shook his head. “No, fair thief.”

“Are you two able to ride?”

David’s face were growing red now, and I wondered if Allan had landed a punch of his own. “Yes, my lady,” they both said.

“Good. We leave as soon as you gather your horses and belongings.”

“Yes, my lady,” they said again.

Shaking my head at this new lunacy, I went back to the stables as they went into the barracks to fetch their things.

Chapter 11

We went up to Bath, and from there tried to stay off the main roads to make Oxford within two days of leaving Glastonbury. We would have stayed out of cities altogether, but we needed more food, and we were less likely to cause a stir in a large city than a tiny town.

Oxford were a huge city. It were close to London in size and activity, but it weren’t on a major waterway, just a river to carry goods in and out. We made the city by midday, and entering the city were strange—there weren’t many people about, and those we saw turned their eyes from us quick.

“What the hell is going on?” David asked.

Allan looked to me. “My lady, I’ve several contacts here, if you’ll allow me?”

I nodded to him. “Go find out.”

He turned his horse down a narrow street inside the city gates.

David and I continued on, riding toward the huge spires of the cathedral at the center of the city. Not far from the grand building, we heard shouts. Awful shouts, terrible cries of pain, punctuating a dark silence.