not unless she wanted to trade Will’s freedom for that of Alan and John. Gisborne was hours ahead of her and could already be on his way back to Nottingham with his prisoners. She was tired, and she wanted to be happy Will was free, but she’d spent much of the day scrubbing floors, and everything about their situation was so ridiculous and so far beyond convention that she thought she might cry if Elena fell to her knees.
So she leaned forward and threw her arms around her maid, and drew her close. Elena hugged her back, pressing her face against Marian’s shoulder, her arms tight.
“Thank you,” Elena whispered.
As if the girl’s warmth and solidity were catching, Marian felt a little stronger, a little less tired. She drew back and saw her maid’s tear-streaked face split by a smile of such pure relief and joy that Marian found herself smiling back.
I did it, she thought, relief striking as sudden and shocking as a thunderbolt. And like lightning gilding a storm cloud, the realization seemed to illuminate her thoughts, giving them a crystal-clear edge. True, there was more to do. But she’d done it. No midnight fumbling, no fleeing for her life from Gisborne’s sword.
She laughed, breaking free of Elena’s clasp and dropping onto the dressing stool not far away. A few minutes to rest, she thought, and then I’ll ride out and look for Alan and John. Tired? Certainly. Battered? Absolutely. But in this moment, Marian was immortal . . . untouchable. She’d freed a prisoner from the heart of Nottingham Castle, under the noses of the guards, without shedding a single drop of blood or triggering a single alarm.
She’d saved a man’s life.
Looking back at her friend—she could not keep thinking of her as her maid now—she saw that her normally immaculate dress was spotted with dark stains, and that the hem on one side was ragged and black.
She blinked. “What did you do?” she asked, rubbing at her bruised elbow now she was free to do so. “As the distraction?”
Elena wiped her tears from her cheeks and smiled again. “I set the kitchen on fire.”
NINETEEN
MARIAN’S EXHAUSTION WAS CATCHING up to her, and the familiar gait of her horse’s canter kept making her eyes droop.
She’d hoped to encounter Midge in the stables, but instead found an apprentice perhaps five years her junior.
A little walk around the pastures, she’d said, smiling at the boy shyly, doing her best to imitate the sweet, inviting look so many of the other ladies cultivated when speaking to potential suitors. He’d blushed a fierce red, saddled up Jonquille, and strapped up her bundle without asking any questions.
All this time, Marian had thought, as she rode through the gates of Nottingham town, I could have been getting my way with charm.
It does come in useful, said Robin’s voice, always on the edge of laughter. I wouldn’t have that in my arsenal, if I were there.
Marian urged Jonquille forward. She had to get far enough into the forest to change, unseen, into Robin’s clothes. Then she would gallop on to the hideout Will had described, and get Alan and Little John away before the Sheriff’s men could find them.
The afternoon was bright, the sun filtering down through the leaves of the forest canopy. The emerald of summer was shifting to the topaz and carnelian of autumn, and with that shift the voluminous foliage of the forest was withering away. In the height of summer, there were areas of Sherwood where she could have passed within twenty paces of Gisborne’s men and they wouldn’t have seen her. Now, she had to keep alert, with a sharp eye on her surroundings.
She found a thicket of blackberries to occupy Jonquille—and provide a bit of shelter as she dismounted and changed her clothes. There was no one around, and yet one always felt in Sherwood as if one were being watched. The presence of the blackberry brambles all around her kept her bare skin from prickling quite so much as she changed.
Marian shivered as she pulled the hood of the cloak over her hair and face. It was autumn, indeed.
Gisborne had far too long a head start on her. But he’d be following the river, searching for landmarks that matched Will’s vague description, whereas she was pretty sure she knew the spot he meant. She could save valuable time by riding straight there without pausing to search every rocky overhang near the river.
The river bend was a few leagues ahead