Page 110 of Far From Sherwood Forest

The blood drains from Prince John’s face. “Brother—”

“I’ve heard enough,” the king barks, cutting him off. “Boasting of squeezing your people to the bone? Plotting my demise in order to usurp the throne? Is there anything else you wish to confess before your king?”

The prince’s gaze moves around the hall once again, this time searching for any person still loyal to him. Now that the king has returned, he’s unlikely to find a single one.

Thereisone confession left, and I know he’s not going to offer it up himself.

“Ask him what happened to Marian.”

Richard looks from me to peer around the throne room, searching for her.

Even though my heart belongs to Henry completely and I wouldn’t have it any other way, I’ll never forget my first love. She deserves justice.

A sad realization fills the king’s eyes. “Where is my niece?”

“It was such a tragic accident, Brother,” the prince says, a tremor in his voice.

“You think I’m going to believe that after everything I just heard?” Ire replaces his anguish, but I have no doubt he’ll mourn later. “Arrest him!”

“No, no! Please, Brother!”

The prince moves out from behind the throne, tripping over his cloak and his own two feet. He continues his retreat, scrambling away from the reach of the knights. His eyes find me, and his nostrils flare.

“This is all your fault, Hood!” he spits, pointing a trembling finger at me. “If you’d stayed in your cursed forest where you belonged, Nottingham would know its place! You turned the people against me and poisoned their minds!” His voice cracks with both rage and fear. “You’ve destroyed everything!”

“You didn’t need my help for that, Your Highness. You were doing a fine job destroying everything on your own.”

When his gaze lands on a fallen bow with one arrow, he dives and picks them up with shaking hands, nocking the arrow surprisingly quickly.

I reach behind me but find nothing but open air. My quiver is empty.

Fuck.

The prince releases the arrow.

All I have time to see is the blur of its flight, a deadly line aimed right for me.

“Robin!”

The moment the prince’s fingers release the string, time fractures.

The twang of the bow is sharp enough to slice through the chaos it’s left behind in its wake. The arrow leaps forward, a glint of steel spinning through the air, and my stomach drops like a stone. My heart slams against my ribs, frantic and furious.

I can’t get to him in time.

My legs feel as though they’re moving through mud. The single beat my heart makes in the time it takes for the arrow to fly through the air feels as though it might be its last.

All I hear in that instant is some cruel truth whispered in my ear.

I’m about to watch the man I love die.

But then something shifts in the corner of my vision—a fast and desperate blur.

It’s Will.

He hurls himself forward, shoving Robin back just as thearrow slams into him with a sick, wet thud.

“Will!” Robin’s scream echoes through the hall.