AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Dammit, I thought, frowning. We were hiding near the front of an alley, waiting for guards to pass to continue moving. I’d been seeing a lot of armed men showing up from further south—from Wilford across the bridge.
“What did Emma tell you, exactly?” he asked, sticking me with his shining blue eyes.
“Not much. Only to find him.”
“Then we don’t even know if Rosco knows anything important. This is pointless, little thorn.” His voice was a growl of frustration.
He made a fair point, yet I knew better than to mistrust Emma. She had always been a fine gossip and my source of news around Nottingham when I’d been stuffed away in the Wilford estate.
“Nay, not pointless,” I replied. “Rosco knows things because he lives a freewheeling life. He’s nomadic and can get places no other person can. He knows secrets no other person does, I’m sure.”
“Such as the location of Little John?”
I shrugged. That was my hope. I wouldn’t say it for fear of hexing the words if I put a voice to the wish.
Will Scarlet puffed his cheeks out and exhaled exaggeratedly. Finally, he said, “It’s your call.”
“You’re the leader,” I replied, trying to pass the responsibility of making a decision.
His smile was small and tight. “Let’s not play that game again, little thorn. We both know the truth of it.”
I matched his smile and put my arm around his waist, pulling him close. We looked out from the alley, hooded and hidden, watching the goings-on at the town square.
I found it strange and a bit surreal that I was standing here, in the very place I’d first met Rosco and his gang as they threw dice against a wall and gambled with hard-earned shillings. Back when I looked at them as a novelty, rather than as the face of an ailing society.
I was realizing now that I was much more of a novelty than those guttersnipe boys. An heir turned gallivanting outlaw? Certainly uncommon.
The low hum of conversation at the fountain was getting rowdier. I couldn’t see Much the Miller’s Son over the taller men and guards who swarmed the place, yet I could hear his voice. By the sound of it, he was struggling to maintain peace, and the guards were doing nothing to stop the pushing and shoving that was starting.
“We shouldn’t have left him alone out there,” I said worriedly. “The townsfolk are going to eat him alive.”
“He wanted to do it. To prove himself. Give the boy some credit.”
I sighed. “I do. It’s just . . .”
“You’re feeling guilty because you can’t protect and save everyone. Again. Remember what we said about this?”
“. . . Not to do it.” I simplified the response, because I didn’t need Will Scarlet harping on me about my faults.
He smirked. “Precisely. So let’s buy the lad some more time if we can, or get him out of there. Those are our options. Let’s stick to the—”
When he cut himself off, my gaze whipped over to his face. He was staring far off, past the fountain toward the storefronts. “What is it, Will?”
Even though he wasn’t much taller than me, he had a better angle than I did. “See that?” He nudged his chin.
I moved to get into a better position in the cramped alley, squinted . . . and my eyes bulged.
Little shadows were dipping out of an alley—waist-high, many of them. Sticking to the walls, single-file, staying hidden. Leading them was a taller hooded individual, and at the end of the line was another. I recognized the size and gait of the hooded men. I noted which direction they were headed, and which alley they would use.
“Shit,” Will said, “are they taking all of the orphans?”
“Something must be awry. Let’s go!”
I jumped into action, running forward—
And Will’s hand snagged my wrist and swung me into the alley, twirling me until my chest smashed up against his and my breath hitched from the wash of his lips over mine.
He dug in and kissed me, angering me because we had things to do and this was not the time or place to do—
