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Friar Tuck hummed. “She makes a good point.”
“What’s that supposed to mean, chaplain?” Will snarled.
“You know exactly what it means, lad,” Tuck said. He wasn’t scared of Will in the slightest, crossing his arms over his burly chest. “You’re too excitable and volatile to be left alone with the girl. As John said, we can’t damage our property.”
“You think I would?”
“I don’t want to find out.” Before Will could retort, Tuck added, “Besides, I shouldn’t show myself around Nottingham, and possibly tarnish my reputation with the almshouse.”
“True,” Little John. “Will, you’re off whelp-sitting duty.”
Will stepped up to the tall leader and puffed his chest out. If I didn’t know better, it sounded like he wanted to watch over me, which made me shudder down to the bone.
Half of me wanted to watch Little John and Will Scarlet fight it out. Clearly they were at odds about things. Just brawl already.
There was a sadistic thrill in my mind, the idea of watching those flexed muscles and sweaty limbs flying about like they were my personal gladiators.
Lord knew it would be a sight to see, even if it was a bit macabre of me to think.
Have these men already corrupted my way of thinking? Or perhaps I’d been corrupt all along, and they just knew how to nurture my deepest, darkest thoughts. They encouraged it—evidenced by them being happy I had marred Peter Fisher after what he tried to do to me.
“Enough, enough, boys,” Alan-a-Dale cut in, finally inserting himself into the situation as it seemed to be growing out of hand. “Tensions are high. Let’s put some clothes on, eh? I daresay we’re exciting our little songbird past the point of no return.”
My mouth fell open as all eyes turned to me. “W-What do you mean?”
The minstrel smiled. “Those cheeks are a shade of rose I’ve seen before, girl. From adoring fans eager to rip my clothes off.”
I blinked with a start. “You’re not wearing any clothes.”
“Precisely my point.”
My head tilted. “Huh?”
Alan winked, leaving me thoroughly confused, and put a hand on the shoulder of Little John and Will Scarlet. “Tuck and I will stay with the girl. We’re the most sensible. You two have things to work out. John, take Will with you, yes?”
Now it sounded like he was the leader. It made me reappraise the entire situation, wondering if they even had a leader in the traditional sense, or if Little John was simply the biggest and most outspoken, as Will Scarlet had said earlier.
“A snake without a head won’t get far,” Robert said to me.
I nodded to my brother. “True.”
The Merry Men looked at me.
“What?” Little John asked.
“Erm.” I pursed my lips. “Never mind. I don’t understand what you’re planning on doing.”
John told Will, “You’re too angry for a job like this.”
“And you’re not?” Will pushed back.
The four men walked away, up the hill as they talked, and I hurried to follow them.
“It will take restraint,” John said.
What will?
“I have that in spades.”
