Scarlet

I curled tighter, and my back hurt worse.

He finished plucking things and started rubbing salve into my back, and I buried my face in the cloak as tears poured out. It hurt; it felt like pain on top of pain.

“Here,” he said, and I hadn’t even realized he had stopped rubbing until I saw him in front of me. He stripped off his shirt and bunched it in one hand, pressing it to me. I looked up at him with my wet face, and his jaw muscles rippled. I took the shirt with a shaking hand, pulled it over me gingerly, and then handed him the cloak. His look were more like a glare. “No. Put it on.”

I obeyed, chewing my lip. “Rob, I’m sorry ’bout the coin—” “Stop.”

I stopped.

“Don’t you say anything.”

I blinked.

“I don’t think I can listen to anything right now. Not after that. Not after seeing you, your shirt all torn like Thom—” His mouth tightened like a drawstring. “And then hearing Gisbourne say fiancé.”

I were trembling so hard I felt like my belly were rattling loose. “Rob—”

“Not. A. Word.” He shook his head, and his eyes went shut. “I just don’t know which one is making me feel like this, like I’m going to vomit up my organs. Did Thom hurt you?”

I shook my head, too scared to speak.

He pointed a finger at me. He weren’t facing me but standing sideways, his arm stretched straight out and his chest bare. “And you’re Lady Marian Fitzwalter, aren’t you? Lord Leaford’s younger daughter. Gisbourne’s intended.”

I clutched the cloak tight, frozen inside and out.

“Answer me!” he snapped.

I nodded. He looked away from me and my eyes stung like they’d been whipped, but truth were, I were crying. Crying like the stupid girl I were. My whole body were beating with pain, and it felt like someone were pressing their thumbs into my eyes.

He nodded, going into the cave and finding a tunic that looked foolish without a shirt. “Don’t move,” he ordered as he walked back out and headed toward the woods.

“Where are you going?” I asked, a hiccup escaping. I pushed my face into my hands. I didn’t want to look at him.

“To warn the others. If Thom’s a traitor, Gisbourne will be on them soon. Stay here.” He took a step. “No, go to Tuck’s. Have him hide you. If I see you sitting in the tavern, I swear I’ll murder you myself.”

I ran all the way, letting the wind pull my tears away. Tuck put me in a small room at the inn, and I curled in a corner, taking the blanket from the bed and wrapping it around me. I twisted up over my knees and sobbed. It felt like losing Joanna all over again, like the only thing that loved me in the world were dead and gone.

An awful long time went by before someone knocked on the door. I jumped.

“Scar?” he called. I didn’t say nothing and he just opened the door. It were John, and the tears started again. I didn’t want it to be John. I wanted it to be Rob, saying everything were just fine and I hadn’t failed everyone and everything. “Aw, love,” he said, and came over, sat beside me, and pulled me into his lap, letting me curl around him. I started to cry harder, and he rubbed my back.

I wailed, pulling away. He made soft noises, pulling me closer again, careful of my back. “Hush,” he whispered, like I were a child. “I’m just glad you’re all right. Girls downstairs are awful worried about you. Well, they don’t know it’s you that Tuck put up here, but they said someone was crying.”

I gripped his shirt. My tears were making me shake again, and I just wanted it all to stop.

“I’m here, Scar. I’m not going anywhere.” His hands pushed back the tears on my cheek and his thumb stroked the side of my head. I looked at his eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, Scar, because I love you.”

He pulled my head closer and pushed his lips against mine, and I kissed him back. I knew it were a damn fool thing to do, but I couldn’t help it. He rubbed my neck and kept me close to his face.

It didn’t help any. Honestly, it made it worse than ever. I were hollowed out and twisted up, sick in all kinds of ways. I felt like nothing would ever be good again, and I pulled my lips back. His hand kept me right there. “John,” I said soft. “I’m—”

“Don’t stop on my account.”

I jerked to look at Rob, standing in the doorway, his fist white-knuckling the door handle.

“Guess you’ve recovered, then.”

“Did you find Thom?” John asked.

“Not yet.”

“Robin,” Tuck said, appearing in the hall. “You lot need to come see this.”

Rob glared at me again, and I stood up. John started to help me, but I were on my feet. Everything hurt. My side ached where the branch hit me, my cheek were pulsing, and my back were throwing off heat like a fire and making the rest of me feel shivery. My head felt like someone were banging a pot against it, and the kiss didn’t help any of it none.

Rob stopped me at the door, blocking my way. He wouldn’t look at me. “Cloak,” he said. The word sounded like a curse. John put the cloak over my shoulders, pulling up the hood, and Rob let us both pass.

Much weren’t in the tavern, which I thought were odd. There weren’t anyone there. Tuck went outside and we followed.

I stopped dead in my tracks. Everyone were quiet, standing in a circle. We pushed through, and vomit, pain, and blood all started fighting each other in my body.

I’m not proud of it. It were fair shameful. I took one look at the body and drew about four desperate breaths before the pain won and I fainted. Thom Walker were on the ground, his body staked out with knives, his shirt hanging off in tatters. His mouth were sewn shut with black blood-soaked thread, the mark of a traitor. Blood were dried all over his face, and on his chest, through a thick cover of blackening blood, Gisbourne carved the words GIVE ME MARIAN.

Chapter Fourteen

I’m to die today.

I woke up back in the room at Tuck’s, and this time I were in the bed, the cloak off and the blankets round me. I felt like a rock. I moved, and my whole body were sore. My eyes were like wood dust and my side were hot and swollen. I were bruised and bloody, inside and out.

I stayed for a long time on the bed, not moving, just blinking. That’s all I could think, over and over. I’m to die today. Because I knew that as soon as I started moving, I had to turn myself in to Gisbourne. I couldn’t let anyone else get hurt.