Heart of the Matter

Epilogue

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who has read and, in some cases, left comments on my story.

Here is the last part, in which questions are asked and answered, and Cupid is given a new Task. 

Her and Him...

As we charge towards the forest and safety, I glance at Robin, running beside me.

He nearly lost his life in the Holy Land and returned to England heartsick, his dreams of glory shattered by the realities of war, his hope of marrying me all but extinguished.

The joy on his face when I greeted him and he saw no ring on my finger should have filled me with similar joy, yet I was aloof, pointing an arrow at him and telling him to get lost. Admittedly, the sheriff had men watching my father's house and we had to be careful, but I could have let him know with a wink and a nod that I was only play-acting, that my harsh words were nothing more than a sham. That's not to say that I wasn't still angry with him for leaving me all those years ago, for never writing, but I needn't have added to his woes in such a cruel manner. Even my father said afterwards that Robin's easy acceptance of my dismissal masked his true feelings and that he was as upset as any man could be returning home after five years away only to find his betrothed aiming an arrow at his heart.

Robin looks sidelong at me. "All right?" he asks, barely out of breath.

"I can run as long as you can," I tell him, picking up speed as if to prove my point.

"Good," he says, "because living with us you will find you have to do a lot of running."

My good mood at escaping both the castle and Gisborne's spell over me disappears. I had forgotten that I would not have Robin all to myself in the near future, that I would be living in close quarters with several other outlaws, including the ever-clingy Much.

However, right now, I have bigger concerns to fret about.

I know we have done the right thing. Guy's confession (it didn't take much for Pitts to cave in and tell us the truth about Guy's so-called contagion) will help bring about the downfall of the sheriff, provided we can deliver it safely to the king, but our lives are now in greater danger because of it, including my father's life.

Reaching the safety of the trees, we slow down.

"You know they'll be after us more than ever now, don't you," Allan says, echoing my thoughts. "No way are the sheriff and Gisborne going to let that confession make its way to the Holy Land and into the king's hands."

"Don't worry," Robin says. "I have a plan."

Much chews on his lower lip and gives Robin a wary look.

"A whole plan, not half?" Allan asks.

Robin nods. "You lot may have thought I spent the whole of last night canoodling with Marian which, I'll admit, we did do quite a lot of, but—"

"Robin!" I admonish, my cheeks burning from more than our recent running.

"But," Robin continues, "I also spent much of last night not only visiting Matilda for her handy knock-the-sheriff-out potion, but also one of the castle scribes, an old friend of mine."

Much creases his brow in puzzlement.

"Matthew is going to make an exact copy of Gisborne's confession," Robin explains. "The real confession I am entrusting to someone who will take it to Richard. The forged confession I will accidentally on purpose let fall into the sheriff or Gisborne's hands."

"Nice one," Allan says.

"You didn't tell me about Matthew," I say, annoyed that Robin has let me worry unnecessarily.