Once again, Guy tries to woo Marian, but she slips away from her unwanted suitor like the proverbial sand is slipping through the hourglass. But when Robin's life is in peril, Marian is adamant about saving her beloved hero. She may perform any desperate artifice to save Robin without caring about a possible moral indictment.

A canonical scene from 2x08 written from Guy, Marian, and Robin's POVs.

Tagged with Robin/Marian because Marian is in a relationship with Robin. Guy/Marian is an unrequited and forced relationship.

Co-Authors are: Penelope Clemence and Lady of Knights.

Disclaimer: We don't own BBC's Robin Hood or any of the show's characters. We have no rights to the canonical plots and storylines.

This is the eleventh story in a series of one-shots. The one-shots can be found at the author profiles for Lady of Knights, Penelope Clemence, and Coleen561.

1. Love is Disguised (Robin & Marian, episode 1x13, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

2. The Reign of Love (Robin & Marian, episode 1x13, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

3. The Wind of Freedom (Robin & Marian, episode 2x01, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

4. Fuel For the Fire (Guy and Marian who is in a relationship with Robin, episode 2x01, by Coleen561 and Penelope Clemence)

5. The Poisonous Abyss (Guy and Robin who is in a relationship with Marian, episode 2x01, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

6. Are you jealous? (Robin & Marian, episode 2x02, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

7. A Glimmer of Embarrassment (Robin & Marian, episode 2x03, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

8. No Longer Friends (Robin and Allan, episode 2x05, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

9. Through the Waters of Purgatory (Guy and Marian who is in a relationship with Robin, episode 2x06, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

10. Girls and Hairpins (Robin & Marian, episode 2x06, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

11. Beams of Light in a Dark World (Robin & Marian, episode 2x06, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

12. A Retributive Punishment (Robin and Allan, and Robin & Marian, episode 2x07, by Lady of Knights and Penelope Clemence)

A Desperate Artifice for Love

The Castle of Nottingham, one of the empty rooms

Guy closed the door and fixed his stare on Marian who stood across the room from him. He viewed her from top to toe, and his breath caught in his throat, his heart thumping like a twig pommeled against the rocky shore of a swiftly moving river. She looked incredibly beautiful in a plain gown that gave her an air of elegance with its slim, classical lines. A small reserved smile curved her lips, and Guy blinked at the sheer bewitching charm of it.

Gisborne began cautiously, "I received your letter. I was about to come and visit you."

Marian concealed her annoyance at his comment. "I asked to be left alone, and you were still coming to see me?" she asked with a hard edge to her voice.

Marian was so very captivating and so virtuous beyond the bounds of credibility! Guy was mesmerized by her vibrant features that were cold again, as usual when she conversed with him. His mood plummeted at the thought that Marian was opposing his advances so obstinately. When she had been away, her sapphire blue eyes, which were now gleaming an intriguing deep blue shade between the long, dark lashes, haunted him at night like a ghost from another world, and every time Guy was endeavoring to enter her realm, she shut the gates right before him. Like the proverbial sand was slipping through the hourglass, Marian always slipped away from Guy when he got closer.

"You knew I would," he claimed after a short pause.

His overconfidence was grating on her nerves, and she stifled a cry of exasperation that was threatening to erupt from her mouth. When she spoke, her voice sounded calm but a bit chilly. "Yes. And that's why I came. To ask you to please leave me be."

Guy smirked and stepped towards her. "Marian, you seriously expect me to believe that you have given yourself to God?"

At this, Marian chuckled as her inner voice whispered to her. No, I haven't entered a convent, and I never will! I have given myself to Robin, and I will never regret this because he is the love of my life! The image of Robin's handsome face percolated in her mind and illuminated her universe with a celestial light of love. An ambrosial warmth filled her heart and seeped into her flesh and bones, her body burning at the remembrance of his kisses and caresses. Her whole world was haloed in a radiance of enchantment that often enveloped her and separated her from harsh reality when she fantasized about her hero.

The same inner voice reminded her that it was not the right moment to daydream of her beloved. She would have enough time when they would all be back to the outlaws' camp. Now she had to ensure that Robin would safely make it out of the castle. Her heart heavy and filled with sincere contrition, she applied her effective manipulation tactic and again lied to him. "Trust me. I haven't "given" myself to anybody. Not yet."

In the twinkling of an eye, Marian turned away, but Gisborne grabbed her arm and stared into her face. Her cheekbones, stained just now with a slight flush, and the soft rosy mouth were intoxicating, her loveliness blatantly provoking Guy to taste her sweetness. With volition, he suppressed his instincts. "Good. Because until you do, I will always believe that there is a chance for you and me."

"I need to think." Her voice was as cold as winter earth.

She was about to spin around, but Guy's voice made her pause. "Stop thinking." He stilled, awaiting her reaction with bated breath. He said fervently, "Come home to me!"

A feeling of virulent revulsion spreading through her, she recalled the night when Guy had burned down Knighton Hall. Her eyes darkening with rising temper, she glared at him a moment before snapping, "You burned my home to the ground!"

Releasing a sigh of frustration, Guy ceased eye contact and ambled away a couple steps. She didn't know that he regretted the evil deed since the moment he had set Knighton on fire. My God! How could I destroy her home? I was hell-bent on taking out my pain on her, on retaliating for her abandoning me at the altar! And now, how can I undo the damage? Unable to quash his tormenting thoughts, Guy peered into her face and heaved a sigh. He was frustrated and uncertain how he could remedy the situation, for clearly Marian was still laboring under the same misapprehension of his inner world as she had been months ago.

He couldn't stem the tide of the questions hurtled through his mind in rapid succession. Could Marian find it in her heart to forgive him? Could she agree to marry him if he proposed to her again? Would she be happy to bear his children who would carry on his name? Guy would restore the proud Gisborne name after his ignominy would be washed away by the immaculate purity of her heart once they joined in holy matrimony. Could Marian learn to love him over time? His mouth twisted in bitter regret at the thought that he had certainly given her no reason to be devoted to him.

Guy mustered his courage to voice his innermost musings. "Marian, if I could take that back... if I could show you the side to me that wants to build a home, not burn it down.

"I've seen it," she responded.

This time, she didn't deceive him. She had witnessed him sparing lives of children on a few occasions and refusing to torture prisoners at her request, thus defying the sheriff covertly. He had also shown her his better side by forewarning her about the sheriff's deal with the Earl of Winchester when Vaisey had been toadying up to the earl in order to make him sign the Pact of Nottingham. Nevertheless, Guy had been steered from the right path by the sheriff when he had agreed to give her to Winchester. Guy was a man of contrasts and contradictions, his soul like a semi-transparent gloom backed by heavy shadows.

"Then why do you reject it?" he adjured.

An overwrought Marian searched her mind for a reply, and the day of her father's death flashed in front of her eyes, still fresh and lively. A sense of abounding poignancy, like that inspired by a mournful strain of music, disengaged itself from the brief hush that stretched between them and manifested itself on her countenance. Marian slowly articulated, "My father is dead. I need time to grieve."

Guy stepped to her and gazed into her eyes, aware of nothing but the woman before him. Words of affection hovering over his lips, he appealed to her dramatically, "What better way to grieve than to create a new life?" He grabbed her shoulders, and the touch sent a shockwave of awareness through him that it was time to tell her what he felt. "Marian, I thought that I might never see you again. I thought I might never..." He groped for words.

Marian swallowed convulsively. "What?"

He sighed lewdly. "Kiss you." As he started to lean in for a kiss, the door flung open, and Allan stepped in. Guy glared at his right-hand man; Marian was awash in relief.

Allan shuffled his feet in discomfort, and interposed awkwardly, "Oh, sorry. The sheriff wants you. He's gonna put Robin's head on a spike."

As if Allan's statement had the potency of magic, Guy swiftly pivoted and stormed out of the chamber. Marian followed him, but when he stopped, she paused as well. Turning to her at the doorway, he announced strictly, "We must continue this conversation soon."

Marian plodded after her unwanted suitor, her heart galloping in consternation. Now they were treading on dangerous grounds: Vaisey could realize that Robin was really alive. Once again, she was seized by the familiar catatonic fear of discovering, or perhaps even observing, Robin's death. She had almost lost her beloved many times, and every time she experienced the same dismay that plundered and pillaged her soul far and wide. Marian endeavored to regain control over her emotions as she was crossing the room.

Behind Gisborne, Marian saw Will and Much being escorted outside. When Much shook his head in alarm, her heart dropped to her feet. Miles and miles of the English land might be ravaged and depopulated by feral beasts, but that would not give her the fright of her life – the very idea of Robin's passing would. At present, her distress was by no means alleviated by the knowledge of his genius and his talent to cheat death. Robin would pull out all the stops to accomplish his mission, but his perseverance could be fatal.

Gisborne turned to leave, and she couldn't allow Gisborne to harm Robin! Marian could perform any desperate artifice to save Robin's life without caring about a possible moral indictment! A dozen different suggestions rioting through her brain in just a split second, she discarded them all, and then a wild idea occurred to her. Therefore, Marian resorted to her feminine wiles and drew the man clad in black leather back.

"Guy!" cried Marian in a voice thick with emotion.

Marian hauled Guy into a kiss, and his arms engulfed her passionately, but for her, it felt like she was a sparrow in the talons of a hawk. His eyes closed as Guy's hungry mouth was assaulting hers, whilst Marian was observing, waiting for Much and Will to disappear.

A discomfited Allan raised his brows at the sight of what he interpreted as Marian's subterfuge to divert Guy's attention. Allan had not even a shadow of doubt that Robin wouldn't have endorsed such a method of his salvation, and the traitor to Robin Hood instinctively feared that his former leader would confront him again just because he was witnessing the frivolous scene of Marian's feigned affection.

For Marian, the time was no easier, her emotions so lacerated that it was a wonder she didn't shrink away from Guy and then slap him in punishment for her own actions. Her insides bubbling with frustration at her own failure to come up with a better idea, she forcibly redirected her train of thought to Robin. The vision of her and Robin embracing and kissing under the branches of a tall oak in Sherwood floated before her mind's eye, and Robin's contagious laughter pealed in her ears. Guy and his kiss repelled her, and this feeling was as unintentional as the birth of a thought in the head.

Almost dizzy from the elation pumping through his veins, Guy's tongue was forcefully lapping at hers. His mind registered the fact that her lips were unresisting, although she seemed tense in his arms. Marian eagerly kissed me, perhaps on impulse! She must be feeling something for me! She wants me as much as I want her! She will marry me! At these thoughts, Guy deepened the kiss, savoring the warmth and sweetness of her lips; his body was aroused, and spring was blooming in his heart.

As he emerged in the corridor, Robin paused and stared at her with jaundiced, frantic eyes; Carter stopped behind him. His entire aura that usually shimmered with a golden glow of goodness was in the shadows, as if the sun were sinking to rest, wrapping him in a mantle of caliginous clouds. Her actions were likely to be her way to assist him in their mission, but he couldn't help but think that Marian might be falling for his nemesis.

The vision stabbed painfully at the old wound of Robin's jealousy to Guy that couldn't heal despite the love he shared with Marian. Like a jealous wretch with an obscene tongue, he worked to inhibit the urge to spew vulgar curses and blasphemies at Gisborne. Only the satisfaction of exacting revenge would satisfy me now, Gisborne. Only God knows how much I want you dead. If you ever try to take Marian away from me, you will die a very slow and agonizing death, Robin vowed fiercely, his hand on the hilt of his sword.

Only when his eyes met hers, her strained gaze clearly enunciated her apology; his unbridled jealousy then faded from Robin's emotional horizon that was now rippled with waves of displeasure. Marian could have contrived something else instead of permitting Gisborne to kiss the soft, beguiling lips, from which Robin usually drank the nectar of love and passion. With detestation, he observed Gisborne nuzzle her neck.

Guilt over betraying Robin with Guy for the sake of the mission and annoyance at Robin's observance warred in her, and Marian pulled back. "Guy... I have to go."

The loss of Marian was again lurking in the background. Guy found it unbearable, and asked, "Go?" As she dipped her head, he stated, "You can't go."

She said the only thing she could. "I can, and I must. Look, this was a mistake."

Since the first days of her imprisonment at the castle, Marian had been successfully inveigling herself back into Guy's favor. She had quickly mastered the art of manipulating Guy, but today she had probably crossed a line, and a seed of deep remorse was sowed in her breast. I tricked Guy again for the sake of saving Robin's life, but at that moment, I didn't presume that Robin would appear in the corridor. Yet, it is still my fault that I lied to Guy again; mine and nobody else's. Guy will probably infer that I'm falling in love with him, and I shall never forgive myself for that. At these admissions, Marian's guilt crystallized into a premonition, her countenance darkening with the blackness of it.

Guy's chest tightened with the ramification of her words. She couldn't desert him! Not after this kiss! The magnitude of his heartache at the thought that she would rob him of the chance to be content and to redeem himself through her chastity was unbounded. "Marian, this wasn't a mistake. This was the most perfect thing that has ever happened."

Her penitence goaded her into being ruthlessly frank. "I am grieving, Guy. I misled you. I'm sorry." She then swiveled to stalk down the corridor. "I'm sorry."

Gisborne gripped her forearm, and Marian froze but didn't turn to him. Her eyes were riveted on Robin who beheld her and his archenemy with an impassive expression that, she surmised, was an awning which served to temporarily shelter her from the storm of Robin's blistering fury. Robin's reprehensive stare evoked nervous tremors in her chest, and now Marian was more worried about her impending verbal tussle with Robin; she also noticed Carter near Robin.

Guy looked at her with sharp scrutiny, as if expecting any sign of her love. Looking like an inhabitant of an empty world steeped in an infinite amount of loneliness, he persuaded her, "You're misleading yourself. I know. I've done it. I told myself I didn't need you, that other things would satisfy me... politics... power. Yet, here we are."

"I have to get back... before they realize I'm missing," insisted Marian.

His hope was gradually dwindling. "Back to the convent?"

She nodded. "Yes."

Guy laughed in disbelief. "Marian, no." As she scoffed, he pronounced in an imperative voice, "I forbid you from going."

Marian shook her head and waited for a moment before defiantly promenading away with a confident gait, as if she were strolling before dinner, without a backward glance. As she passed by Robin, she whispered, "See you back at the camp."

For a handful of heartbeats, Robin stood rooted, his gaze oscillating between Marian and Gisborne who was also watching her go with doleful eyes. Then Guy walked off slowly down the corridor, and Robin frowned deeply in disgust, his eyes shooting daggers. All at once, the alarm bell echoed through the castle, and a soldier shouted in the distance.

Robin veered his eyes to Carter who had been there during Marian's spectacle. "Well, looks like they're missing us. You ready?"

Still puzzled as to why the leader of the outlaws spared his foes, Carter inquired, "You sure you don't want to kill anyone? We're much more likely to get killed ourselves."

"Ahh, come on!" exclaimed a grinning Robin, banishing disturbing thoughts from his head. "We're much too good for that."

Carter inclined his head. "Alright. Let's find out."

Robin amicably slapped the other man on the shoulder. "Come on!" As the order to search the castle resounded once more, they ran down the corridor towards the side steps.

Meanwhile, Marian was on the way from the castle while furiously rubbing her lips, as if that could rid her of the memory of Guy's kiss. Her former fiancé had responded ardently to her kiss, but she hadn't been swamped into a deluge of exquisite sensations which Robin's touch always roused in her. Marian didn't want Guy and didn't love him, although she didn't deny that he was an attractive tall knight whom other women would probably be more than delighted to marry, even if they would have to reside in Vaisey's humungous castle full of evil spirits instead of the cozy Locksley Manor.

Her kiss with Guy could become a blot upon her loving relationship with Robin. What would she tell him? Robin would stare at her with peeved eyes; lest they wrangled, he would be concise in his speech to the point of rudeness. Then a solemn Robin would retreat into the depths of the woods, erecting barriers between them. At this thought, her heart wriggled like a butterfly stuck in its cocoon, and Marian braced herself for the inevitable.

There is some very exciting news! Penelope and Coleen have been hard at work on a new series which is tentatively titled, The Robin Hood Trilogy. The first novel in the trilogy is almost complete, the second novel is in the editing phase, and they started to work on book 3.

Their upcoming Robin Hood Trilogy is a completely original work that will feature not only the legendary characters from the ballads of Robin Hood but also real historical figures. You can also count on meeting some unforgettable original characters! We anticipate publication of the first book in 2017.

Here is the blurb:

England, 1154-1194

A Kingdom under Assault.
Bold Conspiracies of Unthinkable Malevolence.
A Lone Man Taking a Stand against Tyranny and Evil.

Their lives are shrouded in mystery and controversy – Henry II, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, and John Lackland. The first Plantagenets: a dynasty born of anarchy and nurtured by intrigue. Although they would govern England for over three centuries, no threat to their rule would be greater than the secrets hidden within the tangled family tree of their ancestor, William the Conqueror.

As shadowy forces gather to attack the Plantagenet royal family, there is only one man who can defeat the evil that threatens to destroy the future of a nation.

Bow in hand, Robin Fitzooth, the Earl of Huntingdon, confronts the growing darkness and becomes Robin Hood. He will face deception, betrayal, and the ravages of war as he fights to defend his king, his country, his people, and the woman he loves from a conspiracy so diabolical, so unexpected, that the course of history hangs in the balance.

A battle between good and evil, justice and tyranny, the future and the past.