Guy, exhausted from his travail of trying to survive in the forest, threw himself onto the bed the nuns in the convent provided him, and thought about his future. His belly was full, he felt relatively safe, and thanks to Isabella's plan, he once again had hope. Together, he and his sister would kill King Richard, earning them power and position in King John's England. All his previous failures would be forgotten, and John would deny him nothing!
"I can ask for your head, Hood," Guy sneeringly told himself, speaking as if his enemy were before him, "and John, as king, would not refuse me." Guy thought for a moment how Prince John always longed to mount Hood's head on the wall in his trophy room. Guy himself wished his enemy completely annihilated, so he wouldn't have to see his smug face ever again. But dead was dead and couldn't be undone, not even by Hood. Or was it?
Guy remembered how Hood had reappeared alive, fully resurrected, after Guy was certain he had killed him, throwing his body into the gorge on the hill behind Locksley, into the River Trent below. No one could have survived that fall, yet Hood somehow had, just as Marian had survived...No! Guy didn't want to remember thrusting his sword through her in the Holy Land! He especially didn't want to remember the words she had used to taunt him, words that had forced him to do it!
"I would rather die than be with you, Guy of Gisbourne. I'm going to marry Robin Hood. I love Robin Hood. I love Robin Hood."
Would his agony never end? Must he suffer endlessly, because of Her? When he'd believed he had truly killed her, he was sorry. He'd suffered so horribly, wishing himself dead and in Hell rather than having to endure the guilt and pain he felt for having slain her, his one and only love. But since she had returned, her prophecy of marrying Hood fulfilled, Guy sometimes wished he could stab her through again with his sword.
But what if she were Hood's widow? Would that leave the way open for himself, to take her as his wife? Did he even want her? At this moment, he did not. Her endless rejections wounded and humiliated him. He wished he could be free of her forever, but he knew he could not. He knew himself and his feelings for her too well, though he despised himself for them.
Years before, after she had humiliated him at the altar, moving his ring to her right hand to provide more power to her punch before she ran away, Guy believed himself free from all his tender feelings toward her. But in time he realized he was not free. Even after her rejection and humiliation, after he had offered her everything, lavishing so much care and attention to the wedding simply to please her, he discovered he had forgiven her and cared for her still. And how had she repaid him? How was she still repaying him? She betrayed him again and again!
The worst sin a man could commit, Guy reminded himself...a person could commit, was betrayal. He had learned that when he was a child, when his mother had betrayed him by running away with some lowly minstrel, leaving him to face his father's wrath alone. He learned never to trust a woman, yet he had trusted one, and see where it got him! He hated her...he loved her! He burned to make her pay and suffer...he burned to love and care for her!
It was better after he had killed her, and yet...He could not give up hope that she might someday truly be his!
There was something between them...there was! If Hood were out of the way...dead...then perhaps she would open her heart, as he knew she had done before, and let himself in.
No, he would not give up hope, though he wished he could.
Tormented by his thoughts, he fell into a deep slumber.
...
With his family comfortably sleeping in their convent beds, Robin left the guest chamber he shared with Marian to seek out the Mother Superior. He chuckled under his breath as he quietly shut his door, enjoying the sound of Marian's snores. She never snored except when she was expecting. She hadn't yet until tonight this pregnancy, and Robin found her snoring highly amusing and deeply endearing.
His heart's passions, besides loving his family, were to help others in need and to serve his king. Tomorrow, he planned to visit King Richard before arriving at the coast, to learn how he might better serve him back home. Tonight, he wanted to thank the Mother Superior for letting his family stay at the convent, and ask if there was anything he could do to help her community, even if it was only giving a donation. Inns were notoriously dirty with unwashed sheets and bedbugs, but the convent was spotless, and Robin was thankful his wife and daughters, as well as Nurse and his hired driver, could sleep somewhere wholesome.
On his way down the corridor, he noticed a nun with her back to him, and he politely asked, "Excuse me, Sister, could you tell me where I might find your Mother Superior?"
The nun slowly turned around to face him. He took a step back when he saw she was Isabella.
"What are you doing here?" he accused, speaking English now instead of French.
Isabella's attitude surprised him. He had known her to frequently change her demeanor, depending on her situation, but he had never seen her meek and humble before, not even the very first time they had met.
"Please," she begged, with a calmness he never guessed she had, "let me be."
"You're not a nun, Isabella," Robin said angrily. "You and I both know that! I'll ask you again...What are you doing here?"
"Please don't remind me of my sinful past," she said, wanting to remind him of all they had done together. "I am trying so hard to live a different life."
Robin hesitated, somewhat convinced by her act. But then, remembering all he knew about her, he mockingly accused, "Don't tell me you've taken Holy Orders! You tried that game before, in Locksley." Stepping closer, he put his face next to her ear and quietly threatened, "I will expose you, Isabella, unless you leave this convent immediately."
"And go where?" she meekly asked, looking frightened. "It is late, and unsafe for a woman travelling alone. Anything could happen to me out on the roads. Besides, you cannot expose me. I have already confessed my sins to the Reverend Mother, in lurid detail."
She spoke meekly, but was pleased when she saw him step away and blush. "Good," she thought. "You're imagining the old dragon knows all about our passion. You're remembering it now. So am I, for that matter, though I mustn't let you know, no matter how tempting you are."
She composed her features, doing her best to appear transformed and lofty. Yet it wouldn't hurt to give him a hint of how she felt, just to enflame his passion. "Even now," she admitted, "meeting you here, face to face, I find myself in danger."
"You're only in danger, Isabella," he told her, "if I suspect you of treachery."
"You misunderstand," she said innocently. "I'm not afraid of anything you might do to harm me, but only of myself falling into sin again, a victim of your charms."
Robin uttered a scornful laugh. "You are safe. It takes two to make that happen, and I am in no danger succumbing to you. Trust me."
She grew angry, wanting to taunt him and get under his skin, the way she knew she could. But it wouldn't serve her purpose. She needed him to believe she truly had repented and was trying to change her life. Otherwise, he might go the King Richard and warn him of her presence here.
At least he did not suspect Guy was here, sleeping under the same roof.
"Please, Robin," she begged, as meekly as she could. "Please let me be. I truly have repented, and long to change. This is my chance to be a good woman. By living here in seclusion, I can finally be free of all I have done, and make amends. Please! Please let me have my chance for redemption!"
She knew his conscience had bothered him ever since they had first enjoyed each other in the meadow after putting out the fire Prince John had set in Locksley. She hoped she could make him take the blame for "seducing" her, when she knew she had accomplished the seduction. Yet she must tread carefully. It was so tempting to fall back into old habits and try to tempt and taunt him!