Returning to the convent with Isabella, Robin was pleasantly surprised to find Marian out of bed, busily engaged overseeing the packing of their coach. Marian was equally surprised to see him bring Isabella back with him, though her surprise was less than pleasant.

"Better make room for one more passenger," Isabella said archly. "I shall be accompanying you."

Marian shot Robin a surprised, questioning look.

"Hardly a passenger," Robin said, with angry smugness. "You're a prisoner."

"You didn't see the king?" Marian asked.

Tying Isabella to a nearby tree, Robin answered her grimly. "I did. He ordered me to take this reptile back with us to England, to face Queen Eleanor's judgment."

"Reptile?" Isabella cried. "You've got me all wrong, Robin. I'm a kitten, just waiting for you to make me purr again."

Marian opened her mouth while lifting her brows, then rolled her eyes in disgust. "Reptile is too kind," she stated.

Having finished tying up Isabella, Robin led Marian behind the coach, where he thought Isabella could not see. But she managed to look under the coach to see them from the knees down, and from their closeness, she guessed they were kissing.

She strained her ears to listen to the conversation that followed their kiss. Like Marian, when she had been Robin's spy, Isabella had listened at keyholes and across areas, as a means to protect herself or to scheme, so her hearing was acute.

"I'm sorry," she heard Robin say. "I hate this as much as you do."

"The king commanded it, so we'll have to make the best of a bad situation," Marian responded.

"Maybe we can harness her, and have her pull the coach along with the horses," Robin joked.

Isabella sneered and stiffened, then reminded herself of King Richard's injury and her soon-to-be triumph.

"It will be a tight fit, inside," she heard Marian say, a lilt in her voice.

"Laugh all you like," Isabella whispered. "I'll be the one laughing at you both, soon enough."

There was another pause in conversation between the couple, signifying yet another kiss. Jealously, Isabella fumed, then heard Robin say, "I'm glad you're up. How are you feeling?"

"Not quite myself, but I couldn't stay in bed any longer," Marian answered. "I hate being useless."

"You are never useless."

"Anyway, I want to go home. We've been away too long, I think."

Isabella watched them come out from behind the coach, hand-in-hand. "How charming," she sneered. "Holding hands, like teenage sweethearts. Robin knows I prefer to grasp another part of him."

"Shut up, Isabella," Robin ordered.

"You can't taint our love with your filthy words," Marian told her.

Isabella shrugged her shoulders. It was going to be an interesting journey, she believed.

After all the preparations for travel were complete, the family piled into the coach. With Isabella joining them, it was a tight fit, and Robin decided he would need to hold one of his daughters on his lap. Last to sit down, he lifted Ellen and placed her on his knee.

"Me, me!" Grace called, climbing onto his lap as well.

"Does everyone get a turn to ride?" Isabella asked.

Marian shot her an angry, warning stare.

"You're too big," Ellen told her.

"Manners," her nurse reminded the child.

Isabella smiled wickedly. "I've sat on your father before," she said, licking her lips. "Though not the way you're doing."

Robin had stood enough. Handing both girls off to an outraged Marian, he savagely pulled out his knife, then cut a long strip of hem from Isabella's nun's habit. Roughly, he seized Isabella's head and gagged her mouth shut with the cloth he had cut.

"Robin!" Marian warned, clutching his arm after noticing the frightened looks on the faces of their little girls as well as their nurse. "They have never seen you like this!"

Robin looked in horror at the fear in his children's eyes. Fighting back his vicious anger toward Isabella, he calmed himself, then tried to calm his girls. "It's alright," he assured them, his smile lacking its customary radiance. "I'm only quieting her, to stop her lies."

"You scared me, Daddy," Ellen wimpered, as Grace began to wail.

"Ungag her, Robin," Marian advised, taking Grace into her arms. "I don't want to hear her anymore than you do, but-"

Reluctantly, Robin untied the gag he'd put around Isabella's mouth.

"Gag the baby," Isabella sputtered. "Please! Do something to shut her up!"

"Your Lordship, must we endure this woman?" the nurse asked.

"All the way to London, Nursie," Isabella smirked.