Marian stared at the bandage on Robin's neck, careful not to look into the eyes of the outlaw, then, always with the same impassive expression, she sat next to Guy and took his wounded hand in hers, to bandage it again.
The two men were both tense and ready to cause a new quarrel, and she didn't want to give them the opportunity to fight. With an inner sigh, she thought she should have entrusted Allan with the job of treating the wounds of those two.
She would, however, do better to go back to her lodgings and remove any cause of conflict, but she didn't move.
The truth was that she didn't feel like staying alone.
Allan was seated at the table, and he looked at them with a morose look in his eyes, but he didn't stop helping himself from the food tray and the wine jug.
The only one who seemed to be perfectly carefree was the black dog, lying under the table at Guy's feet, with the tongue out and his nose pointing up, asking for some other piece of meat.
Marian finished unwrapping the bandage and she examined the wound, a little worried: by now it should have stopped bleeding, yet it seemed fresh, as if Guy had just cut himself.
She thought of the stranger's lips pressing themselves on Guy's palm, touching his clear skin... For a moment Marian wondered how it could taste, and she was tempted to imitate Lady Millacra's gesture, blushing immediately for that indecent thought.
She shouldn't have that sort of thoughts in front of Robin! In fact, she shouldn't have that sort of thoughts at all!
Shaken, she focused on the wound, hoping that Guy and Robin didn't notice her mood.
"It's weird that it still bleeds," she said in a light tone, trying to break that embarrassing silence. "It's not a profound cut, but it would probably be better to stitch it."
"Giz, do you want me to call the physician of the castle?" Allan suggested, a bit worried.
"No," Guy said, dryly. "That useless man would only try to use his disgusting leeches." He turned to Marian and his tone softened. "Do it, please."
Robin looked at him threateningly, but he didn't say anything. If he wanted to be honest, he had to admit that Gisborne's request was reasonable and courteous, and that he couldn't object without giving the impression of being jealous, putting Marian in a difficult position.
He looked in silence, hoping that the girl would use a rusty needle.

Marian finished stitching the wound, and both Guy and Robin sighed with relief, one tortured by the pain because of the needle that was actually not too sharp, and the other tortured by jealousy.
The girl put away medicines and bandages, and she washed her hands in the basin that was on a little table at the other end of the room, then she went back to sit next to the fireplace.
She passed near Robin and the outlaw stretched out his finger to take a drop of blood from her cheek.
"You got dirty, Lady Marian," Robin said with a cheeky tone, then, without thinking, he put his finger in his mouth.
The girl noticed that gesture and she gave a perplexed and a little disgusted look at him, while Guy, who only saw that kind of caress on Marian's cheek, jumped on the outlaw and grabbed his tunic.
"Don't ever try to put your dirty hands on a lady, Hood!" Guy snarled, but Robin didn't answer.
The outlaw still had his finger between his lips, his head slightly bent forward, his face shadowed.
When Guy grabbed him, Robin glanced up at him and, for the second time in a matter of minutes, Gisborne was scared to see a murderous ferocity in Robin Hood's eyes.
Robin had acted instinctively when he had taken the blood from Marian's cheek.
That intimate gesture had unleashed Gisborne's wrath.
Once, when Robin and Marian were promised, he often used to pick up a drop of honey from the face of the girl after they had eaten together some sweet cake bought at the market, or he used to clean the red traces of the juice of ripe strawberries on her lips with a kiss.
In that moment, he didn't think that it was blood on the girl's face, but he only realized it after putting his finger in his mouth.
Normally, once he realized the mistake, he would react with disgust, but now the taste of blood on his tongue struck him like a lightning.
It wasn't simple blood, it was like a call, a multitude of shades that wrapped his palate and penetrated all over his body, enveloping his heart in a grasp. One drop was as inebriant as one hundred buckets of the best wine, and as satisfying as a whole banquet, but it wasn't enough.
He wanted more.
More blood.
Gisborne grabbed him fiercely, outraged by his gesture, and he shook him, grabbing his tunic with his healthy hand, and raising the other toward his face as if he wanted to threaten him with a punch.
That was when Robin realized the truth.
The blood he had tasted, the blood he wanted, wasn't simple blood.
It was Gisborne's blood.
He could smell it on the bandage that wrapped his hand, he could hear the knight's heartbeat, and he searched with his eyes for the veins of his neck. The blood was there, so near, hidden only by a thin layer of skin and he just had to take it...
A quick move forward, a bite, and that irresistible attraction would find complete satisfaction.
Robin licked his lips, almost savoring that hot blood stream, and looked up, meeting Guy's eyes.
The anger had disappeared from Gisborne's eyes, replaced by a sudden fear.
What are you afraid of? There is nobody else, here.
Robin moved, and Guy winced.
Of me. He's afraid of me.
The outlaw's sudden realization dissipated the taste of blood, and that sort of overwhelming madness that had almost pushed him to bite Gisborne's neck.
What am I doing? What did I want to do?
Gisborne stared at him, no longer frightened, but puzzled, almost worried, and Robin was overwhelmed by a horror that he had never experienced before, and that turned his stomach.
He pushed Guy away, and he stumbled out of the room, not wanting to humiliate himself in front of the others.
Marian, Guy, and Allan saw him rushing out of the door, and they exchanged a surprised look, without realizing what had happened to him.

Robin fled without even looking where he was going, horrified, and upset by an ever-stronger nausea. He pushed the nearest door, blindly, and he found himself in a small, smelly room with a perforated wood seat and a bunch of straw stacked in a corner.
The smell of the latrine put an end to every attempt to withstand nausea, and Robin collapsed to his knees and bent over the hole, too weak to stand while he threw up.
He couldn't say how long he stayed in that position, retching without being able to stop, as if his own body had reacted with the same amount of violence to that unnatural thirst he had experienced earlier.
Even after finishing, he leaned with his arms on the latrine seat, emptied of any strength, but, above all, of will. If he hadn't felt so weak and empty, he would probably have burst into tears like a child, but he could only stand there listlessly, asking to himself what had happened to him.
A creak coming from the door behind him made him jump.
"Hood?"
Gisborne's voice was low and cautious, as if he feared being discovered.
Robin didn't move, still upset about that blasphemous and murderous desire to kill him.
Stay away from me, Gisborne!
Robin wanted to shout at him, but his voice didn't obey his will.
Guy's steps approached, and a moment later Gisborne leaned over him, holding a hand on his back.
"Hood?" He called him again, and his tone was uncertain, almost kind. "Robin?"
Robin jumped to his feet to avoid that contact, to escape any further temptation, but the too abrupt movement made him waver and he would have fallen if Guy had not upheld him.
Robin tried to hold his breath, for fear that the smell of blood would make him go crazy again, but after a while he was forced to breathe.
Nothing.
Guy's proximity did no longer have any effect on him, except for the embarrass to be seen by his enemy in such a vulnerable and unpleasant situation.
"Are you done?" Guy asked in a neutral tone, and Robin nodded. "Well, if you don't object, let's get out of here, then."
Gisborne helped him to walk, supporting him with an arm, and made him enter a door not too far away.
Robin realized that Marian and Allan were not around, but the black dog followed every step of Guy, jumping merrily around their feet and risking to make them trip.
Gisborne sat Robin on a bed, and took a basin from the shelf under the window, giving it to him without ceremonies.
"If you feel sick again, use this. And don't dream of stealing anything from here."
Robin wondered what he meant with those words, and raised his face to look around.
He noticed the yellow and black shield hanging on the wall and realized that they had to be in Guy's lodgings. He wondered why Gisborne had brought him there, but he didn't say anything.
Gisborne was standing beside the window, his arms crossed in front of him and he had his back turned to him.
Once again, Robin wondered why the other man was behaving like that. Guy had seen the murderous fury that had suddenly possessed him, and he had been frightened, yet he had let him into his rooms, and now he turned his back at Robin, as if he trusted him.
He remembered the Gisborne of many years before, the serious and reserved little boy that he enjoyed to tease in every possible way.
"What did you want to do, Hood?"
Guy spoke without looking at him, but Robin shook his head.
"Nothing. What are you talking about, Gisborne?"
The other turned, and hurriedly approached. Robin thought that he wanted to hit him, but Guy just stared into his eyes.
"Do not fool me, Hood! Something happened earlier, and I want to know what got into you."
"Where are Marian and Allan?"
"Lady Marian for you, outlaw!"
"Then, Gisborne, where are Lady Marian and Allan?"
"When you ran away, we came to look for you. I suggested that we split and I sent them to look for you near the kitchens."
"Why?"
"Because I didn't want them to find you. I've seen the look in your eyes, Hood, I won't let you hurt them."
"I would never do that! I'm Robin Hood, I don't kill without a reason!"
Guy stared into his eyes.
"But you wanted my blood just a moment ago, didn't you? You wanted to kill me, to cut my throat, to tear my heart with your hands. And if you could, you would have done it without even thinking about it, with the same ease with which you shoot an arrow. You wanted me dead. You wanted my blood."
Robin shivered.
"How do you know?"
"I saw it in your eyes." Guy paused. "And it happened to me, too."
The outlaw looked at him, suddenly careful.
"What? What happened to you?"
Gisborne looked away.
"It was just a moment, but suddenly I felt the desire to cut your throat and fill a mug with your blood."
Robin swallowed, unable to answer, and Guy looked back out of the window.
"It's not normal, Hood. As far as you can believe it, and no matter how much we can hate each other, I'm not a bloody murderer and neither you are. There is something wrong in the castle, something unholy."
"Won't you believe to Allan's stories? Come on, they are just tales good for old gossiping ladies! Silly superstitions."
"What I saw in your eyes was not a superstition. And what I felt inside me was not normal. For a moment it was as if I were not thinking, but someone else was in my mind. Maybe they're not just stories."
"Gisborne?" Robin asked, stricken withy a sudden thought. "Earlier you said that you sent Allan and Marian to a place where they couldn't find me... But how did you know where I was?"
Guy looked at him, and Robin realized that he was scared.
"I just knew it. I was sure to find you there, and I don't know why."