Chapter 4

Confessions

Marian eyed Guy attentively. Guy looked not like the same man whom she had known in the past. Guy was thin and unkempt. His face was pale and unshaven, his eyes vacant. Her supposed death definitely had affected him very much. She could also see that there was an air of dignity around Guy she had never seen before, and she thought that he could have perhaps changed.

"Guy, I'm sorry too," Marian said in a more personal voice. As he raised his head and their gazes met, she again saw the pain in his eyes. "I'm guilty of leading you to believe that there could have been anything more than friendship between us."

"Did you ever think that you… could fall in love with me?" He wanted and needed to know.

"No," she replied sincerely.

Guy twisted his features into a grimace of heavy displeasure. "I loved you, Marian," he whispered. "And I love you still."

"Oh, Guy."

He didn't wish to understand her words. He didn't want to believe that she had been always playing with his affections. "I could have loved you more than any other man had ever loved a woman." He glanced at Robin's face. "If you had only allowed me to protect you and show you how much I love you, I would have made you the happiest woman in the world."

"But what if I hadn't been willing?"

"You were willing," he protested. "You smiled at me so often when you stayed in the castle. You kissed me once when you returned to Nottingham from the abbey where you were grieving for your father's death. Later I spared your life despite knowing that you were the Nightwatchman, and you promised to stay in the castle to make the wretched place more bearable."

"You are wrong, Guy."

"Why?"

Marian didn't want to tell Guy some other things that would undoubtedly cause him more pain, but she felt that he deserved an explanation. "I smiled at you and was kind to you because I saw goodness in your heart even when others refused to see it." She sighed. "A part of me wanted to save you, but there was never anything more than a promise of friendship behind my smiles."

Guy felt his heart sink into his throat. "And that kiss?"

"I kissed you to distract you so that Robin and Carter could escape from the castle. I didn't go to a convent after my father's death: I was in Sherwood with Robin. When you discovered us on the tree where Robin and I found Lardner, I had to return to the castle with you."

Guy thought that he had been an idiot because he had failed to nail down Marian's lies and unmask her before. He could finally see how naïve he had been when he had dreamt he would marry Marian one day and that they would build a happy life together. Once Marian had told him that she had despised Robin Hood and Guy had believed her, but later she had given him many chances to doubt her words. Yet, even when Guy had wooed Marian, hoping to win her love, he had subconsciously understood that she could have never been his until Robin had been alive, so he had wanted Robin dead so much.

Guy looked defeated. "You never loved me."

"I have always loved only Robin," Marian supplied, gazing into his eyes; she said those words slowly, to let the words sink into Guy's brain. "But you and I could have been friends."

"You always played with me," he accused her.

It was a more difficult conversation than she wanted it to be. "I manipulated your feelings. I did that for England and for Robin Hood as I needed to know what Vaisey and you were plotting against the king. Most importantly, I had to protect Robin from you and the Sheriff."

"Now I see so many things clearly."

"I'm glad that now you know everything because I had never liked deceiving you."

Guy listened to Marian, struggling to accept that she had never even thought of loving him as a woman loves a man. A silence stretched between them, and Guy watched Marian stroking Robin's hair that roguishly fell on the hero's forehead. Guy loved to look at her beautiful face and to hear her voice; he wanted her to look at him with the same devotion she was looking at Robin with. Pain ripped through his chest at the sight of the sweet smile on Marian's face when she caressed Robin's cheek with her thumb because he could see love in her eyes, but it was not a love for him.

"You never thought that you could break my heart," he stated reproachfully after a long pause. "You and Robin played with me, using my affection to spy on the Sheriff and me."

Marian glared at Guy, her expression hard. It was almost the time of the sunset, and her face blazed in golden and red colors with the setting sun on the background. "Robin wanted me to leave the castle and stay with him in the forest. So please don't accuse him of manipulating you."

"You should have listened to Robin then."

She gladly embraced her anger again because his accusations almost enraged her. "I apologize for causing you pain, Guy, but I had to spy on you for England, for the King, and for Robin." She gave him another cold glare. "You were going to kill the King, you terrorized innocent peasants, and you were going to kill Robin because you hated him more than anyone else in the world. There was no way I could do my embroidery and simply watch the Sheriff and you doing your evil deeds."

Guy understood Marian, and he blamed himself more than her, but he was still hurting because of the truth he had finally learned. "I committed many mistakes," he said quietly.

"And so did I," she said. "But I paid for all my lies. You almost murdered me, and my child died."

"If I had known, I would have never done that. I would…" He abruptly broke off.

Marian huffed in annoyance and anger. "Stop lying to me and to yourself, Guy!" she lashed out at him. "Now you repent that you stabbed me, but you were a different man on the way to the Holy Land. You were driven by lust for power, hatred for Robin, and your dreams to marry me, even if you had to take me to the altar by force. You would have run me through on the spot, strangled me, or thrown me into the sea if you had known the truth about Robin and me."

Guy shook his head. She was disappointed with him and gave up on him, and it hurt him so much. "I don't know," he whispered, his voice husky. The truth was that he didn't know what he would have done if he had known that she had been carrying Robin's child.

"I will try to forget this horror," Marian said coolly, but her voice lacked confidence. "Don't expect to have my forgiveness tomorrow, but I will be friendly and civil to you. I need time."

"I understand."

"Guy, listen to me," Marian spoke gently. "Don't inform Robin about the child. He shouldn't know. Not now. We have more important matters than to dwell on the past conflicts."

"Don't worry. I won't," he promised. He agreed that it wasn't a good idea to do that: Robin Hood would murder him with his bare hands if he had known that Marian had been with child when she had been stabbed. He didn't want to quarrel with Robin after their reconciliation.

There was another thing Marian wanted to say; she thought that it would help Guy move on. "Guy, your feelings for me are not love," she asserted. "They are obsessive."

"No, I love you," he shot back.

Marian sighed heavily. "This is a strange love," she declared, with an ironic intonation that couldn't be missed. "When you love a woman, you let her go and find happiness with someone else if she doesn't reciprocate your feelings." She laughed, but it wasn't a pleasant laugh. "You definitely don't stab a woman if you feel a pure and deep love for her."

"I know I'm guilty, and I cannot forgive myself for what I did. But I didn't want to kill you. I was only trying to silence you when you told me you loved Robin. I always tried to protect you, and I–"

Marian interrupted him. "I have already heard that, Guy." Her voice was as cold as steel. "You may love me and I believe your words, but your feelings are obsessive and unhealthy, unlike Robin's feelings for me. Don't delude yourself, Guy, and it will make your life easier."

Guy shook his head. "I don't know."

"I have another question," she continued, jumping to another important topic.

"What do you want to know?"

"Guy, was it your poison your sister used to kill Robin?" she asked straightforwardly.

Guy hung his head. "I gave Isabella a poison as an act of mercy. I didn't want her to be hanged by the outlaws." He sighed. "Whatever she did, she was still my sister."

Marian stared at Guy incredulously. "Nottingham was besieged by Vaisey's huge army, and you gave your enemy such an effective weapon against Robin Hood and his friends, as well as against yourself." She shook her head in disbelief. "Guy, you are a knight and a warrior, though you never fought in the Holy Land or any other war. And you should know how a poison can be used: poisoned arrows and poisoned blades are often used by opposing parties." She paused, waiting to see his reaction.

"I know about that." Guy's voice sounded hollow.

She scoffed. "What were you thinking, Guy?"

"I didn't wish Robin dead."

Marian turned her head and stared at Robin's pale face, the pain gripping her heart. "I know that you and Robin reconciled, but there are some simple things you cannot do at war, Guy." She turned her steely gaze to him. "I bet Robin didn't know that you gave Isabella your poison."

"Robin didn't know that I went to Isabella's cell and what I gave her," he said truthfully. "We learned what Isabella did only when she scratched Robin's neck with her dagger."

"That's what I thought. Robin would have never allowed you to do that."

Marian only said the truth. Robin Hood had survived the bloody war in the Holy Land, and he knew how even most insignificant things can result in unnecessary deaths and give an enemy advantage in a battle. Guy didn't have Robin's military experience, as well as Robin's gumption and strategic skills, and the thought what Isabella could do with his poison didn't cross his mind.

Guy swallowed heavily. "I'm sorry."

"Thanks to God that he is alive."

"Yes," he whispered. "How did you… understand that it was my poison?"

"You knew too many details about the type of this poison, and I was attentive."

"And you will tell others, won't you?"

Marian didn't want to create problems for Guy. She knew that the outlaws, especially Much and Little John, would kill Guy with their bare hands if they had learned that Guy's poison had almost killed Robin. "I will tell nobody for your own sake. Later Robin will decide what to do."

"Thank you," he said gratefully.

Marian looked around. It was almost dark and she was very tired after an arduous journey from Dover; she dreamt of taking a nap next to Robin. "I'm tired," she added.

Guy was quick and scrambled to his feet. "Of course. I'm leaving you with Robin. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," she responded evenly.

When Guy was gone, Marian's thoughts returned to Robin. She started stroking Robin's sandy hair, a brilliant smile blossoming on her face. "When I was dying, you promised me to keep fighting for me, and you kept your word, my handsome and stormy outlaw," she whispered as if he could hear her. "No words are enough to say how proud of you I'm. You defeated the Sheriff without me. You even befriended Gisborne and didn't kill him, and for this I thank you."

She traced the line of Robin's jaw with her fingers and the line of his neck; she briefly delayed her finger on the injury that could have killed him if God hadn't wished him to stay alive.

She swore many oaths in her mind, cursing the woman who had wounded Robin with the poisoned-tipped dagger, and she also felt uncomfortable after the conversation with Guy. Despite his remorse and repentance, she couldn't easily forgive Guy and she also didn't trust him completely. Gisborne had tried to kill Robin many times and almost killed her, and Guy's sister had wounded Robin using Guy's poison on her dagger. The gruesome role of the Gisbornes in their lives drove her to the verge of her sanity.

Marian bent her head and planted a kiss on Robin's lips, her hands fingering along the rich curves of his body under the blanket. She made a throaty sound of pleasure that she was so close to him after so many months of separation and anticipation to meet him again. But now she was with Robin and he was alive. Soon Robin would recover and they would be together, always together.

"Robin, England, and King Richard again need your help," Marian said softly. She chuckled, her eyes shining with love. "But now you are only mine. I love and need you so much. It is not the time to leave me, handsome. You will always be with me – on earth and then in heaven."

During the next several weeks, everything in the lives of the outlaws was concentrated on Robin Hood's sickness and his recovery. Robin lay motionless on his bunk, his face ghostly pale, his expression peaceful, untroubled by worries and anxiety, which were gnawing at the outlaws. Robin didn't suffer from a fever, like it was the case when he had been wounded by Guy in the Holy Land. Instead, he tumbled to the dark abyss, in a strange, trancelike sleep that left him unconscious of his surroundings and events, and yet not entirely losing the fleeting glimpse of reality, for at times he reacted on Marian's tender touch or the words spoken by his friends about his fate.

Marian was always at Robin's side, taking care of him and watching him day and night, desperately hoping that he would open his eyes and smile at her. Djaq gave Robin special antidote pills several times per day; she could do nothing else to speed up Robin's recovery. Much was unusually quiet and didn't fuss over Robin as if Robin were his child; he helped very Much by dutifully following Marian and Djaq's instructions and taking a great load from Marian's shoulders when she was exhausted and could have drifted off to sleep almost standing on her feet.

With every passing moment, Marian feared that nothing would change with Robin's condition. She was bitterly conscious that Robin could stay in dark oblivion for a long time, even until his death, as Djaq said, and her stomach crawled at the thought that they had probably already lost their chance to be happy on Earth. She hoped, prayed, and longed for his recovery, fearing that the reunion she had been craving to have for so long would remain only her most cherished dream.

Marian intercepted Guy's frequent, sidelong glances at herself, ambiguous, but emphatically curious and searching for something in her face. Odd enough, she didn't feel any danger that had earlier seemed to flow from Guy. She feared Guy very much and didn't want to have close contacts with him, her almost murderer. At the same time, she was also curious how the Sheriff's cruel henchman had eventually turned against Vaisey and joined the outlaws whom he had despised and had wanted to kill. Guy's words that he had wished Robin to live sounded sincere.

Marian was told that young and handsome Archer was the half-brother of Robin and Guy, and it utterly confused her. Archer grinned as mischievously as Robin did and shared Robin's passion for theatrics, and it warmed Marian to him. Archer treated Marian with the utmost respect and care; he was obviously fascinated with her, and it made her smile. She had listened to a long and detailed tale about long-lost siblings and dysfunctional families; she considered it unusual that the mystery joined the former enemies with the purpose to destroy their enemies and vanquish the tyranny.

She had no certain opinion about Tuck, except that she wasn't fond of his religious fervor. Tuck was a quiet, contemplative man, at times annoying and dull but always able to encourage and inspire the people. Yet, Marian didn't like Tuck's words that Robin and she were destined by God to save England and the people of England. The monk believed that Robin and Marian possessed divine power and had divine immunity. Marian herself wasn't sure she believed in God anymore after everything that had happened to her, and Tuck's preaches irritated her.

And there was young Kate, a potter girl from Locksley, but Marian didn't remember her very well. Marian didn't like Kate's reaction to her return to Sherwood. Every time Kate noticed how Marian took Robin's hand in hers and spoke to him as if he were able to hear her, the girl stiffened and averted her gaze. Marian noticed Kate's awkward behavior in her presence in the camp, and she realized that the girl was embarrassed by her identity – Robin's wife.

The loud voice in the back of her head said to Marian that Kate had probably been infatuated with Robin. Every time she looked at Kate, she only smiled wryly, her expression attentive and stern. Feeling as if a fist closed around her heart, the pain of it making it almost impossible to breathe, she wondered whether Robin had already moved on, starting a romance with a mere peasant girl from Locksley. She didn't exclude that Robin could have a new romantic relationship, perhaps even of a sexual nature, trying to move on and leave past behind.

A myriad of questions whirled in Marian's mind. Did Robin move on so easily after her supposed death? Did he fall out of love with her? The very thought that Robin no longer loved her hurt her. She knew that Robin had loved her with all his heart before her death, and he couldn't forget her so quickly. She suspected that he had needed distraction; she understood him, but she didn't want to deal with that. But now Robin's relations with other women were not important because Robin's life was in danger.

Marian sat on Robin's bunk, holding his hand and stroking his hair. Robin looked very attractive, his hair falling rakishly across his forehead, his green linen shirt half-unfastened, revealing an indecent expanse of his smooth skin on his lean chest. He looked so peaceful that it even frightened Marian to the depths of her heart and soul, for she knew that he was not dead. She bent her head and checked the pulse on his neck: his heart was beating, and his breathing was steady and not labored. Relieved, she raised her head and saw Djaq standing near the bunk.

"You need to eat. Take it," Djaq said, holding a platter with pork and vegetable in her arms.

"Thank you, Djaq, but I'm not hungry." Marian straightened from her uncomfortable pose on the bunk, and, leaning slightly forward, took the platter into her arms.

"You should eat," Djaq repeated insistently.

Marian took a painful breath. "I cannot eat. I cannot sleep. I cannot do anything."

"I know," the young Saracen assured her. "But you will not help Robin if you persist in this unfriendly attitude towards yourself."

"Djaq, I just cannot." Marian's voice was slightly trembling.

Cocking an eyebrow at her, Djaq laughed at her. "Are you sure that Robin wouldn't have been angry if he had known that you are always refusing to eat while he is sick?"

Marian smiled vaguely. "Well, I will try to eat, but only for Robin and for you," she conceded. "I'm not hungry. I'm serious. I'm just worried."

Djaq shook her head. "I know what you feel." She looked over at the bunk, her eyes taking in Robin's pale features. "Robin is a strong man who survived through many hardships. He cheated death many times, and he will do it again."

"He once told me that he has a talent of cheating death, and I kind of agree with him," Marian said solemnly. "But I'm also well aware that he may finally run out of luck."

Djaq looked troubled for an instant, but then her face recovered confidence. "This time Robin was again too close to death, closer than ever before, but he is not dead." She put a comforting hand on Marian's shoulder. "Be patient. He will awake."

Marian gave a nod. "I pray he will awake. Can we do something else to help him?"

"No. We must wait," Djaq gave her verdict.

With their permission, Much and Will joined them during their meal. Sitting next to Robin's bunk, they ate in a perfect silence, looking between Robin and the green gloom of the forest that seem to close in on them as the darkness fell. Then they all sat silent for a long time, just enjoying a moment of silence, reveling in the refreshing coolness that had come at sunset. The rustling of the wildlife in the woods nearby drifted to them, soothing and thrilling at the same time.

Djaq gave Robin another dose of antidote; then Will and she retired, wishing everyone goodnight and asking to wake her up if there was even a slight change in Robin's condition.

Much and Marian remained alone, a long and tense silence strengthening between them. Much was going to have a heart-to-heart conversation with Marian because it was a good time for that. It was either now or never, and he decided that it was a right time for that.

Leaning against the trunk of a tree in some distance from Marian, Much seated himself on the ground, looking at Marian, his eyes full of uneasiness. Marian didn't speak, waiting for him to break the silence because she knew that he wanted to tell her something important. But Much was quiet, trying to collect his thoughts and prepare for the embarrassing and candid conversation.

Much dragged in a deep breath. "Marian, I was always jealous of Robin to you," he began.

Marian stared at him incredulously, thunderstruck. "Why, Much?"

"I knew that you were more important to Robin than anyone else, even than I have ever been."

"Much, Robin loves you. You are his best friend."

Much nodded. "He had said the same before he died, before we thought that he had died." He sighed heavily. "I'm his best friend, but I will never be as dear to him as you are."

"Much, Robin loves you and me, but it is a different love. I'm his wife, and you are his best friend."

"I know, I know," Much said, preparing to talk to Marian about very serious things. "But there are some important things I want to tell you."

"I'm listening."

Much flashed a wan smile. "I had never understood how deeply Robin loved you until you died in the Holy Land. And then, only after your supposed death, I understood how truly important you were to Robin, and it was the moment when I stopped being jealous. I knew that a part of him had died as well, that you had taken that part, a large and good part, from him and all of us. You were everything to Robin, and after your death, his world died as well."

"How did you figure that out?" Marian swallowed, looking miserable.

"Robin was not himself for several months. He tried to kill Gisborne immediately after our arrival from the Holy Land, but he nearly died himself: Guy threw Robin from the cliff, beaten and unconscious, but Tuck saved him," Much said flatly. He stilled, hardly daring breath, his mind replaying negative moments of the past, and he stiffened. "It was a terrible time."

She felt anger simmering in her blood at the news that Guy had almost killed Robin. "And?"

"Yes, but thanks to God Robin survived," Much confirmed. "In the next several months, it seemed that Robin managed to move on. He prohibited talking about you and even calling you by your first name." He glanced into Marian's eyes. "Maybe some of us might have believed that he had begun to forget you, Marian, but it was a mistake."

"He didn't move on, did he?"

"Of course, he didn't," Much stated with conviction. "Robin could try to fool everyone that he was fine, but I knew that he lied to us and that he tried to lie to himself."

"Yeah, but…" She stumbled with words.

"What?"

"What about Kate?"

Much arched a brow. "And what about her?"

"Kate likes Robin too much. She has affection for him," Marian voiced her observations.

"You are right," Much confirmed with a sigh.

Her emotions in chaos, Marian remained silent, her hands clenching and unclenching in fists at her sides. She was well aware that underneath her anger was a growing feeling of betrayal and disappointment, for she didn't want Robin to be with any other woman in her absence.

"I have an impression that Kate was considered Robin's girl in my absence," she said after a long pause. "Is that so, Much? Please tell me the truth."

He leaned forward. "And if Kate became Robin's love interest, what will you do then?"

Marian felt her heart constrict in pain. "I will have to forgive Robin, but it will take time. After all, he thought that I was dead and had a right to move on."

"There also was Isabella," Much notified.

She raised an eyebrow. "Guy's sister?"

"Yes. At first, Isabella fancied Robin, and we thought that she was on our side. She even helped the gang on several occasions. Later Robin rejected Isabella, and she allied herself with Prince John; she started hating Robin and eventually almost killed him."

Marian looked at Robin, her heart beating faster. Obviously, Robin had enjoyed female attention in her absence. She had always known that Robin liked women and they liked him in return, but she had never thought that he would have two love interests in only one year after her supposed death. The role of those women in Robin's life wasn't something she wanted to think about, for that brought her devastating emotions, but she was also surprised by the burst of plain old jealousy that knifed through her at the news Much shared with her. She broke into a laugh at herself, aware that she was uncharacteristically jealous of Robin to Isabella, a dead woman and their enemy.

"Well, women have always been attracted to Robin, the handsome Earl of Huntingdon and the heroic Robin Hood," Marian said coldly, even a little ruefully. "Robin is a ladies man and he will never change. Women just fall to his feet and he doesn't need to pursue them if he wants to enjoy their attention."

"Do you think that Robin doesn't appear to worship you at your feet?"

Marian grinned. "Absolutely not! It would be awfully hard being put on a pedestal and adored."

Much shook his head in disagreement. "I hope that you are joking, Marian. You are the only woman Robin has ever truly loved and whom he will always love."

Marian cocked a brow. "Robin didn't replace me, did he?"

"No, he didn't. Never doubt Robin's true feelings for you. He loves you and only you."

Much decided to tell Marian the truth about Kate and Isabella to make Robin free from Kate's clutches and to help his best friend. Much decided that if he told Marian the truth while Robin was still sick, Robin would avoid the inconvenience of informing his beloved wife about some unpleasant private things. It was difficult for Much to begin to

to understand his former master, and he knew that Robin would explain everything to Marian in a way that would make things more complicated and rather awkward between them.

Marian looked somewhat embarrassed, and then a bright, charming smile lit up the contours of her pale face. "How do you know that?"

"It may seem that Robin was interested in Kate and Isabella as women, but only at first glance," Much replied, with an odd combination of exquisite politeness and hard bluntness in his voice. "Robin has never loved them. They wanted his attention and liked him, and he didn't reject their affection." He sighed. "Perhaps he didn't want to hurt them." Then he smiled. "But I know for sure that Robin has never had anything physical with them, only some… elementary things…"

"Euphemism, Much?" Marian asked, smiling at Much's shyness. Hope revived in her heart at the thought that Robin had been faithful to her, physically and in his heart as well.

Much made a face. "Yes." His cheeks turned crimson, but he had to speak directly. "I know for sure that Robin has never betrayed his marriage vows. Don't ask me how I know that. I just know."

"Are you really serious about that?" Her heart was beating faster in delight, and she let out the breath she wasn't even conscious of holding.

"Yes, I'm," Much replied; a blush suffused his cheeks. "When we thought that you were dead, Robin was not the old Robin whom everyone loved and admired. Even in a daytime, he was different; his eyes didn't sparkle, his cheeky smiles were fake, and even his posture of a swaggerer looked unnatural." He chuckled. "Robin can pretend very well, but he cannot deceive me."

"He always keeps his emotions to himself," she said in her throaty voice.

"Almost always," Much amended. "Now when he is alone and thinks that no one can hear him."

She looked curious. "I can't stand it a moment longer. Tell me what you know about Robin."

"I once witnessed Robin's confession near Sir Edward's grave," Much said truthfully. "Robin often disappeared at sunset. He didn't take anyone with him and said that he had some deals in Locksley. I was worried about him and followed him, and so we came to your father's grave."

"And what did you hear Robin say, if I may ask?" Marian asked, lowering her gaze. Her thoughts were whirling; she was frightened and excited.

Much laughed heartily. "Robin stood over Sir Edward's grave and wept like a small child. He begged him for forgiveness that he hadn't saved you from Gisborne's sword and that he had let him down after he had promised him to take care of you and never leave you again." He smiled, such a tender smile, but there were tears in the corners of his eyes. "Robin said that you are the only woman he has ever loved. He also said that he dreamt of dying to be reunited with you in heaven."

Marian felt as if her heart could burst out of her chest. She was so happy to hear that Robin had visited her father's grave and had said those words exactly to her beloved father, and she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. If he said those magic words over her father's grave, it meant that Robin still loved her, truly and deeply. Much's confession meant the whole world to her, and she was immensely grateful to the former manservant.

She lurched to her feet and approached Much. She kissed him on both cheeks, and her arms hugged him. They stood frozen in a friendly, warm embrace, and it brought them a sense of calm. In their frankness about Robin's life and their concern about his heath, they saw each other, and they felt strangely at peace, knowing that their Robin was alive and needed their support.

Marian drew back from Much, looking at the man with a large, happy smile on her face. Her eyes flooded with tears of joy. A lump formed in her throat, and she swallowed and scrubbed her eyes like a little child and sniffed back more tears. "Well, you did the right thing, Much," she said. "I think that Robin wouldn't admit that to me."

Much nodded. "That's why I wanted to talk to you. For Robin and for you."

Marian smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Much," she said happily.

Marian and Guy achieved a truce. I tried to explain why she lied to him and manipulated him, but I didn't make Guy a victim as it would be unfair to say that Marian is the only guilty party.

Perhaps some readers are disappointed because Marian cannot forgive Guy and only promises to be civil with him, but I cannot see how their relationship can be different. Guy almost murdered her in Acre, and I also added the twist with her child for drama. She cannot easily forgive him.

Now Marian knows about Robin's relationships with Isabella and Kate. I thought that it would be better if Much had told her about that before Robin's awakening.

Please read and review. I want to know your opinion. Thanks!