Despite feeling terrified, Isabella couldn't help hoping Robin wouldn't miss how stunningly beautiful she must look, with her dark, glossy hair loose in wild disarray, and her small bosom heaving over its temptingly low-cut bodice of deep red velvet.

His old servant had answered the door, but stepped discreetly aside to allow the handsome young Master to face her.

Robin's face was devoid of the challenging, proud smirk it frequently wore in his dealings with her. Instead, he simply looked angry.

"What do you want?" he snarled, impolitely. "Anointed queen or not, don't you know you're not welcome here?"

"I haven't come as your queen," Isabella panted, looking fearfully over her shoulder, "but as a helpless woman in distress, seeking your protection! Please, Robin, let me in! Save me!"

"Let her in." Marian's voice, cool and confident, floated down to them from the upstairs landing.

"Let me handle this, Marian," Robin ordered. "Go back to bed."

"I won't. I'm fine. I wouldn't be up, if I weren't. Let her in, Robin. She's putting on quite a show of fear. Aren't you the least bit curious to know why?"

"Not really."

"Help me, Robin!" Isabella cried. "You have no idea what he's done to me!"

"I assume you mean your husband, the king?" Robin sneered at her. "Whatever he's done, it can't be half what you deserve."

"You once told me you'd never turn your back on someone truly in need," Isabella persisted, breathlessly. "I beg you, take me in! Protect me from his cruelty! I swear to you, I need your protection!"

"You poisoned my wife, and you expect me to welcome you into our home?" Robin snarled. "Get out!"

"Poisoned me?" Marian repeated. "How?"

"Go back to bed, Marian," Robin ordered.

"I never poisoned her," Isabella lied. "I haven't been near her, in days!"

"Come in," Marian invited, her tone curt. "Come upstairs. It seems you have a lot of explaining to do, Your Majesty."

"Thank you!" Isabella cried, pushing her way past a startled Robin to climb the stairs to his and Marian's room.

Following Marian into the bedchamber, Isabella took one glance at Ellen, who was sitting on her parents' bed, quietly playing with her toy horse. "Such a lovely child," Isabella sighed, unable to hide a hint of underlying sarcasm.

"Get anywhere near her," Robin threatened, standing just inside the door frame, "and I will personally throw you out on your ear."

Ignoring him, Isabella sighed. "Lucky little girl," she said. "You have a father who's good to you! Your life won't be like mine, with every man who ought to have been your protector, delighting in hurting you! Slapping you, and selling you to a husband who-"

"Spare us your family history," Marian told her. "We've heard it all before."

"Your hearts are cold," Isabella accused.

"At least we have hearts," Robin snapped back, striding into his room to take his place by Marian's side.

"You break hearts," Isabella sneered. "Poor Annora!"

Marian turned flashing eyes on her "guest." "How dare you?" she asked.

Acting as if the exchange hadn't taken place, Isabella reverted back to her "damsel in distress" mode. "But my current husband is far and away the cruellest of the lot! After you left, Robin, and I was alone with him, he turned on me, punishing me most violently! He actually suspects there might be truth to that story you told, that I was responsible for putting poison in his wine!"

Detecting a shadow pass over Robin's face, Marian's temper began to flare. Picking up Ellen, Marian handed her to Robin, saying, "Take her out of here, dear."

"Isabella needs to go, not Ellie," Robin argued.

"Oh, she'll go, after I've spoken my mind," Marian insisted. "Please, take Ellie. I've waited a long time to have this discussion, and what I have to say won't be suitable for her ears."