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your men are hungry.”
    â€œYes,” Allan said, grinning.
    â€œShameless,” I heard David grunt.
    â€œThere’s no glory in shame,” Allan said back.

    â€œSo,” Winchester said, sitting at a rather intimidating table after bringing us food and drink and seating me beside him. “Please tell me how you came to be here, my lady.”
    â€œPrince John tried to kill me,” I told him.
    Winchester’s eyes flicked to Allan. “I had heard he had accomplished that deed long ago.”
    â€œHe held me in prisons. Away from Eleanor, I believe.”
    Winchester tapped the table. “I was helping her,” he told me. “Eleanor. She didn’t believe John had killed you, and she tasked me with finding you. I think I came rather close too. Were you ever at Arundel or Brackley castles?” he asked.
    â€œYes,” David said. “Both.”
    Winchester frowned. “And how would you know that?”
    â€œEleanor put a knight in Prince John’s employ to protect me,” I told him. “David were—David was one of my captors, but he saved my life.” I stumbled over the right words.
    Winchester nodded at him. “Your service, sir, is most deeply appreciated.”
    David looked down.
    â€œI saved her life too,” Allan said. “From a horde in London! She would have been trampled to death if it weren’t for me.”
    â€œYes,” I said, nodding. “Thank you, Allan.”
    He smiled, satisfied.
    Winchester looked at me. “Does Locksley know yet?”
    I shook my head. “No. I can’t get word to him, not if Prince John still thinks I’m dead.” Maybe I would be able to find my way to Nottingham after I told Eleanor; maybe Rob could hide me in the castle until my father returned, and I wouldn’t endanger the people with my presence.
    Maybe.
    â€œPerhaps I can get word.”
    I took in a breath. It spun out before me, Winchester whispering the words to Rob. I could see his face, trying to keep the secret in, relieved and desperate—for only a moment before he stormed out of the castle to find me, wherever I were. If he knew I were alive, he’d burn down Hell itself to get to me. He’d leave the people alone with Prince John as their overlord to find me.
    The breath rushed out of me. Unless it were me,telling him in the flesh, the only thing that would come from Rob knowing were the kind of danger that would leave him dead. And I couldn’t go to him until King Richard were safe, and my being alive again wouldn’t purchase someone else’s death. “Let me think about it,” I told him.
    His brows knit together, but he nodded. “Why would Prince John dare to kill you? And why now, after hiding you for so long?” Winchester asked.
    I looked up at him for a moment. “I think he means to kill Richard. Or try to, anyway. He told me that Richard would never return to England.”
    Winchester leaned back, his jaw tight. “That damn coward,” he grunted. “While I believe it, that is a very steep charge, Marian. Do you know how?”
    I shook my head.
    â€œYou’re right,” he said. “He’d never risk harming you if he thought he’d have to face Richard.”
    â€œWhich makes me wonder if he’s been planning this since the day he took my fingers,” I said to him, my words soft.
    Winchester glanced at me, and then toward the hand I kept hidden under the table, and made a
hmm
noise.
    I looked away. “You’re refusing people at the gates?” I asked.
    He sighed, nodding. “For now. Too many people arecoming through, and the city can’t hold them. I have enough money and food to keep my people safe, and until I figure out how to do more, that’s all I can promise them.”
    â€œWe were in Silchester when the news came,” I told him. “The knights killed a boy for throwing something at