Page 13 of The Wicked Prince

“Obviously.” Prince John crossed his arms. “I’m Prince Regent. I’m not an idiot.”

He was a lot of things according to a lot of people. Robin had thought she’d known them all.

Now she wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t sure what he was to her.

Prince John let out a long slow breath. “So… You know how I figured you out, and your little ploy didn’t work. We’re married. That’s the end of it. I’ll even keep my end of the deal since you abandoned your loophole and upheld yours. I’ll start working on the pardons.”

He was… keeping his word?

The reason Robin and her men came up with the idea of being able to annul the marriage by signing with her alias was because she worried he wouldn’t. She’d wanted leverage.

“Don’t look so shocked that I’m trying to make our marriage work, Little Birdie.” John took a step toward her.

Robin hated it.

She hated him.

“Stay away from me,” she snapped, holding her arm out between them. “If you ever try anything like you did out there again, I will kill you. I don’t care about the consequences.”

“I had to sell the story.” He rolled his eyes and lifted his hands up, palms out. “Give the people what they wanted. I saidafterwe were married, I’d keep my hands to myself, and I will.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“The after was implied.”

Prince John pulled a key out of his pocket and tossed it toward her. Robin caught it as he gestured to the room and one of the doors. “This is your room, and that key will keep that door—the door to my room—locked. Even if I wanted to—which I don’t—I wouldn’t be able to come in here if you don’t want me to.”

Robin looked down at the key. Then she looked up. “And I presume you have one to keep me out?”

“Do I need to?”

Never mind. She knew what he was. He was an idiot.

Robin blinked. “Aren’t you worried I’m going to try to kill you?”

“You’ve been very clear about the circumstances under which you would kill me. I don’t intend on tempting you.” Prince John started to head for the door to his room.

Robin took a small step toward him. “You really think I’m not going to try to kill you to get out of this?”

“Little Birdie, I know you won’t.” Prince John looked over his shoulder as he stood in the doorway. “If you were going to kill me you would have taken the opportunity when we first met.”

Robin wished she had.

Chapter6

Five months before…

If Richard wasn’t threatening John with the frontlines, the last place he would be was sitting outside in the early autumn chill, pretending like he knew anything about archery, much less enough to judge an archery competition. He was reliably informed by the Sheriff and Guy all he had to do was pay attention to whoever was closest to the bullseye, but he wasn’t convinced.

But they were also convinced that this was a brilliant plan that would finally catch the outlaw that had been harassing them for years.

As much as John had his doubts, he did genuinely want the plan to succeed. The faster Robin Hood was caught, the sooner he was safe.

So he would sit in an uncomfortable chair on a raised platform outside of the Locksley estate, pulling his cloak tighter as a breeze cut through the air and watching a bunch of backwater peasants try to outshoot each other while he desperately wished he could have a sketchbook or something to do instead of pretending to pay attention.

But so far, even now that they were at the final round of the archery competition with a golden arrow as a prize, there was no sign of Robin Hood. John had seen the Sheriff’s men searching the crowd for anyone who could be Robin Hood or his Merry Men, although frankly, John didn’t know what they were looking for. They had no description of the young man’s face. Some of the Sheriff’s men that had altercations with Robin Hood said he had long dark blonde hair. How long they weren’t sure. The one man who had gotten a glimpse of his face, for only a fleeting second, couldn’t recall anything about it other than youthful. His height wasn’t entirely certain either given that the giant in his band made all of them look short, but Robin certainly wasn’t the tallest. They believed he was likely younger than the others, but how he became their leader was a mystery.

Other than that, John knew nothing but that Robin Hood was ruining his life.

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