Page 18 of The Wicked Prince

Alan was next, sweeping her up in a big hug and rubbing her head, messing up her braid. He whispered, “Same goes for you. More so. You just have to hold on, Robin, we’re not going to stop until you’re free too. We’ll prove to you we are capable of coming up with a good plan without your brains.”

Robin didn’t know if she could afford to think there might still be a way out of the mess she’d gotten herself into.

Robin was lifted clear off the ground by Little Jon’s bear hug, and she returned it just as fiercely. Something slipped down her sleeve. A dagger. Little Jon said, “He takes one unwanted step toward ye, ye take care of him, ye hear?”

Little Jon must have had it the whole time, waiting to give it to her. They’d all gotten good at finding ways to hide small weapons or lockpicks and every so often, they were successful in keeping them hidden during searches. Of course. He’d been looking after her, Alan, and Will before himself for years.

Robin’s feet hit the ground. The leather sheath pressed into her skin. “I’m glad that it was you who found me. Most people aren’t as lucky as I am in that I not only got to have a second family, but that mine was all of you.”

“Alright, if you’re done manhandling my wife, go on. Get back to whatever it was you did before you started terrorizing the countryside.”

Robin looked over her shoulder to see Prince John had also dismounted and was glaring at them.

“Spoiled little snot, ain’t he?” Alan murmured.

“It’s been an honor and a privilege.” Robin saluted her men with the wrong hand, so as not to dislodge the hidden dagger. She walked backward toward her horse and Prince John. “I couldn’t have chosen a better crew to commit crimes with and help me terrorize the man who terrorizes the countryside. Goodbye, boys.”

As she reached her horse, John moved toward her and she immediately jerked away. Her back brushed against her saddle as she narrowed her eyes at his hands and said, “What are you doing?”

John held his hands up and shrugged, saying, “I know you’re not used to being around gentlemen, but fine, if you want to get yourself up on that horse in that dress, be my guest.”

Like she was going to give him an excuse to get handsy with her.

She’d been managing just fine the first half of the trip.

Robin shot him a pointed look, hiked the front of her skirt up and climbed inelegantly into her saddle. She turned and looked down at him as she let go of her skirts and said, “See?”

Prince John’s eyes weren’t on her face as he said, “Wow, you really showed me.”

Robin glanced down to see she’d instinctually climbed astride and her skirt was hiked up above her knees, exposing her legs. While it was functionally no different than when he’d seen her in breeches before, it was still different. Heat rushed to her cheeks as she quickly shifted her legs to sidesaddle and draped her skirts back down, covering them completely.

Prince John’s gaze still lingered on her legs with a smirk. Ugh. He had the gall to call himself a gentleman seconds before he eyed her like a piece of meat. Robin fought the temptation to make use of the dagger right then.

John mounted, and they started the trip back to Lathe. He wore that infuriating smirk the whole way back. Robin also caught him glancing at her legs beneath her skirts more than once.

But they returned to Lathe without incident.

Robin had no idea what her next step was. Or what would even happen next.

She didn’t know what game John was playing, but she knew she couldn’t afford to lose, not a third time. Not to him.

He could pretend he was honest all he liked, but she knew a snake in the grass when she saw one. He’d been one since birth, and their first meeting had proven it.

Robin wasn’t letting her guard down for a second. But other than looking at her on the way back to Lathe, John didn’t say or do anything. When they got back to Lathe, he didn’t really even look at her. They were almost never in the same room.

Robin still kept the door connecting their rooms locked, and the first week she didn’t sleep. She watched the door with the curtain rod in one hand and the dagger Little Jon had given her in the other.

Unfortunately, while she’d been seeing her Merry Men off safely, Marian had left Lathe to return to Locksley, on the other side of the forest from where Robin and Prince John had released her men. Marian was newly married and somehow in love with her husband despite Robin’s bewilderment, so she supposed it made sense they were enjoying their new marriage. People who married because they liked each other did tend to enjoy it.

Now she had no one in Lathe.

After the first week back, Robin stopped staying up all night and watching the door. The knob never even so much as rattled. She still kept it locked, but instead of driving herself insane watching it, she took the metal curtain rod and some yarn to set up a tripwire.

She’d never been as good at them as Will, but she managed.

If someone did try to come through the door, she’d have enough warning to grab the dagger under her pillow.

When Robin would wake up for the day, she’d slipped the dagger into a sleeve or the bodice of whichever least ridiculous dress she chose that day of the ridiculous dresses she had in her wardrobe.

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