Page 28 of The Wicked Prince

“Have you just escaped his clutches?”

What was she supposed to say? Denying it would be like defending him, but the rumors weren’t true.

He didn’t have her physically locked in a room, and he certainly didn’t hit her. Given how easily Robin had pinned him the night before and had her dagger over his heart, she doubted he would even if he could.

He was a different kind of evil.

“Have you forgotten about us now that you’re a princess?”

Robin turned on her heels, trying to find who called out.

“Do you even care about the people who couldn’t put food on the table now that you have more food on yours than you could ever eat?”

“Of course—”

“You claimed you would always fight for us, so why hasn’t anything gotten better? You’re a princess, why haven’t you done anything?”

Hands grabbed at her sleeves as she moved through the crowd. She tried to focus on the people who smiled at her and not the ones who had started jeering.

“Must be nice not to have to worry about staying warm this winter since you’ll be warming Prince John’s bed!”

“Watch your tongue!”

Robin knew that voice.

Even though it was trying very hard not to sound like a man’s.

“Robin would sooner cut the head off that snake than let him within five feet of her!”

She pushed her way through the crowd until she saw Alan. Well, Alan beneath a wig and about ten pounds of rouge. Alan made for a hideous woman, but at least he’d shaved for it.

Her eyes welled and she reached forward, clasping his arm as the crowd continued to try to each hold her attention. “Ala—”

“—lice! It’s me, Alice!” Alan pitched his voice up even higher as he pulled her to him, wrapping his arms around her. “Your friends have been worried sick about you, including her ladyship. Sent me here on her behalf!”

Robin tightened her grip on Alan and whispered, “Marian sent you?”

“Not quite. She called us ‘absolutely insane’ and said that we have a ‘death wish,’ and that we would only make things worse and to trust that you knew what you were doing.”

She wished she knew what she was doing.

“We’re working on a plan. You just have to hold on a little longer.”

She whispered, her throat tight, “I’m not supposed to be the princess waiting to be rescued.”

“It’s alright to be rescued once in a while. How many times have you saved one of our sorry behinds? Right now, we’ve got to figure out how to get you out of the marriage so Prince John has no recourse to pursue you. He can’t hold us against you now, but there’s no telling about Lady Marian, especially with that blackguard of a husband she has.”

Robin couldn’t imagine how Marian could have fallen for Guy’s ridiculous lies, claiming that he’d changed and had become a better man because of his love for her. She loved Marian to death, but she was apparently that naïve. And if during the last year she’d spent as Robin Hood there’d been less to steal back near the Locksley estate where Guy usually haunted, it was only because Guy was too busy wooing Marian to shake down the villages properly.

“Besides, you’re Robin Hood. You’re not going to sit around helpless. You’re going to fight. You always have. This is just a different kind for now.”

Alan was right.

Robin looked over her shoulder at the gaunt, hungry faces surrounding her. She had to keep fighting for them.

“Back! Back away from the princess!” The guards rushed in and the crowd scattered before them, opening up a path to her.

“Run!” Robin hissed, but Alan was already gone. Hopefully the guards wouldn’t pay too much attention to the ugly “woman” Robin had been speaking with.

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