Page 63 of The Wicked Prince

The quill and inkwell were to her right.

All she had to do was sign her real name.

Roberta of Locksley.

And it would be like it had never happened. Legally at least.

“Come on, Robin, it’s really easy. You do still remember how to spell your legal name, right?” Alan asked from behind her.

There was the sound of someone cuffing someone else in the head. Little Jon huffed, “Of course she knows how to spell her name.”

“Is the quill broken?” Will asked.

Robin was perfectly still.

“Men, if you’ll give me a moment with my sister-in-law before she stops being my sister-in-law,” King Richard said, gesturing to the tent flap. Robin watched her men leave out of the corner of her eye, Will and Alan whispering to Little Jon and eyeing her with utter bafflement.

She held her breath. The day before, in all their meetings with Richard, her men had been there, doing most of the talking. This morning, the king had simply set the annulment papers he’d had drawn up on the desk and told her she could sign.

He came back around to the desk and said, “Is there a reason you’re so hesitant to sign?”

Robin had a better question. “Why are you so willing to just give me an annulment?”

Richard blinked at her for a moment before letting out a soft laugh. “It’s not often I’m questioned on my motives.”

“You have no reason to help me. You threatened to send John here because of how much of a problem I was for you. So now you’re just giving me what I want, no strings attached?” Robin leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. “You’ll forgive me for being suspicious, Your Majesty.”

“Fair enough.” Richard leaned on the edge of his desk. “When your men first showed up here months ago, I had no intention of helping the outlaws that were costing me much needed supplies for this war. But then the other men in the camp discovered they were your Merry Men. Even my soldiers have been hearing the stories about you, and they love telling them. They love anyone who gives my brother a hard time. It makes them feel better about being out here sweating, suffering, bleeding, and dying while John is in a castle living in luxury if they know someone is making him miserable.”

Robin tightened her grip on her arms. “Alright. Let me guess then. You think if you don’t give me the annulment and a pardon to spare me from your evil brother, your soldiers are going to—in some way—make things harder for you, disobey your orders, disrespect you, something along those lines?” His silence and the smirk twitching on his lips was answer enough. Robin scoffed. “You and John are not as different as you have the country believing.”

“I suppose we might have a similarity or two. I’m trying to win a war, outlaw. I need soldiers dedicated to that and not whispering behind their hands about the way I treated a folk heroine and left her trapped in a marriage to my evil brother when she came to me begging for my help. It’s not a good look for a king.” Richard’s eyes then traveled down to her left leg. “But why I’m doing any of this really isn’t the question. The question is, why aren’t you signing?”

Robin shifted her left leg in slightly and straightened up. “I need to know exactly what I’m doing and what the consequences will be. You and John aren’t the only scheming masterminds around here.”

Richard shook his head and let out another laugh. “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of not signing it after you came all this way and begged for it?”

“No, I’ll—” Robin started to reach for the quill but stopped herself. Her hand fell to the desk the second she spotted the wedding band around her finger.

Richard stared at her hand for a moment and then her leg before returning his gaze to her face. “It’s not easy for any of us to let go of our obsessions.”

Robin immediately jerked back. “What? John is the one who has been obsessed with possessing me since he saw under my hood.”

The king raised an eyebrow. “So it’s a coincidence that Roberta of Locksley is the very same girl who decided to take up a crusade against Prince John almost immediately after I appointed him regent? Or that you stayed so long in Lathe even though we all know you were more than capable of escaping the castle and the city to disappear into the night and leave Astren completely?”

Robin shot out of her chair. “You remember?”

Richard shifted back. “Of course I do. Now what better way is there to put an end to this than for you to free yourself so he can never torment you again?”

“He hasn’t—” Robin wrapped her arms around her stomach and started pacing. “I don’t—Your Majesty, what if it wasn’t like that at all? Do you really think he—”

But before Robin could answer the question that had been running through her head for years, the tent flap shifted and a scout said, “Your Majesty, we have an urgent matter. Someone’s approaching.”

Richard sighed and pushed himself off the desk. “Hopefully it’s just our scouts. Robin, take all the time you need.” As he left, his eyes darted from her left hand down to her left leg. “I know you’ll make the right decision.”

Then King Richard and his soldier were gone.

Robin held her left hand to her chest, spinning the wedding band around her finger.

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