Everything I Do: a Robin Hood romance (Rosa Fitzwalter Book 1) (36 page)

“I believe you,” he whispered, choking on water. “Please forgive me, please.”

He pushed a few long strands of red hair away from her bruised lips, his own trembling with remorse and terror.

He turned her on her side, shaking her roughly. After several attempts she opened her eyes and looked at him briefly, coughing out water, before her eyelids drifted shut again, but this small glimpse of life was enough for Julian.

Gasping in relief, he hugged her to him.

“I love you, my little girl, my sweet sister,” he choked against her wet hair. “I searched for you for so long it made me bitter and cruel… But I see you for what you are now. I will be your family if you’ll have me.”

He trod water faster than he had ever thought possible, tugging her close, and, once he’d climbed ashore with her in his arms, he ran like the wind.

Like a madman.

Sir Gavin was furious.

He paced outside her room day and night, even after the healer told him there was no danger, even after the possibility of infection or fever had passed, even after she was well enough to get up and walk.

Then he went inside and sat next to her, on the bed.

The look he had in his eyes was dangerous and it frightened her slightly. She was dressed, so she sat up and told her confused maids to leave the room.

“Who did this?” he asked without looking at her. “I need to know.”

“Please…” Rosa began, but she was interrupted by the Julian’s entrance, not less forceful than Sir Gavin’s or less remorseful.

“How are you?” he asked her, hoarsely.

“I am well enough,” she replied. “And I would be even better if you would stop acting as though this was my deathbed.”

Julian flinched. “Don’t say that!” he cried. “If you knew…”

“I was asking her who it was that attacked her,” Sir Gavin interrupted.

“And I was trying to tell him I never had a chance to see his or their faces,” Rosa replied.

“Surely you heard them speak, surely…” Sir Gavin pressed on.

Rosa bent her head down, exhausted. Julian held up a hand to stop Sir Gavin. Then, without a word, he inclined his head to the door. Sir Gavin nodded once, understanding his meaning, then got up and left without speaking further.

Julian turned towards his sister.

“I am so sorry,” he told her in a broken voice.

She took his hand, his strong, callused, blacksmith’s hand in both her slender ones and held it.

“You shouldn’t be,” she replied. “Not by any chance.”

He shook his head fiercely.

“I’m sorry for losing all this time with you,” he went on. “For… insulting you so many times in the forest, in front of Robin. For needing something like that to wake me up to the truth. For not…”

“Shhh. I’ve found you,” Rosa said. “That’s all that matters.”

A slow smile crinkled the corners of his eyes. Without a word, he opened his arms and she fell into them.

…

In two days, the celebrations were well under way. The banquet had been a huge success, and the next day, after the honored guests had had their rest until after midday, the jousts and tournaments had began.

The days grew long and weary, and, after the first excitement, the entertainment began to bore everyone, as was usual. The ladies occupied themselves with making new gowns, and decorating them for the great ball which was to take place on the last night of the party.

Still Sir Gavin was fuming about the attack that had nearly cost Rosa’s life. They had decided amongst them, he, Julian and Rosa, not to tell Robin about it just yet, since the information would simply burden him with worry, without giving him any clue as to where the danger truly lied.

“You can’t be entirely clueless as to who the person was,” Sir Gavin was saying to Rosa for the hundredth time. “Was it a large man? Were there many? Anything you could remember would be extremely helpful.”

Rosa sighed in exasperation.

They were seated outside, in the sunshine, a few paces apart from the large tents that had been raised on the lawn for the games. Julian stood by her side absently chewing on a cold mutton pie, for it was lunchtime, his golden head gleaming in the sun, his left hand idly resting on his sister’s shoulder affectionately.

He and Rosa had been spending all of their time together, talking and reminiscing and trying to recapture their friendship from the time of their childhood. They shared their past, every tiny detail of their lives up to their meeting over Little John’s fox trap. It was a blessed time for both of them, their faces glowing with happiness, and it was obvious to everyone that they were enjoying each other’s company enormously. In the days that followed Rosa’s accident, it was very rare to come across one of them alone, for they were constantly together, exploring this newfound joy.

Julian had expressed his regret about his past behavior many times to his sister, trying to cleanse himself of the remorse that plagued him, but every time he did so her eyes became sad, and he’d soon enough decided to stop dwelling on the unhappy past and immerse himself in the unexpected bliss of finding her again when he had thought her lost to him forever. He’d shared his past with her, his successes -such as they were- as well as his sins, and found in her the most sympathetic and intelligent listener, something he had never expected in his life to be blessed with.

He thanked the heavens every day for rewarding his bitterness with mercy, and couldn’t bring himself to believe it when Rosa told him, shyly, that she was grateful to the saints for sending him to her too.

“The most probable explanation,” Rosa said now, and Julian turned his attention to her, “as I see it, is that someone might have wanted to provoke Robin to come to my rescue or defense. Perhaps they even wanted to make him desperate enough to try to avenge my death. In any way, I am almost sure that it was another trap laid for the outlaws.”

“I can’t fight against mere
supposition
!” Sir Gavin exclaimed, frustrated.

No one had talked about it, but it had slowly come to pass that Sir Gavin was in league with the band of robbers. He had put himself in that position when he had run a man with his sword who would have killed Little John, that day they rescued Rosa from the Sheriff’s men.

Sir Gavin didn’t seem to mind, having gained for the outlaws a deep respect and feeling of solidarity in those days, but now it became more and more obvious that his own property and life were in danger. Rosa wondered if he would bend under the pressure, and was prepared to get her marching orders any day.

However, she had a feeling that Sir Gavin had finally found a possible way to vent his anger and plans for revenge on the impostor,  and wouldn’t let go of it lightly, even if it cost him Sir Hugh DeHavenger’s friendship.

She swallowed and decided to speak.

“Is it possible, my dear sir,” she said, “that any one of your honored guests might be in the power of the Sheriff, my father?”

He paled visibly, and didn’t answer her immediately. His fingers, resting idly on his lap, fiddled with the black stone on the ring of his left thumb.

“It is,” he said in a tight voice finally.

“Or maybe some of your guests were
his
guests not so long ago,” she went on, “or even friends of Sir Hugh’s.”

She said the last phrase with meaning, and Sir Gavin understood she was hinting at his own, unwitting betrayal of her.

“Good Lord, the girl is right!” he exclaimed to Julian. “I have filled my home with his spies, and any one of them might be working for our enemies.” It warmed Rosa’s heart, the way he said ‘our enemies’, and for that she forgave him everything. “How do we go on from here?”

“In two days your guests will start leaving, hopefully,” Julian told him. “And if I am not as thick-headed and stupid as I was before, she’ll be safe until then. I’ll see to it.”

Sir Gavin nodded grimly, and got up to see to his guests, but his steely look told Julian he was unconvinced.

The feast would soon be over indeed, and Rosa couldn’t wait until the grounds returned to their former calm and beauty, more so as she was feeling stronger every day, her spirits rising with her strength, and had started thinking of returning to her beloved forest as soon as Robin would agree.

“I neglected to tell you, sir, I have found my brother, at long last,” she told Sir Gavin the next day, trying to appease his increasing displeasure with the turn events had taken in his own home. “And he has found me.”

“I am very pleased for you,” he said and his voice softened immediately, as though he sincerely meant it. It hadn’t escaped his notice, how his little protégée had all of a sudden gained an attentive friend in the outlaw who had formerly hated her. “You have known so much sorrow in your young life,” he said kindly, “you deserve this happiness. And much more.”

“Thank you,” Rosa replied. “You yourself, my lord,” she added, “have shown me more kindness than I expected to see in a lifetime.”

He opened his slender fingers and laid them atop hers.

She didn’t know what to say.

“I am just glad that I was in time,” he whispered finally, and his voice sounded hoarse. “I am grateful that I didn’t lose you before I could get to know you at all.”

“Now that I’ve found Julian,” she said, trying to lift the awkward silence, “I think that I could go back to the forest. Or, if… if that should prove impossible,” her voice broke slightly, “we should make a life for ourselves somewhere, together, away from… all this.”

He was silent for a moment, thinking.

“And from
him
?” he asked.

She didn’t pretend she didn’t know whom he was talking about. She shrugged.

“I am not convinced, after all is said and done,” she said, “that we would be good for each other, me and
him
.”

“Would you do me a favor?” he asked.

“I owe you my life at least twice over,” she replied, smiling. “And all you are asking is a favor?”

“Only in the light of your friendship, willingly given,” he insisted.

“It is yours, whatever you ask of me,” she said.

“Please wait,” he said. “Please stay here until you are sure. Until you are perfectly certain of what you want and must do. My house is yours, and I vow to you no enemy of yours or mine, for now they are one and the same, will enter its gates as long as you are under my protection. Will you promise me that?”

He made her promise to attend the ball as well, and he insisted upon choosing her gown himself. This time it was a deep burgundy color, with sapphires sewn into the bodice and a dark blue sash around the waist.

Her maids braided her hair in a crown around her head after bathing her with perfumed oils and salts, like a queen. She waited patiently until it was all done, dreading the moment when she would climb the stairs down to the dance hall, and she’d have to face them all. The whispering ladies, the sneering maidens, the gawking men.

She stood at the door of her room for ages, unable to gather up the courage to walk out, wishing with all her might that she was seated at Robin’s fire, underneath the large oak trees and a canopy of stars.

Finally one of the maids noticed her, and came to stand next to her.

“Go on, my lady,” she said shyly, “you will be by far the prettiest woman in the hall.”

Rosa turned frightened eyes to her.

The maid looked back at her, suddenly alarmed.

“Surely there is nothing to be afraid of, my lady,” she said. “Not with the master and the brave man Julian watching out for you every minute. I’ve seen how they both look after you, my lady, and believe me, you’ve nothing to fear.”

CHAPTER
14

THE MASQUERADE