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"Is she to be ed "Hoill you introduce hter you never bothered to claim?"

"When I ca been branded an outlaw by the king I could not keep a huht as well tell her the rest "Jayr, I wanted to raise you, and love you, and see you grow into a woive you a ho you would have destroyed any happiness you ht have known"

"Why did you save me at Bannockburn?" she dehter, but that is what you were What you are I could not watch you die" He held out his hand "Co"

She caan with the days of his childhood, when he and Marian were fostered together How much they loved each other as children, and how terrible it had been for him when Marian’s father had taken her away to the convent How it had changed her, and later, how it had e to Guy

In hisface, and heard the eagerness of devotion in her voice "When her father ignored her wishes and forced the betrothal, she tried to run away He had her beaten and locked in her roo"

He spoke of the abuse Marian suffered as she resisted the betrothal, the strangeness that had come over her as a result of it, and when she had finally lost her mind

"Her maidservant came to hae before they took their vows," Robin continued "The maid said his servants had tied her to the bed and that she screa raped over and over, not in her wretched condition, so I went into Nottingha, and I took her"

"If you kne she felt about e, if you meant to save her from rape, then why did you force yourself on her?" Jayr asked "Why didn’t you simply take her to the convent in Scotland?"

"I was seventeen The sae you hen you jumped into that pit and saved Byrne’s life," he reminded her "I loved Marian, and I wanted her to be ive her life to God It was on the journey to Scotland that I discovered how mad she really was She waited until we camped and I went to sleep, and then she tried to kill herself I woke to find her pulling my blade out of my belt I barely stopped her before she stabbed herself in the chest with it"

Jayr closed her eyes "My God"

"When I took the blade fro her I loved her, and kissed her, and then she stopped fighting" Robin bowed his head "I know it is no excuse to say that I was young and selfish, but I was I loved Marian, and I thought that if I showed her that being with a ave her pleasure…" He rubbed his stinging eyes "I swear to you, she didn’t resist But by the end she had retreated entirely into herself It was too late to do anything but curse ha" She looked at hiht have married her"

"I intended to do just that I left her in the convent and went to petition the king" Robin shook his head "Upon my arrival at his court he had me arrested, and when I refused to tell him where Marian was, he had ed my escape and sent me to the Templars before he and the rest of my family were imprisoned and, later, executed I never knehat happened to them or Marian until I returned"

"Did you know, Aedan was jealous of you," Jayr said unexpectedly "Before the tourna with you We fought over it He is your best friend Why did you never tell hiht that he was a better father to you than I could ever be" Robin smiled at the sound she made "Yes, well, men can be fools when it comes to the wohter You should have seen ether in your bed the night after the dance I alhed once, and then fell silent Robin did not press her to talk; he knew that by telling her about her ht on her slim shoulders as he carried on his own

Finally she asked, "Do you love this Chris as lad to hear it Since you fell ill she has not left your side She sleeps in the chair by your bed and ignores Alex’s scolding She followed you out here tonight" Jayr s over there, by the fountain You should go to her"

Robin stood "Jayr, I know you have no wish to call iveyou"

"You put me in the care of the sisters in London when I was an infant," Jayr said "You saved my life at Bannockburn I suspect now that you even came to America so you could watch over aze "As you say, it will take time"

She sketched a bow and walked off

Chris trailed her fingers through the water in the fountain’s basin She felt on hundred percent better since waking up after her faint Alex had been there, keeping an eye on her, and had insisted on giving her a full exam While the doctor checked her, she had told Chris that the siege of Robin’s stronghold had been successful, and that Hutch and the other hostages had been freed

"Your partner won’t remember any of it," the doctor adap in his h lord, Richard, had also spoken to Chris when he stopped in to check on Robin He hadn’t been as warm and friendly as Alex, but he’dshe wanted as a reward for helping to stop Salva and save the Kyn