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Will set the glasses aside "Rob? Why do you look that way? Did she take sonity Chris had left without waking hi him farewell, without so ht hadto Robin

Perhaps she had been frightened by the many intimacies that they’d shared Yes, that would make more sense She had seemed so cautious, so controlled--at least, before she had led hi and seelanced at the display of longbows he had mounted opposite his bed, interspersed with some of the arrows he had made over the centuries The weapons represented many memories for him, all he had left of Sherwood, really To a modern

Had she seen the? Had they caused her to flee?

"How did she appear to you when she left?" he asked his seneschal "Was she disoriented? Did she seeh the security ," Will said, "but she seeesture "She was tidily dressed andher steps She did not take anything, and she did not look back" He cocked his head "Did you not send her down?"

"No" Robin saw solitter, and went to the bed Froold chain He had unfastened it fros He wound the delicate thing through his fingers "I never bade her to go"

"You…" Will’s pale eyes rounded "I do not understand, ht"

"This one I did Or should have" Robin touched the creased silk sheets on his bed They felt as cold to his touch as his heart "I slept with her, and she left me"

"I’m sure it was for the best Had she remained, and awoken before you--"

"You do not understand me," Robin said "I fell asleep with her With her in my arms I slept with that woman and did not wake, did not dream I slept as I have not since my human lifetio like that?"

"You must have compelled her to leave before dawn," Will said "She would not have departed herself, not while bespelled"

Robin thought of how she been with hi, and had startled him more than once with her boldness, but she had not behaved as if she were spellbound "I begin to doubt that she was ever under my power"

"Could she be a Brethren operative?" Will sounded grim now "We have known them to be resistant to l’attrait ’Tis said they are bred that way"

Had Chris behaved differently, Robin ht have shared his seneschal’s suspicions "Why would one of those zealots seducein my bed, when she could kill me or have me taken?"

Will’s expression turned wry "True"

Robin saw soed beneath the base the lamp beside the bed, and retrieved it The small square of paper smelled of her, and he unfolded it slowly

Thank you for the dance C

Dark, tight resentan straightening the bed linens "You would be wise not to contact her again, my lord A erous"

"She does not offer me her phone number or contact information," Robin told him "She thanks me"

Will cleared his throat to cover another sound "That was very, ah, polite of her"

"A? For what? A mistake she never intends to repeat?" Robin threw the note to the floor "She used me A mortal A mortal used me"

"The stone-hearted bitch" Will fluffed the pillows "Shall I track her back to her lair and offer her a sternly worded rebuke, my lord?"

Robin hardly heard hiht, but she did register as a bidder She would have had to show her identification and give theo to the auctioneer’s office and obtain whatever information they have for her I particularly want her full na she had said at the club "She told o One you have her full naround check on her"

"Rob" His seneschal came to stand before him "It was ill-mannered of this mortal to leave in such haste, but her actions are hardly worth so et this"

"No I was not finished with her" He went to his closet and jerked out fresh gar the sleeve from a shirt in the process He tossed it aside and took out another

"You know that woested carefully "They have much freedom and independence, and they do as they wish They do not respect s are in this society--"