I stalked over to Dominic and kicked his boot, hard. “Up.”
Nothing.
Fine.
I collected a skein of icy water from the stream and flung it into Dominic’s face. He came awake with a bellow, flailing and swearing. I did the same to Sebastian, who gasped and sucked in air like a drowning man. Both put their hands up to their heads, where they were certain to have excruciating headaches.
They blinked and squinted around at the bodies littering the clearing.
Sebastian wiped his face, fingers trembling, and winced as he touched the back of his head, where a large lump was swelling. Dominic flexed his arms and frowned, inspecting the half-healed gashes along his skin, his eyes narrowing when he felt the swelling at his skull.
“What happened?” Sebastian croaked.
“What do you remember?” I asked.
He squeezed his eyes shut. “We… we went looking for you and the girl. You’d been gone for weeks.”
“Deserter,” Dominic muttered.
I struck him across the face before the word had fully left his mouth. Dominic reeled backward so he was sprawled in the dirt again.
“I willnotbe spoken to like that,” I spat.
“Where were you, then?” Dominic snarled, spitting blood.
“Cleaning up your failures,” I snapped. “I went looking for the girlagain. Everyone knew she’d free Robin Hood the moment she could and she did. She managed to pull off a jailbreak and now half our men are dead because of her.”
“So you failed in tracking her down,” Dominic pressed. He held his fingers up to his cheek, where a red impression of my hand was rapidly rising. “Didn’t you?”
“I caught up to her,” I said evenly. “And she escaped again. Is that shocking? She escapedeveryone.”
“I caught her,” Dominic bragged. “First try, too. The sheriff should’ve had her chained to me. I’d have kept her in check.”
“Did you, though?” I folded my arms. “Or did she jump through a window and you claimed victory so no one would notice you let her slip away?”
Dominic’s mouth fell open. “How’d you know?”
“Because I think,” I snapped. “Which is a skill you clearly lack. I was tracking down all the men she released from the jailbreak when all of you caught up and assumed the worst. Why would I turn traitor to my own father?”
“Come off it. We know you set her free,” Dominic said.
My blood went cold but my face hardened.
“Does it look like I set her free?” I bellowed, pointing to Laurel’s unmoving body. “She murdered my father and I killed her for it.”
Sebastian stepped closer to Laurel, nudging her boot with his own.
I held my breath.
She didn’t move.
“You have to admit, Baron—” Sebastian began.
“Sheriff,” I corrected.
He blinked. “What?”
“Now that my father passed, I’m the Sheriff of Nottingham. Address me properly.”
