The Treason of Robyn Hood by D. Lieber

Author:D. Lieber
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781951239138
Publisher: Ink & Magick

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Robyn was cleaning out her locker when Lili shuffled up beside her. Robyn stuffed the hairbrush and cosmetics she kept at the mill into a bag.

“What’s going on?” her friend asked with a furrowed brow.

Robyn steeled her resolve and forced an excited smile. “I just got a great opportunity.”

“You’re leaving the mill?”

Robyn nodded quickly. “I’m going to work with an inventor. Isn’t that great?”

Lili eyed Robyn as if trying to determine her sincerity, but Robyn’s smile didn’t slip.

Lili smiled in return. “That is great. I’m happy for you, but I sure am going to miss you.”

Robyn wrapped her arms around Lili’s shoulders. “Thanks, Lili,” she murmured. “I’m going to miss you, too.”

“Well, you know where I’ll be. We can have lunch or go get a drink anytime you want.”

“Absolutely,” Robyn said, knowing she wasn’t likely to take that offer. Lili doesn’t need to get involved in any of this, she thought. “Well…” Robyn continued, throwing her bag over her shoulder. “I’ll be seeing you then.”

“Good luck,” Lili said with a sad smile.

“You too.”

Robyn didn’t bother to acknowledge Mildred or the rest of the women gathering in the locker room to start their work day. They were no longer her concern. They were part of her old life, the life where she was naive and undisciplined. She couldn’t afford to be either anymore.

When Robyn stepped through the gate of Lackland Steel, she sighed in relief. Now, the real work can begin, she thought, looking up into the dark grey sky.

“Hello, Robyn,” a deep voice greeted.

“What do you want, Guy?” she asked, recognizing his voice without turning toward him.

He didn’t answer, so she glanced over at him. His expression lacked that assured intensity it usually had. His face was straight and serious with a trace of sadness around the eyes.

Robyn’s heart twinged, knowing it was her words that had put that sadness there. But she refused to allow her sympathy to show, keeping her expression rigid while waiting for his response.

“How are you?” he asked.

“Wonderful,” she spat.

He hesitated.

“Look, I’ve got places to be.” She turned to walk away.

“Wait,” he called.

She stopped but didn’t turn back.

“…Aren’t you going into the mill?”

“No, I’ve taken another position somewhere else.”

“What? You’re leaving the mill? But…but… It isn’t because of me, is it?”

Robyn stifled a sigh and faced Guy. “No, I have my own reasons.” She wanted to tell him that he should give up, that he’d never have a chance, never had one to begin with. Had she not only reached out to him to get information? She wanted to rail at him and tell him they were too different. She stood up against injustice while he propagated it. But as he met her glare with that open expression of vulnerability, she couldn’t say any of that.

Her eyes softened, and she met his gaze steadily. “I hope you find peace one day, Guy. I hope you can live without spreading fear and violence. Because even if you feel no guilt, even if you don’t know it, those transgressions are eating you alive.

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