She stole a horse she didn't mean to keep, outwitted the Sheriff's men with nothing but nerve and a blacksmith's hammer — and now the most powerful man in England wants her head.

When armed men descend on her unprotected village, demanding taxes no one can pay and stealing everything in sight, Robyn doesn't wait for a hero. She unhitches the Sheriff's horses, borrows a travelling cloak, and rides bareback into the Shire Wood — accidentally stealing a very fine horse in the process. It's the kind of mistake that ends with a noose.



But the trouble is only beginning. With her found family — the unstoppable Joan, whose staff-work sends grown men fleeing, and the quietly remarkable Marion back at the forge — Robyn fights back harder than anyone expects from a peasant girl in one boot. They reclaim their stolen grain, strip the Earl's colours from his carriage, and send his men limping home. It feels like a victory. Until Robyn learns the tax collectors weren't imposters at all. They were acting on behalf of the Sheriff of Nottingham himself — who is also the Earl of Derby — and now an entire village has made a very powerful enemy.



Can Robyn protect the people she loves before the Sheriff's wrath falls on Loxley — or has one act of desperate courage doomed them all?



Ebony McKenna is the Australian author of the ONDINE series, about a teen who comes home from psychic summercamp with a pet ferret who talks with a Scottish accent. She also writes historical and mostly Regency-era romance as Ebony Oaten. These have a sweet tone but the main characters are adults.