“That’s good,” Crow said when Penelope told him about how her shoulder didn’t hurt as much as it had the day before. He gingerly touched the burns on his arms. They still pained him like a bad sunburn, but he didn’t think they would hold him up when he went to raid the Younisian king’s palace. He looked back at the knight. He knew it would be too much to expect her to perform at one hundred percent so soon after getting cut by a sword—whenever he had wounds that severe, it always took him a month to fully recover at least—but he hoped she would at least be able to keep up with him if she had to.

“Guess who’s back?” Olivia’s sing-song voice cut through the silence. The knight had changed clothes. Instead of the cloak and masculine clothes from before, she now wore a very form-fitting shirt and a calf-length skirt. She held up a plucked chicken by the legs, presenting it as if it were a trophy. “And I brought dinner!” Her eyes fell on Crow and Penelope, who were still sitting together by the fire. She pursed her lips for a moment, as if an unpleasant thought crossed her mind, then returned to her usual bubbly self. She stepped over to the two, putting herself between them, and crouched down to look Crow in the eye, “Want to help me cook it? I’ll let you have first pick of the meat if you do.”

The thief hesitated, torn between his desire for Olivia and his loyalty to Penelope. He frowned, a bit surprised by his own thought. [i]Loyalty…[/i] that was a word he never imagined he would use to describe himself. He had always been a loner, looking out for no one but himself. Whenever he wanted something, he would take it without a care as to how his actions would impact anyone else. But now that he was friends with Penelope, it was hard for him to get back into that mentality.

[i]But still…[/i] Crow bit his lip, his green eyes fixed on Olivia’s attractive body. It wasn’t everyday a beautiful woman wanted to spend a night with him, and he couldn’t deny that he wanted to be with her. It had been so long. “Alright,” he answered her, glancing back at Penelope for a second before climbing to his feet. As guilty as he felt for choosing Olivia over Penelope, he couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Besides, why should he ask for permission when he could always ask for forgiveness later, right?

“Wonderful,” the dark-haired knight exclaimed happily. She tossed an unrestrained smirk at Penelope before inching closer to the thief, brushing her shoulder against his. “Now then, I’ll teach you some tricks to make it taste better…”