[IC] Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

[Rogue Sloth]

“I hope so too,” Crow nodded when Penelope said she hoped this would be the last trip they needed to take. He forced himself to hold her gaze evenly as he spoke, despite the guilt that twisted his stomach. He knew quite well that this wouldn’t be the end of their search—not as long as he was under Jaxon’s thumb. Well, unless the others managed to figure out what was really going on. He swallowed nervously. For the sake of Penelope’s safety, he hoped he would be able to prevent them from realizing the truth.

As she went on to comment about the other thieves, he shrugged. “What can I say? They’re a stubborn lot.”

“Did that other friend of yours decide to stay at camp?”

Crow stiffened at the mention of Simon and averted his gaze. He was hesitant to tell her what had happened, both because he knew his companions didn’t want the word to get out about his death and because he didn’t want to speak of it again. Just the thought of the incident left him feeling hollow inside. He glanced back up at Penelope. Even though he preferred to just let the subject drop, there was a small part of him that also wanted to tell her, if only for the sake of lifting some of the burden from his own shoulders.

He glanced furtively over his shoulder at the others for a moment, making sure they weren’t paying attention to him, before he turned back to Penelope. “Actually… that’s the reason why they came with me,” he murmured sadly, shifting a little closer to her to keep his voice down. He didn’t want the other thieves to overhear him telling a knight about their companion’s demise. “Simon is dead,” he went on, lowering his gaze once more, this time out of shame. “While I was with you in Aramoor, Jaxon found our camp and murdered him. Supposedly it was a warning of some sort, but now, Rikki and Alistair want him killed for what he did.” He pointedly left out most of the details of the attack, since he didn’t want her to know that Jaxon had come looking for him.

“I couldn’t say no,” he continued. “They have just as much of a right to get revenge as I do. That’s why I let them come with me.” He glanced over his shoulder one more time. Alistair and Olivia looked quite content as they stood aside to catch up, but Rikki was eyeing Gavin with a wary gaze, and the knight didn’t seem to have a very high opinion of her either. Crow sighed, “I’m not overly concerned about Alistair, but I’m hoping that Rikki will be able to keep her temper reigned in.” He met Penelope’s gaze again with a shake of his head. “Among all of us, she’s the most likely to do something rash. I’m a little worried that she’ll set Gavin off.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope looked over Crow with a confused expression as the thief grew stiff and quiet as she asked about the missing thief. When he finally answered, she was shocked to hear that Jaxon had hunted the thieves down and killed one of them. She glanced over at the other thieves before moving to rest her hand comfortingly on his arm. "I'm sorry to hear that." she told him quietly with a small frown. Though she felt sympathy for Crow after losing one of his companions, the female knight also found a sense of relief that Crow hadn't been there for the run in with Jaxon. He could have easily been killed instead if he had been with the other thieves at the time as well.

Hopefully he won't find them again before we find him.. she thought, with another spark of determination to catch the heartless thief. Penelope removed her hand from his arm as he looked over at the others. At his words she gave a nod of agreement. "Hopefully she will.. I suppose we'll just have to keep an eye on them." she sighed and glanced over towards Gavin. "He'll be even easier to set off now that they're here."

Gavin caught her glance and took a step closer to Penelope. "We should get moving. Although I'm not happy with this surprise," he looked at Crow accusingly. "we still have a whole trip to Wheldrake ahead of us."

"Alright." Penelope agreed with a small nod, deciding it was best to get moving as well. "Let's start heading out then." Gavin turned to lead the way and she was about to follow him but paused as she looked over at Crow. "Are Raven and Alistair caught up on everything?" she asked him, wondering if there was anything the group needed to go over during their walk to the other village.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow stepped back slightly as Gavin walked over to join them. At the knight’s comment, he narrowed his eyes slightly but didn’t say anything more on the subject. There wasn’t anything he could say to make Gavin accept that his companions would be joining them for the rest of the mission, so the next best thing would be to drop it and let him come to terms with the situation on his own. He just hoped that nothing would come up to cause any more contention between them all.

He trailed after Penelope as the group began the journey to Wheldrake, falling quiet as his mind wandered once again to the problem of how he was going to meet all of Jaxon’s demands on the trip. However, he didn’t have time to think about it for long before Penelope’s voice caught his attention. He turned to look at her and nodded. “I filled them in on our walk here,” he said in answer to her question. “They know that Jaxon was the one behind the raid on your camp and that we’ve already searched Whitebridge and Aramoor.”

He glanced back over his shoulder at the other thieves. Alistair was still chatting idly with Olivia—he had slid his hand flirtatiously around the knight’s waist—while Rikki was keeping watch of their surroundings. With their attention off of him, Crow shifted to walk closer to Penelope, reaching to take her hand in his. “Also, they both know about us now,” he said under his breath, offering her a soft smile. “We don’t have to hide anything anymore. I just don’t want to flaunt it too much, because I don’t know how they’ll react, you know?”

Almost as if on cue, another voice sounded from his other side. “So,” Rikki grinned up at him as she fell in step on his other side. “We’re going to Wheldrake, huh? It’s kind of ironic, don’t you think? Considering you were supposed to go there last week, I mean.”

“I guess I was fated to go one way or another,” Crow shrugged.

“Mhm,” Rikki eyed him for a moment before she leaned forward to look around him at Penelope. “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while,” she shot the knight a friendly smile, far from the cold look she had given Gavin earlier. “I bet you’re happy about how all of this turned out, huh? You got Crow all to yourself for a whole week.” Despite the lightheartedness of her words, there was a subtle edge to her voice as she spoke to the other woman.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope gave a nod, glad to hear that everyone was at least somewhat on the same page. As he moved closer to her and took her hand in his, she gave him a questioning look and was about to glance over her shoulder towards the other thieves when he informed her that they had no reason to hide anymore. She blinked and then gave a small smile before nodding her head. "Of course." she mumbled, feeling a small bit of joy that they didn't have to put a ton of distance between each other.

That joy was soon squished as Rikki popped up on the other side of Crow, causing for Penelope to grow a bit tense despite herself. The knight shifted her gaze to focus ahead as they walked, intent on trying push away any discomfort she felt, however, it seemed that wouldn't be easy to do as Rikki went on to address her directly. She turned to look over at Rikki, catching the faint edge to her words despite the friendliness she portrayed.

The knight hesitated to reply. Her discomfort and insecurities made the knight tempted to act defensively with the female thief, however, Penelope managed to restrain herself. Acting overly petty and insecure would only make a bad situation worse. "There have been some perks." she admitted slowly with a quick glance at Crow. Just because she planned to try and act civilly with the thief didn't mean she was going to completely back down. Just like Gavin, Rikki would have to eventually come to accept that the two were together.

"Though I think I would have just taken our regular meetings over all of this happening." the knight said with heavy sigh and attempted to switch the subject. "I'll just be happy once we've gotten rid of him." She noticed the female thief's friendly expression waver for a very brief moment. Before she could reply though, another voice cut in.

"Penelope," Gavin glanced over his shoulder with an uneasy gaze. "Can I speak with you for a second?"

"Sure?" Penelope raised an eyebrow at him. The male knight said nothing at first, glancing towards the two thieves before looking back to her with a faint look of pleading. She let out a sigh, realizing that he clearly wished to speak with her alone. Normally she would have denied his request but with Rikki around, she decided it was likely best to handle whatever was bothering him alone rather than making him voice it openly. She glanced up at Crow and gave her shoulders a small shrug. "Guess I better see what he's worried about now." she mumbled before letting the thief's hand go and picking up her pace to join Gavin at the front.

"Did you know about him bringing them?" Gavin asked in a hushed voiced.

"I knew there was a possibility they would come." Penelope responded with a small shrug. It seemed Gavin was still upset with having to work with the additional thieves. "I've met them before. I don't know them well but they seem fine enough."

Gavin looked over his shoulder again before focusing back on Penelope. "And I take it you're not the only one who's met them before huh?" he asked with frown. "Olivia seems quite... familiar with that one thief."

Penelope shrugged her shoulders. "You know how Olivia is." she replied simply. The female knight offered him a small, reassuring smile. "Look they're not thrilled to be working with us either and with any luck, you won't have to work with them for very long if we're able to track down Jaxon in Wheldrake."

"Right.." Gavin mumbled with a reluctant nod.

Penelope eyed him for a moment. There wasn't much more she could say to ease the tension for Gavin, who hadn't even been fond of working with one thief, but she hoped it was enough to at least pull him slightly out of the worry he felt from suddenly being forced into working with three thieves. She let out a soft sigh and moved to fall back besides Crow again.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow studied Rikki tensely from the corner of his eye as he listened to the two women speak. He wasn’t sure what she was trying to do, but he knew that he didn’t trust her for a moment. She had made it perfectly clear that she didn’t approve of his relationship with Penelope, and nothing had happened since then that he could think of that would have changed her opinion about it. He subconsciously moved a little closer to the knight, prepared to step in if the female thief made any moves to cause trouble.

Being focused on what was happening right in front of him, he was caught slightly off guard as Gavin fell back to speak with Penelope. He blinked and turned away from Rikki to watch the other man instead. The knight’s jaw was set tensely and he moved with a faint stiffness that suggested that he was on edge. It wasn’t surprising, considering he hadn’t been expecting to work with more thieves, but Crow still wished he would realize that they were all on the same side.

“Alright,” Crow said quietly when Penelope said she should speak with him. He gave her hand a brief squeeze before letting his arm fall back to his side as she walked ahead with her former suitor. He let out his breath in a soft exhale. They had only just left Myrefall, and yet the trip to Wheldrake was already proving to be much more stressful than the last. It felt like trouble could come from any direction, whether Olivia decided to cause mischief, or Rikki tried to get between him and Penelope, or Gavin did something out of his mistrust of the thieves. The only one he even remotely trusted was Alistair, and that was just because the reckless thief seemed to be too enamored by Olivia to do any damage.

He shook his head faintly and ran a hand through his hair. On top of all that, he still had to handle the dilemma of how he was going to meet Jaxon’s demands without getting caught. Just the thought of working behind their backs—especially Penelope’s—made him feel sick, but he had to do it. He had already lost one of his companions to the murderous thief; he couldn’t be the cause of anyone else’s death.

“You’re quiet,” Rikki, who had stayed by his side, noted curiously. “What’s on your mind?”

Crow hesitated for a moment before answering. “I’m just worried that we might not find Jaxon in Wheldrake,” he lied. “Our lead sounded good, but we can’t know for sure if the group we heard about is really them.”

“I’m sure we’ll find something,” Rikki offered him a reassuring smile. “He doesn’t know we’re looking for him, so we’ve got the advantage. It won’t be long now before that bastard’s head rolls.”

If only you knew how wrong you are, Crow thought, biting his tongue to keep from telling her the truth. It wasn’t them that had the advantage. Jaxon, as always, was three steps ahead of them. There was no way they could catch up with him now. But he couldn’t reveal that to anyone. “I hope you’re right,” he said after a moment, forcing himself to pretend like he believed her.

“I will be,” Rikki winked at him. Her dark eyes flicked towards Gavin and Penelope for a moment before she leaned a little closer to him and rested a hand on his back. “This will all be over before we know it.”

Crow stiffened at her touch and brushed her arm aside. “I thought you were finished trying to get between me and Penelope,” he muttered irritably.

“What?” she rolled her eyes. “Am I not allowed to touch you anymore? Come on, Crow. It’s not like I reached for your—”

“It doesn’t matter,” he interrupted, casting her a cold look. “I know what you’re trying to do, and I’m not going to let it happen. You’ve said my friendship is important to you, so start acting like it.”

“Gods,” Rikki crossed her arms. “Someone’s in a bad mood today.”

Crow just scoffed in response and averted his gaze. A tense silence fell between them until Penelope dropped back to his side. He reached out to take her hand again quickly in an attempt to make it clear to Rikki where his loyalties laid. “Is everything alright?” he whispered in her ear, tipping his head subtly towards the other knight. While the question was partly out of concern for her, he was also hoping to find out if Gavin was trying to make any plans without involving him. For the sake of his assignment from Jaxon, he had to stay in the loop and know everything that went on during their mission. He felt a stab of guilt, but he concealed it by observing her intently as he awaited her response.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope laced her fingers with his as he took her hand again, giving it a small squeeze. She noticed there seemed to be a bit of tension between Rikki and Crow but she didn't bother to ask about it as Crow spoke up instead. The knight nodded her head. "Yeah it's all fine." she assured him then paused before correcting herself. "Well, as fine as it can be." She gave a small frown as her gaze flickered ahead towards Gavin, who was walking alone at the front. He remained tense but now he seemed to be glancing over his shoulder less so she took it as a sign that he had at least accepted the group for now.

"He's not exactly thrilled about having the others with us..I think he just wanted to see if I knew anything about them coming." she replied, keeping her voice down. The knight glanced over her shoulder towards Olivia and Alistair. Olivia seemed rather distracted now that the other male thief had joined and though Olivia denied any feelings for him still, Gavin seemed to pick up a bit on their closeness.

Looking back to Crow, Penelope leaned in close to him, dropping her voice down to a whisper as she added, "Plus seeing Olivia and Alistair flirting like they do certainly hasn't help. I imagine he's not very fond of the idea, that not only one, but both of his comrades are involved with thieves." She gave a roll of her eyes and looked back ahead. "He probably thinks you two are tricking us to turn against him or something. Regardless, I think you guys will need to be a bit more careful around him at the moment.. At least until he gets a little more used to working with you or at least less suspicious."

[Rogue Sloth]

With Penelope’s small hand securely in his own, Crow managed to relax a little. He casted a discreet glance at Rikki, who had fallen behind a bit as she resumed watching their surroundings. She seemed to have given up on trying to get between them for now. He turned back to Penelope again as she answered his question. Fortunately, it sounded like Gavin wasn’t trying to come up with a plan behind his back. Unfortunately, that meant he had no new information to report to Jaxon. He sighed. We still have the rest of the trip left, he reminded himself. There’s still plenty of time to work on my other assignment when we get to Wheldrake.

As Penelope went on to say that she believed Gavin was more irritable because of Olivia and Alistair, Crow peeked back over his shoulder to look at them. Unlike himself and Penelope, the two were being quite physical with each other, casting playful touches as they walked. He could certainly understand why that would get under Gavin’s skin. However, when she added that her former suitor probably guessed that he and Alistair were trying to turn the female knights against him, the thief snorted in response. The idea that he and his companion were just trying to seduce the women for personal gain was just ridiculous to him.

“He’ll just have to learn to accept that just because we’re criminals doesn’t mean we’re always manipulating other people,” he said with a shake of his head. However, even as the words left his mouth, he already felt another pang of guilt. Even though it was the furthest thing from his intention to use Penelope for selfish reasons, he would be lying if said that her faith in him wasn’t an advantage. Even if he slipped up while he was operating for Jaxon, it would take quite a bit to convince her not to believe whatever excuse he made up to explain away his mistake. He winced at the realization that whether he liked it or not, he was probably going to be forced to use their relationship against her at some point.

Not wanting her to notice his discomfort, he cut short the silence between them by asking, “If your barons sent your patrol to Wheldrake, where did they decide to send the other ones?” He turned to meet her gaze with a concerned frown. “We had a few close calls on our trip to Aramoor last time, and there were only four of us then. Now that there are more of us, we’ll probably stand out a lot more if we’re spotted again.” He studied her green eyes searchingly, hoping she would buy the lie and give him the locations of the other knights.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope nodded her head in agreement with Crow's words. "I know and hopefully he will eventually." she mused. The knight didn't think much of the short silence that fell over them. As the thief spoke up again asking about patrols, she looked over at him and gave a small smile. "Well we shouldn't have to worry about them too much." she told him with a proud gleam in her gaze as she looked up at him.

"I helped my baroness plan a good majority of the patrols. Most won't be near us but we should keep an eye out once we're closer to Wheldrake. I believe she's sending a couple to search between Wheldrake and Azmar." The knight shrugged her shoulders and glanced up at him. "I figured it could be helpful to have a patrol search there just in case the thieves headed straight past Wheldrake. We should be able to avoid them pretty easily though. I saw the route their meant to take and it's separated from ours.

"The only ones we might have to be a little concerned about are the patrols by uncle and the other baron send out. However, I doubt they'll send them this way. My uncle and brother think my lead isn't worth the time so they'll likely send patrols elsewhere. Bennet, the other baron, isn't very bright so I imagine any patrol he sends out won't be near us." Penelope added. She smiled up at Crow and gave his hand a small squeeze. "Also I managed to give my baroness a little bit of a warning about Jaxon's group.. At least, I suggested that it was likely a different group than yours. So with any luck, the patrols she sends out might actually be looking for the right person which could be helpful if they manage to find anything."

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow listened quietly as Penelope gave him details about the other patrols from her camp, focusing intently so that he would be able to remember and reiterate the information to Jaxon when he met up with the thief again. It was fortunate for him that Penelope had been directly involved in the planning of where the other knights would be sent. Now, he knew exactly where a third of the patrols were located, and had a decent idea of where the rest had ended up. It would be a thorough report when he eventually made his way back to Jaxon.

He was just beginning to gain some hope in the situation as Penelope explained that all of the patrols were nowhere near Wheldrake nor the actual location of the thieves’ camp. However, his hope was quickly dashed when she added that she had told her baroness about Jaxon and his band. His lip twitched slightly as he stifled a worried frown. Now that Penelope’s superior knew who the real target was, his job to keep the knights away from their camp was going to be quite a bit harder to pull off. He hoped that the baroness would dismiss Penelope’s lead once they turned up with nothing after examining Wheldrake.

“Good job,” he returned her smile with a forced grin of his own. “Between our group’s efforts and your baroness’s influence, I’m sure we’ll be able to catch these murderers in no time.” Or Jaxon will think I betrayed him and everything will go straight to hell, he added with silent pessimism.

“Hey,” Olivia called suddenly to Gavin. “I’m tired. Let’s take a break for lunch.”

“We’re not even halfway there yet,” Gavin peered over his shoulder. “Surely you can make it that far before we stop.”

“But I want to stop now,” she whined obnoxiously. “There’s a perfect little clearing right up ahead. Let’s rest there.”

“I second that,” Alistair pitched in his support.

Rikki casted a furtive glance towards Crow before she raised one hand, “Me too.”

Not catching the look she had sent his way, Crow turned towards Gavin in amusement. “Looks like we’re stopping after all,” he said, using the same tone of voice the knight had often used against him whenever he won an argument.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope noticed something seemed a bit off with the grin he gave her. However, it was so slight that the knight barely dwelled on it and instead gave a nod of agreement, glad that he seemed optimistic. After all, Jaxon had managed to kill comrades on both sides so Penelope didn't doubt he was just as eager as her to bring down the murderous thief. She looked back ahead as Olivia suddenly spoke up requesting a break.

Though Gavin tried to keep them moving, it appeared he was vastly outnumbered now. She bit back a smirk as Crow added to it with his mocking tone. Gavin looked back at them with a frustrated gaze and his gaze shifted to Penelope, as if hoping to find some sort of ally in her. Unfortunately for him, the female knight just shrugged her shoulders. "Looks like it." she agreed with Crow, making the male knight deflate slightly as he seemed to realize just how outnumbered he was now.

"Fine. We'll stop." he growled in reluctant agreement.

"Perfect!" Olivia chirped happily.

Penelope shook her head in amusement and followed after Gavin as he headed towards the small clearing. "Seems like Gavin just lost a good deal of control over this mission." she whispered to Crow with a hint of amusement. "We just have to be careful not to abuse it too much though." she gave him a small wink before letting go of his hand as they reached the clearing. The knight placed her bag down under one of the trees and rolled her shoulders.

They hadn't been traveling long so she wasn't overly stiff but unsure when they would stop again now that they had taken a break rather early, she decided it was still best to make the most of it. She glanced around as she moved to sit down under the tree and watched as the others settled into the clearing. Gavin was the only one who didn't relax right away. His gaze swept over the others before he moved to sit down relatively nearby her, as if worried about putting too much distance between them. She let out a quiet sigh and leaned her head back against the trunk of the tree, making no comment on it for now.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow’s lip curved upward in a pleased smile when Gavin gave in to their request to stop for lunch. He wasn’t hungry enough that he felt compelled to take a break at that moment like Olivia did, but any opportunity to undermine Penelope’s ex suitor went by well with him. It was especially fulfilling now, since he had so many other voices on his side with the addition of the two thieves. So, feeling content, he followed after the knight as he led them over to the clearing that Olivia had indicated.

When Penelope leaned in to whisper to him about Gavin’s loss of control, he nodded. “It’s about time,” he murmured back to her, casting her a wry smirk. As she went on to say that they shouldn’t abuse their newfound power, he just shrugged. “That all depends on how well he cooperates with the rest of us,” he said simply. “If he doesn’t give me a reason to retaliate, I won’t run his authority into the ground.”

When they reached the clearing, Crow shrugged his bag off his shoulders and stretched his arms over his head to loosen his back. Even though they hadn’t traveled particularly far yet, he wanted to keep himself from getting as stiff as he had during their last trip. Granted, most of his tenseness that time had been due to poor sleep and stress, but he still felt like it was worth taking the extra precaution.

Once he felt decently stretched out, he located Penelope beneath a nearby tree and stepped over to sit beside her. He noticed that Gavin also settled down nearby, but he ignored the him. If the knight wanted to torture himself by watching the woman that he loved be with another man, then the thief wasn’t going to stop him. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned contentedly against her side. In that moment, he could almost forget about everything that he had been worrying about and lose himself in the warmth of her presence, but unfortunately, his peace was short-lived.

Crow blinked his eyes open again as he suddenly felt a pair of hands on his shoulders. He looked up to see Rikki leaning over him with a friendly smile. “You looked tense,” she explained with a shrug before he had a chance to question what she was doing. “I figured you could use a massage.” She turned to shoot Penelope a sly wink. “You seem like you could use one too. If you want, I can give you one after I’m done with Crow here.” Her smile widened into a foxlike grin. “I’m very good.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope smiled as Crow moved to sit down besides her and leaned into her side. The knight pressed into him as well, enjoying their small break together. It was nearly beginning to feel peaceful when Rikki suddenly popped in. Penelope turned her head to see Rikki leaning over Crow with her hands on his shoulders, immediately making the knight feel uneasy again. At her words, Penelope stiffened and bit her tongue. Annoying witch. She thought with a hint of venom, wishing that Rikki would put some distance away from Crow.

However, she kept jealousy-fueled words to herself. It would be ridiculous for her to get jealous. Afterall, she was the one that had won the thief's heart, not Rikki. But maybe that's not enough... Am I enough? The thought sounded unpleasantly from the back of her mind as she eyed the female thief, subconsciously beginning to compare herself to the female thief. Penelope blinked, realizing what she was doing and quickly focused back on the conversation as she realized she hadn't replied. It wasn't a question she wanted to dwell nor one that she ever planned to.

"No thanks." she muttered, unable to keep a bitter edge out of her voice.

"Oh, are you sure?" Rikki said with a small pout. Penelope swore she could still make out a grin tugging at the edges of her lips though. "Crow can testify to how good they are."

"Positive." she grumbled in reply. Feeling rather powerless to do anything else—she didn't want to make a scene in front of the others—she turned her head to look the other way. As she did, she unintentionally ended up catching Gavin's gaze. Just when she thought the situation was bad enough, it seemed to get worse as the male knight was close enough to overhear the conversation and was now looking over at Crow and Rikki with a hint of confusion as well as suspicion in his dark eyes.

Gavin shifted his gaze over to her questioningly and Penelope quickly shifted her gaze elsewhere. She didn't want to have to explain the situation to the male knight. He already didn't trust Crow and him finding out that Rikki was trying to get between them as well didn't sit well with her.

[Rogue Sloth]

Penelope’s tension didn’t slip past Crow. As he felt her stiffen against his side, he casted her a quick glance, frowning when he saw her studying Rikki with an unusual look in her eyes. The bitter edge to her voice confirmed his suspicion that Rikki’s actions were making her uncomfortable. He didn’t blame her. If Gavin had sauntered up like that to rub her shoulders, he would have been just as frustrated, if not more so. He needed to put an end to it before Rikki got it in her head that she had won somehow.

He turned back to the female thief, brushing her hands away. “I’m fine,” he said with a hint of warning in his tone. Narrowing his eyes at her slightly, he found it difficult to keep from tell her off right then and there. However, for the sake of not causing a scene, he managed to speak to her more civilly. “Don’t forget what I told you before,” he said curtly, in reference to their conversation the last time she had put her hands on him. “Nothing has changed.”

Rikki held his gaze for a moment before letting out a long exhale. She leaned down to whisper in his ear, “I still think you’re overreacting. Since when has a little favor ever killed anyone?”

“Don’t pretend like you don’t know what you’re doing,” he growled at her before going on more audibly and waving a dismissive hand: “Go and eat your lunch while you still have time left to do so.”

“Whatever you say,” she shrugged carelessly and ambled off, pointedly swinging her hips a bit more than she normally did as she made her way to a shady spot beneath a tree across from them.

Crow rolled his eyes and shifted a little closer to Penelope, wrapping one arm around her waist in a mildly possessive manner. “She just doesn’t know when to quit,” he muttered with a faint shake of his head, hoping his words would help to ease the discomfort he had seen in her eyes. Pressing a soft kiss to her cheek, he dug in his bag with his free hand to retrieve the lunch of dark bread that he had packed for himself the day before and lifted the loaf to his mouth to take a bite.

As he ate, he took a moment to glance over at Alistair and Olivia. Amongst the group, those two seemed to be the most relaxed. The knight had her back to a tree while the thief laid in the grass with his head on her lap, staring up at her with a wide grin as she fed him bits of her lunch. They looked like they were wrapped up in their own world.

Crow’s gaze drifted over to Gavin, and he froze. The knight was eyeing him with his usual suspicion, but there was something different about the look in his eyes this time. Feeling unnerved, the thief looked away again. Had Gavin figured out that his allegiances had changed somehow? He couldn’t see any way that he could have. After all, Jaxon had only approached him a few days ago. He hadn’t even had time to do anything to sabotage the group’s efforts to find the other thief.

It’s probably nothing, he thought, trying to reassure himself as he rested his head against Penelope’s, seeking comfort in her touch. I’m just being paranoid.

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope felt a hint of relief as Crow sent Rikki away. As she had suspected before, traveling with the female thief was not going to be a pleasant time. She was a constant reminder of something the knight didn't want to think about and to make matters worse, it seemed she was bold enough to even try to sway Crow right in front of her. She flickered her gaze towards Rikki as the thief walked off to sit down. I suppose her confidence makes sense though.. The knight thought with a brief frown as she noticed the sway of the thief's hips.

Before she could spiral and compare herself to Rikki, she felt Crow shift closer to her and wrap his arm around her. Penelope blinked, snapping out of her thoughts as she looked over at him. "So I've noticed." she agreed with a soft sigh. Finding comfort in his touch, the knight relaxed against him and smiled faintly as he pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was calming to have him close after getting a bit worked up.

While he ate his lunch, she moved to rest her head against his shoulder. Now that they were alone again, the knight was determined to make the most of the rest of their break while she could. They seemed to gain back their peaceful moment now as he rested his head against hers. Unfortunately, it didn't last for quite as long as she was hoping. A few moments of silence past by then she heard shuffling come from nearby. Opening her her eyes, she spotted Gavin getting up and she let out a small sigh of disappointment.

"We should get moving again." he announced with a disapproving glance towards Olivia before looking to Penelope. "We've wasted enough time."

Penelope looked over at him and gave a reluctant nod. "Alright." she sighed before beginning to move away from Crow. She pressed a swift kiss to the thief's cheek and then slowly got up to her feet.

[Rogue Sloth]

It didn’t take long for Crow to finish his food as usual. Once he was done eating, he shifted slightly to lean more comfortably against Penelope’s side and closed his eyes peacefully. He hoped that Gavin would let them all stay in the clearing for a while longer, both because it would mean he could continue to be next to her and because it would mean they would get into Wheldrake later. The village was already just far enough away that it would take them until the night to arrive, but the later the night went on, the easier it would be for him to convince the others to wait until the morrow for their interrogation of the villagers.

He sighed, feeling the twinge of guilt that always seemed to appear whenever he worked on his plans to double cross his companions. Since their lead had actually taken them all close to Jaxon’s hideout, he needed to find a way to get a step ahead of them before the questioning began. The best way that he had come up with so far was to delay them so they would reach Wheldrake closer to the middle of the night. That way, there would be no one sober enough to take seriously during the interrogation. If he could manage that, he was sure it wouldn’t be too difficult to find a way to sneak off during the night and make his own arrangements in the village. He grimaced, loathing his own conniving nature in that moment as he was forced to use it on the people he cared about.

Unfortunately, Gavin didn’t wait as long as Crow had hoped he would to announce that they were to keep moving. He eyed the knight contemplatively, wondering if there was any way that he could force them to wait a while longer without being too obvious about it. To his disappointment, he couldn’t think of anything. The knight distrusted him too much to listen to a word he said. If he tried anything, he was certain that Gavin would be quick to shut it down and accuse him of delaying them again.

And this time he would be right, he thought dismally, barely registering Penelope’s kiss on his cheek as he moved to stand up. He would just have to think of another way to slow down their procession later on.

Once everyone was ready to go, Gavin took the lead again to guide them all to Wheldrake. Crow fell behind, not wanting to be near to the other man after he had caught the strange look in his eye earlier. If there was even a chance that Gavin might pick up on his altered allegiances, he wanted to keep as much distance between them as possible.

As he walked, the thief laced his fingers with Penelope’s, once again taking comfort in her warmth and touch. As terrible as it felt to turn traitor to the others, he had to remind himself who he was doing it for. This is all to keep her safe, he thought with some resolve.

“Hey, maybe while we’re in Wheldrake, we can find time to sell off that medicine we took,” Rikki’s unexpected voice made him jump slightly in surprise. She had trotted up to his side while he had been distracted. “You know, since you didn’t actually do it on your own,” she added with a playful nudge.

“I did sell some of it,” Crow rolled his eyes and then met her gaze with a suspicious frown. He didn’t like how much she was lingering by his side during this trip. The female thief’s presence obviously made Penelope uncomfortable, and he didn’t want her to feel that way. “Why don’t you spend some time with Alistair?” he suggested. “You haven’t really talked to him all day.”

Rikki snorted, “He wouldn’t even hear me if I tried. He’s so smitten with that other knight that I think he forgot we exist.” She glanced over her shoulder at Alistair and Olivia, who were caught up in their own conversation once again, before turning back to him with a shrug. “You’re the only other person here I don’t mind talking to.” She paused before casting a smirk at Penelope. “And you too, of course.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope began to follow Gavin as he took the lead to guide them towards Wheldrake again. She fell instep besides Crow as he took her hand. Ofcourse, the two weren't alone for very long. It didn't take much time for Rikki to pop back up at Crow's side. The knight let out a small sigh as it seemed they would be putting up with her antics for the whole trip. Something which didn't sit well with Penelope.

At the mention of Olivia, she glanced over her shoulder at her and the other thief. They nearly seemed unaware that they were even on a mission with how caught up they were in their conversation. She smiled faintly and shook her head before turning her attention back to Crow and Rikki. She was glad her friend had found someone, even if she was still denying her feelings for the thief.

Now back to the more unpleasant part of their journey, which was Rikki's insistence on sticking around Crow. Penelope couldn't help but roll her eyes as the female thief smirked at her. This time Rikki really hadn't done or said anything to particularly put her on edge but with the thief so close, the knight remained a bit on edge and uncomfortable. Having her confident enough to stick so close to Crow as well as knowing she was trying to get between them as just as concerning as it was frustrating to the knight as she was unsure how to combat her attempts. She had to act civilly even though her frustration and insecurities whispered at her to do otherwise.

"Right." Penelope nodded to Rikki. Though she managed to keep any bitterness out of her tone, a curt chuckle of disbelief did escape her. She glanced back at Olivia and Alistair. "Such a shame they're so caught up in each other. I think you'd quite like Olivia. Perhaps you should try talking with her at some point." she suggested to the female thief. She wasn't sure how true her statement was but part of her did guess that Olivia would be able to handle Rikki better than she would. Though Olivia's troublemaking didn't come from any bitter reasoning, it was possible the two could find common ground.

"Perhaps." Rikki mused with a shrug. Her gaze glanced ahead and Penelope noticed her dark eyes glint with interest before they moved to rest on her again. "By the way... Shouldn't you be leading? Crow mentioned you were a lieutenant."

Penelope blinked at the question then shrugged her shoulders. "I am but Gavin seems content leading so I see no reason to stop him." she answered.

"Huh.." Rikki crossed her arms and studied Gavin's back for a moment before looking back at Penelope. "I have to ask," she smirked as she met Penelope's gaze. "but he doesn't seem very fond of us thieves and yet he doesn't seem to bat much of an eye at you or Olivia. What's up with that? Aren't you worried he'll rat you out after this?"

Penelope held Rikki's gaze with a hint of caution. She didn't like her asking so many questions. Perhaps the female thief was just concerned about if the thieves could really trust Gavin but either way, she remained cautious in replying. "Not really. He's a friend of mine and I trust him." she stated, glancing ahead towards Gavin. "He may not approve of it, but he wouldn't stab us in the back either."

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow casted Rikki an estranged look as she struck up a conversation with Penelope. Just like before, he found it difficult to tell what exactly the other thief was trying to do, but he did know that he didn’t trust her. She had proven to be too manipulative for that. Whether she was trying to get some sort of information out of the knight or if she was simply trying to stay between them by preventing them from having any time alone, her motives couldn’t have been pure.

As Rikki began questioning Penelope about Gavin, he tensed slightly and glanced at the knight, hoping she wouldn’t mention anything about the fact that the man was her former suitor. He wanted to keep the other thief in the dark about that knowledge for as long as possible, since he didn’t know what she would do if she learned the truth. After her last attempt to separate him from Penelope, he felt quite certain that she would just find some way to use Gavin against them.

Fortunately, Penelope seemed quick to realize that it was risky information to share as well. Crow relaxed as she referred to the other knight as her friend and snuck another subtle glance at Rikki to see if she would buy it.

“A friend, huh?” Rikki mused, studying Penelope’s face in a way that set Crow on edge. Having lived with her for over a year, he had learned that she was incredibly sharp and not easily tricked. He held his breath. While Penelope hadn’t been lying in her statement that Gavin was her friend—she had made it clear, much to Crow’s annoyance, that she wanted to continue to be close to him even though they were no longer courting—it wasn’t the complete truth. He just hoped it would be enough to satisfy Rikki’s curiosity.

After a moment, the female thief’s analytical eyes drifted back to Gavin’s back. “He’s quite the handsome fellow,” she commented, turning back to the other woman with a devilish smirk. “You know… we should find some time later to get to know each other better. I’d love to hear more about your ‘friendship’ with that man.” She leaned a little closer to the knight and lowered her voice. “You absolutely must tell me how he is in bed.”

Crow faltered at that. He shot Rikki an annoyed look, “Gods, you just assume the whole kingdom is sleeping around, don’t you?” He shook his head. “Men and women can be friends without being physical with each other.” He emphasized the word in the hopes that she would realize he was including their own relationship in that statement.

Rikki looked up at him with amusement in her dark eyes. “Really?” she purred. “Because you certainly haven’t kept your hands off me, and we’re ‘just friends.’” She laughed. “I’m sorry, but I just don’t buy it. Whenever you put two attractive people in a room together, someone’s bound to make a move on the other.”

“That’s not true, and you know it,” Crow rolled his eyes and slid his arm around Penelope’s waist, casting her a fond smile. “I haven’t touched you since we got together.”

“Oh really?” Rikki grinned at him mischievously. “Are you sure you want to hold fast to that claim?”

Crow narrowed his eyes at her warily, “What are you talking about?”

She shrugged, examining her nails as if their conversation was uninteresting, “I happen to recall a certain kiss that happened between us not that long ago… and I’m fairly sure you two were already together at the time.”

Crow flushed scarlet as he suddenly remembered the incident Rikki was talking about. He had nearly forgotten about the morning when he had mistaken the thief for Penelope and met her lips in a thoughtless kiss—one that he still regretted and had hoped the knight would never find out about.

She grinned at his reaction, “Face it, Crow. It’s just human nature for men and women to be drawn together like that.” She turned to Penelope with a victorious gleam in her eyes. “Isn’t that right?”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope held Rikki's gaze as the female thief studied her. She didn't like the way she mused about Gavin being her friend. It wasn't like she had lied about it, the male knight was someone she considered a friend, but she certainly didn't want Rikki finding out about him being her former suitor. Though it seemed like she hadn't quite figured out that detail, her next assumption wasn't much better.

The knight glared at her as she mentioned her sleeping with Gavin. Penelope clenched her fist at her side, growing rather annoyed with the accusation. She was about to argue with Rikki when Crow suddenly spoke up first. Of course, he didn't buy into Rikki's words and Penelope was glad that he knew better. Gavin might had tried to come between them from time to time but he had never made any physical advances towards her and neither had she towards him.

However, Rikki didn't ease up. As she mentioned Crow not keeping his hands off her, Penelope felt a heavy unease weigh down on her and she quickly looked to Crow. If Rikki was merely trying to get her to lose her trust in the thief, lying like that would not be enough to sway the knight. As Crow wrapped his arm around her waist, she couldn't help but feel a little relieved to hear him deny it. Unfortunately the relief didn't last long though. Her gaze shifted back over to Rikki as she suddenly mentioned a kiss that had occurred between them.

The knight frowned and looked up to Crow again. This time he didn't deny it and to make it worse, his face had clearly reddened, which was enough to give her the answer that she hadn't been hoping for. Penelope felt her heart sink as she realized that Rikki was telling the truth. It seemed that though he hadn't slept with the thief, he hadn't completely denied her advances like she had previously thought. Hurt crossed over her expression and she looked over at Rikki as the female thief poked at her again.

"No, it's not. It's just a manipulative bitch that doesn't know when to stop." she suddenly spat, glaring icily at Rikki. Feeling a bit hurt and betrayed, any efforts to remain civil momentarily went out the window as this new information depleted the knight's normal patience. Luckily, Penelope managed to reign herself back in rather quickly as she realized how harshly she was talking. Now embarrassment flooded mixed with the hurt and frustration she felt.

Penelope usually didn't let people or words get to her as badly as she had let Rikki. She turned her gaze away from the two of them and removed herself from Crow's side. She fell back behind the others, needing to put some distance between Rikki and Crow so she'd be able to cool her head as well as deal with the hurt she felt. As she moved to the back, she felt the questioning gaze of Olivia, who finally seemed to be pulled out of her conversation with Alistair due to the slight commotion. Penelope gave her a dismissive wave, wishing to be left alone for now.

[Rogue Sloth]

Crow flinched at the anger in Penelope’s voice when she spat at Rikki. He wanted to sneak a glance at her face to see if she her hurt was directed at him as well, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze. Instead, he looked off to the side, unsure what to say since Rikki’s accusation hadn’t been a lie this time. He felt a harsh tangle of frustration with the thief for bringing up his stupid mistake and guilt in himself for letting the knight down. If only he had been more careful back then, Rikki wouldn’t have anything to hold over his head now.

Suddenly, his eyes widened slightly as he felt Penelope pull away from him and fall behind. He finally turned to look at her and felt a knife run through his heart as he caught sight of her pained expression. I caused that, he thought with a grimace, letting his arm fall to his side as she backed away. He wanted to go after her, but what could he even say? She had trusted him, and he had hurt her. Even if it had been an accident, kissing Rikki had been a careless thing of him to do.

At his side, Rikki looked just as pleased as ever. “Touchy,” she whistled as she watched Penelope fall behind before turning to him with a grin. “Well, it’s going to be hard to come back from that, huh?”

Crow shot her a glare, disliking how smoothly her plan was wrenching him away from the knight. “Why did you have to bring that up?” he snarled. “That was my information to share, not yours.”

“Then why didn’t you?” she shrugged apathetically. “If you hadn’t kept it secret from her, she wouldn’t be as upset as she is now.”

“I didn’t want her to know,” he growled, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. “Besides, it’s not like I did it on purpose. It was an accident. I would never break her trust like that intentionally.”

“That’s not what she thinks,” Rikki crooned with a smirk.

“And whose fault is that?” Crow narrowed his eyes at her. She just shrugged again in response and he groaned, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. “That’s it,” he said after a moment, meeting her gaze with newfound sternness. “I’m done playing your games. You’re going to stay away from her and stop trying to get between us, understand? I’m with her, and that’s not going to change, so you’re just going to have to accept that whether you like it or not.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Rikki’s amused expression faded into a frown. “Just look at her.” She tilted her head back at the knight in indication. “This all happened because you kept one little secret. Can’t you see? You’ve lied about much worse things than a simple kiss. It’s just part of who you are. Alistair and I can handle that because we’re the same way, but someone like her will never understand.” She reached out to rest a hand on his arm. “It’s never going to work out. You should be with someone who gets you, who won’t have unrealistic expectations of honesty and righteousness.”

“You mean someone like you?”

“Exactly,” Rikki’s smile returned. “It only makes sense. I would never try to change who you are, because we’re the same.”

“What if I don’t want to stay the same?” Crow said suddenly, making the other thief blink in surprise. He peeked back over his shoulder at Penelope and frowned wistfully. “I like who I am when I’m with her,” he went on quietly. “She makes me a better man. I mean, I’m still a criminal and I always will be, but from her, I’ve learned the value of loyalty and respect… I love her.” His smile returned faintly for a moment before it vanished again. “That’s why I can’t stand to hurt her like this.”

He turned back to Rikki with an icy glare, and she shrank beneath his gaze. “Stay away from me,” he said in a dangerously soft tone. “Until you stop trying to get between us, I want nothing more to do with you.” With that, he slowed his pace to leave the thief behind and fall back beside Penelope. When he reached her, he hesitated, still unsure how to approach her. He wished he could tell her that Rikki had been lying, but that in itself would have been a lie. He was going to have to be upfront with her.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured, breaking the silence. “I remember the kiss she was talking about. It wasn’t as recent as she made it seem, but… it was when we were together.” He shook his head shamefully as he admitted his betrayal to the knight. “I know you have no reason to believe this, but I just wanted to tell you that it was an accident. It happened the morning after you left from spending the night in our camp. Rikki had been sleeping next to me, and when I woke up, I mistook her for you, and, well…” he trailed off, biting his lip uncomfortably. “I swear; I never would have done it on purpose. I was half asleep and not thinking clearly.”

He finally turned to meet her gaze with guilt-ridden green eyes, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just hoped it would never come up… I shouldn’t have kept it from you.”

[BuzzingBee]

Penelope let out a long exhale as she focused her gaze on the ground. She was upset about hearing about the kiss but more so then that, she was upset that the news had come from Rikki. It had her wondering why Crow hadn't told her and if something did happen between him and Rikki in the future, it seemed to her now that there was a good chance she wouldn't find out about unless the female thief decided to rat him out to her again. Penelope frowned, wishing she didn't feel so paranoid.

As Crow fell back besides her, the knight couldn't bring herself to look over at him at first and merely listened silently as he explained what had happened. She was a little glad to hear it wasn't as recent and that it didn't happen quite the way she had thought. Penelope had assumed the kiss must have happened during the time Rikki had tried to sleep with him. She was quick to recall that morning, remembering how unsettling it felt to see the two sleeping so closely together and being unable to do anything about it since they were still trying to hide their relationship from his companions. Eventually, she lifted her head to met his guilty gaze.

"You're right, you shouldn't have." Penelope agreed with a frown. "I mean gods Crow, how would you feel if something like that happened between me and Gavin? And then I didn't tell you and the person you find out about it from is Gavin?" She shook her head and pulled her gaze away from his to look back down at the ground. "I trust that you didn't do it on purpose.. I just.. I just wished you would have told me about it then. I'm not saying I wouldn't have been upset but.. surely it would have been better than this."

The knight paused and looked over at him. "Just.. Tell me, was that the only time?" she asked him in a timid voice as she recalled Rikki's other words. She had been quick to dismiss them as lies before but suddenly, the knight couldn't bring herself to dismiss them anymore. Penelope studied his expression as she waited for his answer. If something else had occurred between him and Rikki, or any other woman for that matter, she wasn't sure if he'd tell her the truth so it made her a bit more cautious of trusting him and his answer.