Crow grinned at Penelope’s stunned expression when he revealed the piece of stolen bread. The look of surprise on a person’s face when he or she realized something had gone missing was always one of his favorite parts of thievery. He liked to think of his profession as an unwelcomed magic trick, where he would make someone’s valuables disappear. Of course, he never received an applause from his audience, but he wasn’t looking for their approval anyway. Everything he did was for himself and, occasionally, the other villagers on the outskirts of the kingdom. Whether the knight understood it or not, stealing was a way of life, and it was the only way of life he knew.

His amused expression vanished when she declined his offer. “That’s not fair,” he complained. “The guards barely fed me in prison. I need to build back some muscle for the king’s assignment. If I try to scale a wall now, a strong wind might blow me away.” He poked despondently at his bicep. It was a valid point in his mind, at least. He’d lost quite a bit of weight throughout the past year, and he wasn’t nearly as strong as he used to be. It was more likely that if he tried to scale a wall now, he would wear himself out and fall to his death.

That aside, the bigger concern was his approaching escape. In his current condition, it was going to be difficult for him to outrun his guards if they took chase. Even if he managed to improve his fitness slightly, he had a feeling he was going to have to rely on a distraction to slip away unnoticed. He glanced out the window again, taking note of the buildings outside. They probably had at least a few days left before they would reach the border, so he still had time to come up with a plan.

“How can I be of any use to anyone if you starve me before we even reach Younis?” he went on through a mouthful of bread, using the current topic to keep Penelope from noticing his thoughts had been elsewhere. Turning back to her, he narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “You’ll have to live with the guilt of knowing that you started a war all because you didn’t feed the king’s thief his rations.”