Crow frowned when John agreed to eat dinner with them. There were many things about this decision that he didn’t like. For one, he hated Layth as much as the knight hated him, and the thought of spending any more time with him turned his stomach; however, their father was an even bigger problem. Crow was relying on his ability to trick Penelope into trusting him in order to escape, but if he tried to get friendly with her while John was watching, he would be practically begging to get killed. As long as the family of knights stayed with them, he would have to put his plans on standby. He didn’t have time to wait. They would reach the outer villages tomorrow, so he couldn’t afford to sit around until her father left. He would just have to find a way to steal some moments alone with Penelope when John and Layth weren’t looking.

William led the way as the group began walking towards the inn. He struck up a conversation with John while Abraxas listened and occasionally interjected with a question or two, but they only spoke about uninteresting things like crime rates and food supplies in the village, so Crow tuned them out. He glanced at Layth. The knight was also listening quietly to his father’s description of the village welfare, but he occasionally looked back at Crow. He was likely still mad about how the thief had spoken to him earlier; or he didn’t trust him because he was a criminal; or perhaps both.

“I think your brother doesn’t like me,” Crow said quietly to Penelope. He gestured discreetly at Layth, “Is he always this ill-tempered towards the men in your life or am I just special?”