Crow really didn’t like how close Hartley was getting to Penelope. The boy was shameless. At one point he could have sworn Hartley was moving in to kiss her. He snorted and looked away, watching absently as a rat scurried past his feet. As annoyed as he was with Hartley, he was also frustrated with himself. It was ridiculous for him to be jealous of a kid, especially when the woman the kid was vying for wasn’t his to begin with. His statement to Hartley had been true: He and Penelope were just friends.

[i]Get it together, Crow,[/i] he chided silently. Still, the knowledge in his head didn’t stop the anger in his heart. He exhaled. Why did he have to go and fall for Penelope? Life was so much easier when he only cared about himself.

Despite himself, he listened in on the end of the others’ conversation once again. Hartley was questioning Penelope about her fighting skills, to which the knight simply replied that she had learned from her father. Crow raised a brow at her in surprise. She was getting good at lying. He smirked, [i]I must be a bad influence.[/i]

[color=fff79a][b]“I wouldn’t have had to do anything at all if someone hadn’t been stealing in the first place,”[/b][/color] Penelope said, shooting him an annoyed look.

Crow shrugged, “What can I say? I’m an opportunist.” He drew one of the coin purses from his pocket, tossing it up and down in his hand. “You’ll thank me later when we need the extra money.”

Hartley turned to him, a curious look in his eye, “I’m surprised you remembered to take that after the knights caught you.”

“If there’s one thing years of thievery has taught me,” Crow grinned. “It’s that you can never lose sight of your prize.” He slipped the small bag into his pocket again.

“I thought the ‘prize’ was staying alive,” Hartley countered.

“Maybe if you’re an amateur,” Crow rolled his eyes. “But if you have a good plan in place, that’s already a given.” He rested one hand on Penelope’s shoulder. “In that particular situation, I already knew she was coming to get me from those knights. I just had to sit back and wait for a moment to take what I came for. See?”

Hartley looked at him with newfound interest, “You sound like you actually know what you’re talking about.”

“Of course I do,” Crow let his hand drop from Penelope’s shoulder, and he cast the boy an indignant glare. “I’ve been doing this almost as long as you’ve been alive, kid.”

“Alright then,” a mischievous look came over Hartley’s face. “If you’re so good at this, you won’t mind if I challenge you to a game, would you? When we get back to the market, let’s have a race. First one to steal five coin purses from the merchants wins.” He grinned cockily at Crow. “Let’s see what’s better: your plans, or my skill.”

Crow opened his mouth to reply, but one look at Penelope made him think better of it. He could already hear the scolding he would get if he accepted Hartley’s challenge. Instead, he just scoffed and kept walking, “Not interested.”

“Coward,” Hartley taunted.

“Hardly,” Crow narrowed his eyes at him. “I’m busy, kid. I can’t waste time playing games with you.” He turned and kept going, hiding the smile that threatened to take over his mouth. He was proud of himself for proving that he was more mature than Hartley. He wondered what Penelope thought… [i]Stop it,[/i] he rebuked himself. [i]You’re competing with a[/i] kid[i], Crow! Don’t be so stupid.[/i] Still, he couldn’t help the upward curl of his lip as he walked ahead of the other two.