Crow followed Penelope’s gaze to where William lay sleeping by the fire pit and nodded solemnly when she said he would make their trip more difficult for a while. He wished the older knight would leave them alone. Penelope’s treatment of the thief didn’t impact him in the slightest. William just wanted to preserve the reputation of the knights as a whole, and he likely feared that his comrade’s kind treatment of their prisoner would compromise everything he had worked so hard to achieve.

Nobles were so arrogant. They cared so much about their status and public appearance that nothing else seemed to matter. Crow wrinkled his nose slightly. He may have been a criminal, but at least he didn’t have the burden of caring about what every single stranger thought of him. In fact, Penelope’s was the only opinion he truly cared about at all in the last decade of his life. It was a strange thought.

“He may be on alert now, but he’s not as great of a watchman as he thinks he is,” Crow reassured Penelope. He slipped the coin purse that he had hidden from William out of his pocket and dangled it in front of her by its drawstrings. “Trust me, we can sneak around him just fine.” He winked at her wryly.

Penelope went on to chew him out for challenging William to a duel. He shrugged nonchalantly, “I don’t remember what I was thinking, to be honest. He was threatening to put me in chains again. I guess I just figured that if I could beat him at his own game, he might respect me enough to let me be.” He laughed quietly. “In hindsight, it wasn’t the best idea. He’s too prideful to accept an honorable defeat by a thief.” He grinned proudly at her. “I bet he was also too prideful to admit that I almost won. William is a talented fighter, but he’s cocky. He let his guard down when he thought he had me, and he left an opening in his defense.” He held up on hand, resting it next to Penelope’s throat. “I had him like this before he so rudely tackled me. I could have killed him if I was trying to.”

Crow lowered his hand and leaned back, resting his palms on the ground to counterbalance his weight as he sat in front of Penelope. “I may not be as skilled as you knights, but I can handle myself just fine when I need to, love.”

When she asked if he was alright, he subconsciously touched the healing injury at his neck. “I’m alright,” he answered her with a comforting smile. “A little sore, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. Just give me a day or two to rest and I’ll be good as new.”