Crow leaned his weapon and the staff against a nearby tree and laid down in the grass, positioning himself in such a way that he wouldn’t be able to see William. With nothing else to do for the night, he closed his eyes to sleep. However, the sound of voices drew his attention before he had a chance to drift off. He opened one eye and glanced back over his shoulder to see that Penelope had approached her comrade after he had left. It sounded like she was trying to defend him to the other knight.

He smiled to himself and closed his eye again, shifting so that he laid more comfortably in the grass. Though he wasn’t sure if William would listen to Penelope or not, he appreciated her efforts to try and get it through his hard head that he wasn’t the terrible person the knight thought him to be. Hopefully, with enough time, William would come around to give him at least some respect as a person, even if the man disapproved of his lawless lifestyle.

With that thought in mind, he finally drifted off to sleep.

--

During the night, Crow heard someone whisper his name. He lifted his head and blinked against the darkness, momentarily confused as to why someone would be waking him up so early. He saw Penelope standing over him, and suddenly the memory of their conversation from the evening before came back to him. Sitting up, he lifted his arms over his head in a long stretch and yawned quietly. “Glad to see you didn’t change your mind,” he whispered back to her with a smirk.

After taking a moment to wake up a little more, he got up from the ground and reached out to locate her hand in the darkness, lacing his fingers with hers as he guided her towards the edge of the clearing. He cast a quick glance towards William’s sleeping form to double check that the knight hadn’t been disturbed by their quiet rendezvous. Fortunately, it looked like he was still out cold, so the thief turned back to Penelope with a grin, “Looks like he won’t be waking any time soon.”

He gave her hand a gentle tug, leading them both back towards the brook he had found before. However, just before they reached it, he turned on her with a devilish spark in his eye. Pushing her back against a tree, the thief pinned her there with his own weight and met her lips passionately. He ran his hands along the curves of her body, exploring her by touch until he came to a rest at the fastening of her dress.

“Say you want me,” he exhaled against her neck, toying with the strings teasingly without moving to undo them just yet. He leaned in closer to press a trail of kisses along her jawline, going on in a murmur, “I want to hear you say it.”