As Crow watched Rikki and the others get ready to leave, he couldn’t help but wonder how much longer he would be able to keep his secrets from them. Penelope had only joined them for one night, and Hazel had already made the connection that they were more than just acquaintances. Granted, she had known a bit more than he expected because of the things Evelyn had told her, but still, it was getting harder to come up with excuses to keep the other thieves in the dark.

Rikki caught sight of him staring and offered a friendly wave goodbye as she turned to follow her companions out of the camp. He mirrored the gesture. Of all the thieves, she was going to be the most difficult to fool. She was the keenest to his lies—except perhaps for Hazel, who was proving to be a nuisance at reading his facial expressions—and the closest to him in general. Continuing to sneak around her without getting caught was going to stretch his creativity.

It wasn’t long before the thieves and herbalist left, and Crow found himself alone with Penelope. Almost as soon as they were all out of sight, he felt her plant a kiss on his cheek. He turned to her with a sly smile when she asked if he was ready to go. “Almost,” he said, returning her kiss briefly before rising to his feet. “I just need to get something first.” Without any further explanation, he stepped over to the supplies his companions had managed to bring from their camp in the short time they’d had to leave. Crouching down, he dug through a couple of bags, angling his body to block their contents from the knight’s sight.

After a bit of searching, he withdrew the object he had been looking for and stood up, hiding it behind his back as he walked over to Penelope again. “I had an idea to make this a bit more fun, but you’re going to have to trust me,” he smirked at her mischievously. Circling around to stand behind her, he rested one hand on her waist and touched his lips to her neck, kissing her softly as he pulled her close to himself. While it wasn’t the surprise he had intended to give her, he couldn’t help playing with her a bit by making her wait for it.

The thief slid his arm around her torso as he kissed her, meeting his other hand across her body and then slowly working his way up to her head with the object he had taken gripped in both hands. In the next moment, he grinned at her wryly and covered her eyes with a strip of clean bandage that he had turned into a makeshift blindfold.

He tied the cloth behind her head and laughed, “Got you.” Pressing a swift kiss to her cheek, he reached to take her hand in his, so that he could lead her by touch. “Okay, [i]now[/i] we’re ready to go.”