As Penelope agreed to go with him to get the bag he had left behind, Crow grinned. He was eager to have some time alone with her, even if it was only going to be for a short while. As they turned to walk down the road that led into Myrefall, he glanced back over his shoulder to see Gavin watching them with a concerned expression. He rolled his eyes. The knight looked like he thought the thief was going to kill her. Unable to help himself, he smirked back at him and subtly casted a rude gesture with his free hand, earning a snort from Olivia, who had caught it as well.

Feeling satisfied, he fell in step beside Penelope and lapsed into a comfortable silence as he enjoyed finally being alone with her. As long as Gavin and Olivia were traveling with them, he doubted they would have many more opportunities to get away like this for the next few days. He wanted to make the most of it while he still could.

As Penelope spoke up, he nodded in agreement. “Yeah,” he murmured, pressing a quick kiss to her head. “It’s kind of like a small taste of the future… except your former suitor and nosy friend are there.” He shook his head, wrinkling his nose slightly in distaste. “I can’t wait for the real thing, when we won’t be bothered anymore.”

At her following words, he looked at her thoughtfully. He could tell that she was still feeling guilty about how she had confronted him the night before. It had been a bit impulsive of her to assume that he was the one who had done so much damage to her camp, but he could understand why she had jumped to such a conclusion. After all, he and his companions had built up quite a reputation in the outer villages, and they had stolen from the knights many times before. Besides that, there was no way she could have possibly known about Jaxon and his band of thieves. Until this point, as far as he knew, they had been operating out of the inner kingdom. If they had come to this part of Brerra, it had only been a recent change.

“Don’t worry about it,” Crow shook his head, meeting her gaze with a fond smile. “It was just an unfortunate coincidence that these thieves attacked on the same night I raided your camp. You couldn’t have known it was them—you didn’t even know they existed.” He let go of her hand to wrap one arm around her shoulders in a comforting embrace. “I’m not upset. It’s in the past now anyway, so let’s just focus on here and now, alright?”