When the knights began bickering amongst each other, Crow’s eyes flicked curiously between them. He had known Olivia could stir up trouble sometimes, but he hadn’t expected her to pull something like this. Needless to say, it appeared to be one of her more successful attempts at driving a wedge between the group. Penelope was clearly embarrassed by the topic, and Gavin didn’t look particularly comfortable listening to Olivia talk about his former lover’s love life either.

As the knight turned back to him and began to tell a story about Penelope’s first fling, he blinked as he realized she was trying to snare him in her little web of chaos as well. He shifted slightly. He supposed he should have felt uncomfortable to hear about the times Penelope had been with other men but given his own less than wholesome history with women, he couldn’t bring himself to be upset without feeling like a hypocrite. After all, during their time apart, he hadn’t done much better.

In the first few months when he had believed her to be dead, he hadn’t slept with anyone else because he had still been mourning his loss. At the time, the thought of being with another woman had felt wrong. Penelope’s memory had still been fresh in his mind, and he hadn’t been able to detach himself emotionally from her right away, so he couldn’t even think about having a new fling. However, when he had finally moved on, all of the unmarried young women in the outer villages were fair game, and he certainly hadn’t been afraid to play the field.

“You’re awfully quiet,” Olivia frowned at him, seeming disappointed that he wasn’t giving her the reaction she had been hoping for. “Don’t you want to hear about your lover’s first fling?”

“Nor particularly,” Crow shrugged. “And I’m sure she wouldn’t want to hear about any of mine either. It’s just not something we feel the need to discuss.”

“That’s boring,” Olivia huffed. “Those are the best stories.” Her dark eyes flicked to Gavin for a moment before she turned back to Crow with a devilish grin. “Fine then. I won’t share her first fling, but only if you tell me about what you two have been up to in the late hours of the night.” She glanced back at Penelope with a sly smirk. “I’ve been trying to get her to give me the details for a while, but this stubborn little friend of mine won’t spill it.” Her eyes wandered back to the thief. “So, what’ll it be?”

Crow held her gaze, hesitant to reply. Usually, he wasn’t afraid to talk about less than decent topics like this—he and Alistair had had their share of conversations about it, so he had even heard a bit about what the thief had been doing with Olivia—but the timing of her question made him suspicious. His green eyes landed on Gavin, who was watching them with an unusual expression on his face, as if he was watching a bad accident that he couldn’t look away from.

Somehow, the sight of Penelope’s ex suitor looking at them like that made him more tempted to open up, if only to lord it over the other man that he was the one who was sleeping with her. However, he couldn’t do that. He recalled the way she had looked at him when he had prodded at the knight earlier. She had already been upset with him for stirring up trouble once, and he didn’t want to anger her again. Besides, he was sure that was Olivia’s goal anyway, and he wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of causing another fight between them.

Turning back to Olivia, he studied her for a moment as a different idea came to him. “Fine,” he smirked at her. “If it will make you drop the subject, I’ll tell you.”

“Really?” Olivia leaned in a little closer, seeming eager to finally get something out of one of them.

“Why not?” Crow shrugged. He gestured for her to come closer and then leaned across Penelope’s lap as well to whisper something in the knight’s ear.

Olivia quirked a brow in surprise and turned to her friend with an amused look, “Well, well! Who ever would’ve though our innocent Penelope would—”

“Ah, ah,” Crow tutted, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her close again to whisper something else in her ear that made the knight flush.

“You wouldn’t,” Olivia muttered under her breath, shooting him a glare.

“Try me,” he winked at her mischievously.

She held his gaze for a moment longer before letting out a reluctant sigh of defeat. “Alright, fine,” she grumbled, shifting to sit back down again. “You’re all no fun.”

Crow rolled his eyes and leaned a little closer to Penelope, pressing a quick kiss to her cheek. Now that he had “persuaded” Olivia to finally stop trying to start fights amongst them, he found the moment to be a bit more peaceful.