Crow shrugged when Penelope explained to him that Gavin wasn’t always as high strung as he was being on their trip. Her words did little to sway his opinion of the knight. Her former suitor may have been more tolerable to be around in the past, but that was when he had everything he’d wanted. Now, the woman he had been expecting to marry had been stolen away by a rogue thief, and his true colors—at least, in Crow’s opinion—were beginning to show through. The thief had a hard time believing that Gavin was really as selfless and understanding as she thought him to be. He seemed to care more about his own life and status than anything else, which made him the same as every other knight in Crow’s eyes.

Of course, he said nothing more about it, since he didn’t want Penelope to think that he was still trying feed the feud between himself and her ex suitor. If she thought Gavin wasn’t as bad as he did, it wasn’t his job to change her mind about it anyway. She had already made it perfectly clear that she had chosen to be with him over the knight. Even though Gavin’s constant attempts to win her back were irritating to him, he knew he couldn’t just tell her to stay away from the man. He didn’t want to let his jealousy influence their relationship. Dictating who she could or couldn’t spend time with would be the quickest way to do that.

He glanced down at Penelope and squeezed her hand fondly as they walked. Regardless of his feelings towards Gavin, he knew he could trust her not to give in to the knight’s relentless badgering. However, the thought made him feel a slight twinge of guilt as his mind wandered back to his near slip up with Rikki not long ago, and he averted his gaze again. Even though he hadn’t done anything to betray her trust, he was still ashamed of himself for even considering the female thief’s offer. Penelope had been unwaveringly faithful to him in spite of Gavin’s attempts to get between them. She deserved the same respect, and he had let her down.

Crow shifted a little closer to her. Part of him was tempted to apologize to her again, while another part of him was hesitant to bring the subject up. If she had already moved on, there was no reason to remind her about it. It was probably better to bury the incident in the past and move forward. After all, he had already decided that he wasn’t going to let Rikki tempt him again. He refused to betray Penelope’s trust after she had been so loyal to him. She deserved better than that.

After a little while longer, the sun dipped below the horizon and Gavin called them to a stop in another small clearing, far from any villages. Crow dropped his bag on the ground and let out a groan, raising his arms over his head in a long stretch. As he’d expected, his back ached after sleeping poorly and then spending the whole day walking. He hoped he would get better rest tonight.

Looking over the campsite, he saw that Gavin was working on setting up a fire pit, and Olivia was laying out her bedroll to lay down until supper. He guessed that the walk had taken a bigger toll on her than anyone else since she had woken up with a hangover that morning. Turning to Penelope, the thief threw an arm around her shoulders and grinned coyly, “Want me to help you set up your bed, or would you prefer to just share mine?”