Crow stifled a smirk as Gavin stepped over to unlock the chain cuff on his wrist. It was almost too easy to make him do what he wanted. He could tell that the knight was reluctant to let him go so quickly, but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice. No matter what their next step would be, Gavin couldn’t just leave him tied up—even though he could get out on his own without any trouble. Penelope would never stand to let her former suitor leave him behind like that. He found it entertaining to watch the knight squirm as he was forced to release the criminal he despised so much.

Once the metal fastening had been removed, Crow rubbed his wrist as if it was sore and climbed to his feet. He turned to Penelope next, listening as she explained the information they had learned. Even though he had already heard it for himself from Zenith’s daughters, he didn’t want to make it obvious that he had been spying, so he nodded when she finished speaking, folding his arms over his chest in a thoughtful gesture. At her question, he shrugged. “It [i]is[/i] hard to say,” he admitted, meeting her gaze with a frown. “Unless we could get a description of the people in the group, I can’t tell you with any certainty whether it was them or not. But I’m also reluctant to pry for that information, since we don’t want them to find out we’ve been looking for them specifically.”

“With all this vagueness, we’re never going to get anything done,” Gavin exhaled in frustration. “If we just approached this mission like any other manhunt, we’d already have the bandits in chains.”

“If you approached them your way, you would be dead,” Crow shot him a glare. “If even the slightest wind gets back to Jaxon that we’ve found his trail, he’ll turn right back around and hunt us down first. This [i]vagueness[/i] is for our own safety.”

“Or this is all a complete waste of time,” Gavin shook his head. “We should head back to our camp and report back to the barons. They’re expecting us anyway.”

“Or we could cut past Wheldrake and see where this lead takes us,” Crow suggested. “The village isn’t that far out of the way from the route back to your camp. It won’t take us more than an extra day and a half at the most, and that’s only if we stay long.”

“No,” Gavin said with an edge of irritation in his low voice. “We’ve lost enough time already taking your advice. We’re not going to follow another flimsy lead when the real thieves could be getting away.”

“A flimsy lead is better than no lead at all,” Crow pointed out.

“I don’t care,” Gavin narrowed his eyes warningly. “I’m done chasing shadows.”

“It [i]was[/i] a week and a half ago that the group was even seen…” Olivia spoke up suddenly from where she leaned in the doorframe. She gave a one-shouldered shrug when the two men turned towards her in surprise. “What?” she frowned defensively. “We’ve been at this for four days including our trip to Whitebridge. I want to take a break.”

Gavin blinked, seeming shocked that Olivia had sided with him for once, before turning back to Crow with a pleased expression. “Seems like we’re going back to camp.”