“Really?” Crow mused with a soft laugh when Penelope told him that Gavin hadn’t noticed the girls following them. “That’s funny. I wouldn’t have guessed Olivia would be the one to see them. She’s more observant than I thought.” Of course, he didn’t believe Alice and Letha would have done the best job at hiding from the knights—they were just children, after all—but he was surprised that Gavin hadn’t seen them before Olivia. As annoying as he was, the man struck him as at least somewhat observant of his surroundings.

[i]Then again, he’s kind of gullible,[/i] he thought with a smirk. During the course of their travels together, it had been rather easy for him to fool and manipulate the knight. Perhaps he had overestimated his alertness to some extent.

As Penelope went on to say that she hoped her former suitor would stop accusing him so much, he nodded in agreement. “Honestly, that’s the most I would ever expect out of him,” he grunted with a subtle shake of his head. “I don’t know if it’s just because he’s jealous that we’re together or because of his prejudice against criminals, but he can’t seem to accept the idea that I’m on the same side as the rest of you.” His eyes wandered to the knight, who was working on their supper with Zenith. “If he could only get it through his thick skull that not every word out of my mouth is a lie, then this mission would go much more smoothly.”

Crow sighed and closed his eyes, leaning into Penelope a little more as he relaxed. Still feeling tired from sitting around all day, he was nearly tempted to fall asleep at her side again. However, knowing that they would soon be parting ways again, he wanted to savor every remaining moment with her until they got back to the knights’ camp. So, fighting off his exhaustion, he stretched his legs and opened his eyes again to glance down at her, “What do you think your barons are going to say when you return with no real news of the thieves who raided your camp?”