Crow nodded thoughtfully as Penelope explained that she wasn’t sure how her barons were going to react to the less than encouraging news. At her mention of the other patrols searching for him and his thieves, he frowned slightly, wondering how the other four had been faring without him. Fortunately, he’d had enough notice to warn them of the knights’ efforts to track them down, so as long as them didn’t pull any risky stunts, they would probably be alright. Besides, he doubted the knights would be able to find them. Their hideout behind the waterfall was well-hidden. Even he had never known about it before the others had pointed it out to him, and he’d been living in the outer villages his whole life.

When Penelope finished speaking, he paused for a moment before replying. “I hope she will,” he said after taking some time to think. “I might not have an easy time getting away from the other thieves though. I got lucky with this trip, since they believe I’m in Wheldrake, but I haven’t come up with a good excuse to leave again, especially since we usually stick together when patrols are out looking for us.” He shifted his weight slightly. “No matter what I say, it’s probably going to sound at least somewhat suspicious to them. I just hope it won’t be suspicious enough for them to start asking questions.”

Crow drew Penelope a little closer to his side. He didn’t want his companions to get involved in the mission. If he could have kept her out of it too, he would have. It was already stressful enough thinking about something happening to Penelope. He didn’t want to have to worry about the other thieves’ safety on top of that. Plus, he knew they would be reckless if they found out Jaxon had been behind the raid. At least the knights could be level-headed about the mission. Simon, Alistair, and Rikki would never be so calm against the man they all loathed so much.

He let out a sigh and murmured quietly, “No matter what happens at either of our camps, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.