With Penelope’s small hand securely in his own, Crow managed to relax a little. He casted a discreet glance at Rikki, who had fallen behind a bit as she resumed watching their surroundings. She seemed to have given up on trying to get between them for now. He turned back to Penelope again as she answered his question. Fortunately, it sounded like Gavin wasn’t trying to come up with a plan behind his back. Unfortunately, that meant he had no new information to report to Jaxon. He sighed. [i]We still have the rest of the trip left,[/i] he reminded himself. [i]There’s still plenty of time to work on my other assignment when we get to Wheldrake.[/i]

As Penelope went on to say that she believed Gavin was more irritable because of Olivia and Alistair, Crow peeked back over his shoulder to look at them. Unlike himself and Penelope, the two were being quite physical with each other, casting playful touches as they walked. He could certainly understand why that would get under Gavin’s skin. However, when she added that her former suitor probably guessed that he and Alistair were trying to turn the female knights against him, the thief snorted in response. The idea that he and his companion were just trying to seduce the women for personal gain was just ridiculous to him.

“He’ll just have to learn to accept that just because we’re criminals doesn’t mean we’re always manipulating other people,” he said with a shake of his head. However, even as the words left his mouth, he already felt another pang of guilt. Even though it was the furthest thing from his intention to use Penelope for selfish reasons, he would be lying if said that her faith in him wasn’t an advantage. Even if he slipped up while he was operating for Jaxon, it would take quite a bit to convince her not to believe whatever excuse he made up to explain away his mistake. He winced at the realization that whether he liked it or not, he was probably going to be forced to use their relationship against her at some point.

Not wanting her to notice his discomfort, he cut short the silence between them by asking, “If your barons sent your patrol to Wheldrake, where did they decide to send the other ones?” He turned to meet her gaze with a concerned frown. “We had a few close calls on our trip to Aramoor last time, and there were only four of us then. Now that there are more of us, we’ll probably stand out a lot more if we’re spotted again.” He studied her green eyes searchingly, hoping she would buy the lie and give him the locations of the other knights.