Crow flinched at the anger in Penelope’s voice when she spat at Rikki. He wanted to sneak a glance at her face to see if she her hurt was directed at him as well, but he couldn’t bring himself to meet her gaze. Instead, he looked off to the side, unsure what to say since Rikki’s accusation hadn’t been a lie this time. He felt a harsh tangle of frustration with the thief for bringing up his stupid mistake and guilt in himself for letting the knight down. If only he had been more careful back then, Rikki wouldn’t have anything to hold over his head now.

Suddenly, his eyes widened slightly as he felt Penelope pull away from him and fall behind. He finally turned to look at her and felt a knife run through his heart as he caught sight of her pained expression. [i]I caused that,[/i] he thought with a grimace, letting his arm fall to his side as she backed away. He wanted to go after her, but what could he even say? She had trusted him, and he had hurt her. Even if it had been an accident, kissing Rikki had been a careless thing of him to do.

At his side, Rikki looked just as pleased as ever. “Touchy,” she whistled as she watched Penelope fall behind before turning to him with a grin. “Well, it’s going to be hard to come back from that, huh?”

Crow shot her a glare, disliking how smoothly her plan was wrenching him away from the knight. “Why did you have to bring that up?” he snarled. “That was my information to share, not yours.”

“Then why didn’t you?” she shrugged apathetically. “If you hadn’t kept it secret from her, she wouldn’t be as upset as she is now.”

“I didn’t want her to know,” he growled, clenching his hands into fists at his sides. “Besides, it’s not like I did it on purpose. It was an accident. I would never break her trust like that intentionally.”

“That’s not what she thinks,” Rikki crooned with a smirk.

“And whose fault is that?” Crow narrowed his eyes at her. She just shrugged again in response and he groaned, running a hand through his hair in exasperation. “That’s it,” he said after a moment, meeting her gaze with newfound sternness. “I’m done playing your games. You’re going to stay away from her and stop trying to get between us, understand? I’m with her, and that’s not going to change, so you’re just going to have to accept that whether you like it or not.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Rikki’s amused expression faded into a frown. “Just look at her.” She tilted her head back at the knight in indication. “This all happened because you kept one little secret. Can’t you see? You’ve lied about much worse things than a simple kiss. It’s just part of who you are. Alistair and I can handle that because we’re the same way, but someone like her will never understand.” She reached out to rest a hand on his arm. “It’s never going to work out. You should be with someone who gets you, who won’t have unrealistic expectations of honesty and righteousness.”

“You mean someone like you?”

“Exactly,” Rikki’s smile returned. “It only makes sense. I would never try to change who you are, because we’re the same.”

“What if I don’t want to stay the same?” Crow said suddenly, making the other thief blink in surprise. He peeked back over his shoulder at Penelope and frowned wistfully. “I like who I am when I’m with her,” he went on quietly. “She makes me a better man. I mean, I’m still a criminal and I always will be, but from her, I’ve learned the value of loyalty and respect… I love her.” His smile returned faintly for a moment before it vanished again. “That’s why I can’t stand to hurt her like this.”

He turned back to Rikki with an icy glare, and she shrank beneath his gaze. “Stay away from me,” he said in a dangerously soft tone. “Until you stop trying to get between us, I want nothing more to do with you.” With that, he slowed his pace to leave the thief behind and fall back beside Penelope. When he reached her, he hesitated, still unsure how to approach her. He wished he could tell her that Rikki had been lying, but that in itself would have been a lie. He was going to have to be upfront with her.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured, breaking the silence. “I remember the kiss she was talking about. It wasn’t as recent as she made it seem, but… it was when we were together.” He shook his head shamefully as he admitted his betrayal to the knight. “I know you have no reason to believe this, but I just wanted to tell you that it was an accident. It happened the morning after you left from spending the night in our camp. Rikki had been sleeping next to me, and when I woke up, I mistook her for you, and, well…” he trailed off, biting his lip uncomfortably. “I swear; I never would have done it on purpose. I was half asleep and not thinking clearly.”

He finally turned to meet her gaze with guilt-ridden green eyes, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I just hoped it would never come up… I shouldn’t have kept it from you.”