Crow relaxed when Penelope seemed to have been reassured by what he had said to her. He was glad that his efforts had paid off. When she reached to take his hand, he gladly intertwined his fingers with hers, following her lead as she began walking to catch up with the others again. Absently, he thought about how relieved he was that they had been able to resolve the dispute so quickly. Looking back on it, their fights always seemed to end peacefully as long as whoever had been feeling put off—usually Penelope, he noticed, since he was still figuring out how to behave properly in a relationship and still often offended her—addressed the issue. He was happy that they were able to communicate so well.

As she said that he always knew the right things to say, he laughed softly. “So I’ve been told,” he mused, thinking about the many other people whom had said the same thing. Whether it was good or bad, he had learned that he had a knack for reading people and fine tuning his words to get what he wanted from them. It was why Hazel had been so wary to trust him and often called him a “silver tongued snake.” He was proud of his talent, but he also felt a little guilty since he often used his ability to manipulate others. He glanced down at Penelope. This case was different though, because he had only been trying to get her to understand the nature of his feelings towards both her and Rikki.

“I’m glad it helped,” he said, giving her hand a fond squeeze.

When they caught back up with the others, Crow was quick to locate Rikki amongst the group. He spotted her lingering a small distance away from the rest, eyeing him and Penelope as if she was toying with the idea of approaching them again. However, he shot her a warning look, and she turned away again, seeming to get the message.

Feeling satisfied that the rest of their walk to Wheldrake would go more smoothly now, he let out a sigh of relief and casted a glance up at the sky. The sun was already beginning its long descent, and they were only about halfway to the village. He bit his tongue to keep from smiling. At this rate, they wouldn’t arrive until well after nightfall, which meant it would be easy to convince the knights to hold off on their interrogation until the morning. Now, if he could just figure out a way to slip away from the group during the night, he could set his plan into motion.