Still blushing from a mixture of embarrassment at the situation and anger with Rikki, Crow glanced furtively at Penelope. After everything that had happened between them the day before, he was worried that she would take the kiss personally. He hoped he was wrong, and that he had built up enough of her trust for her to know that he hadn’t wanted the other thief to kiss him like that, but given his less than noble past, he wasn’t sure if she would be so quick to just let it go.

Fortunately, the knight’s frustrations seemed to be directed towards Rikki, so he relaxed slightly. However, the moment of relief was quickly shattered when the female thief spoke up again to make a rather sultry comment to Penelope. He shot her a glare. She knew fully well that the only reason he hadn’t ended the kiss sooner was because she had taken him by surprise. [i]It’s not like I even kissed her back either,[/i] he added in silent annoyance, taking another swig of his drink as he forced himself to look away from her.

In the next moment, he flinched slightly at the sound of Gavin’s sharp voice. He looked up to see that the knight was looking at both him and Rikki with disgust. It almost seemed like the man was including him in what had just happened, as if it had been his fault. He narrowed his eyes as Gavin went on to confirm his suspicion. He didn’t like how little the knight seemed to think of him. Just because he had been too slow to stop Rikki from kissing him didn’t mean he had given her his consent to do so.

Before he could open his mouth to defend himself though, the other thief spoke up first. Crow tensed, unsure of what Rikki was trying to do as she stumbled over to Gavin with a mischievous look in her eyes that set him on edge. So far, they had all done a decent job of keeping her in the dark about Gavin’s and Penelope’s past courtship, but he wasn’t sure if the knight would be as willing to keep his mouth shut about it if she pressed for more details. He held his breath, praying that the other man wouldn’t give away the truth. However, it seemed that his fears were quite far off as the thief didn’t ask him about his relationship to Penelope, but rather brought up Penelope’s past with Crow instead.

Crow’s eyes widened slightly as Rikki questioned Gavin about why Penelope had left him two years ago. He was surprised that she would even bring it up. It was something he tried not to think about, since he had convinced himself that he understood and supported her reasoning when she had explained it to him before. But now that the subject had resurfaced again, he couldn’t stop the pang of nervousness that gripped him as he thought about the other thief’s words.

Despite telling himself that he had accepted the past and moved on, he had intentionally tried to forget about how hurt he had felt when Penelope had left him before. Though he would never admit it out loud, there was a small part of him that was afraid she would do it again. He lowered his gaze to his lap. He felt sure that Penelope loved him and wanted to run away with him, but then again, he had felt just as sure two years ago when she had disappeared last time. Maybe there was some validity to the question Rikki had posed, after all.

[i]Stop it,[/i] he grimaced, averting his gaze and sipping at his drink to hide the expression. He knew he shouldn’t let Rikki get inside his head so easily. Penelope had chosen to trust him, so he should have been willing to do the same. It didn’t matter that she left him once. This time was going to be different… right?

“Well, I didn’t know Penelope then,” Gavin finally began to answer the thief’s query, his gaze drifting to the female knight as he spoke, as if he was speaking to her instead of Rikki. “But I would assume she must have straightened out her priorities and realized she had more important things to do than run off with a wanted criminal.”

Suddenly, there was a loud grating sound as Crow’s chair slid back against the wooden floor. The thief blinked, caught off guard as he realized he had stood up from the table without thinking. Noticing that all eyes were on him, he reddened and shifted his weight uncomfortably. “I’m going to get some air,” he muttered without looking up to meet anyone’s eyes. Not wanting to linger while the others’ attention was on him, he stepped away from the table and quickly made his way to the front of the tavern, eager to get away from the crowd so he could clear his head.