Crow swallowed nervously when Gavin’s serious expression was broken with a knowing smirk. He wasn’t sure what he’d done, but he felt certain he had slipped up somehow. He studied the knight guardedly, trying to wrack his brain as he worked to figure out what had tipped him off. Unfortunately, he was too inebriated to come up with an answer. All he could tell for sure was that Gavin knew something that he wasn’t supposed to know, and it wasn’t good news for him.

His heartbeat quickened slightly as he listened to Penelope try to vouch for him, only to be shot down right away by her former suitor, who seemed convinced that he was right. The thief glanced at her from the corner of his eye. Whatever had clued Gavin in to his actions the night before didn’t seem to have alerted her. He was slightly relieved about that, since it would be much harder to convince both of them that he had stayed in the camp for the entirety of her guard shift. If he was going to get away with sabotaging the knights, he needed to keep her trust long enough to thoroughly throw them off Jaxon’s trail.

He was just starting to regain hope that he still had a chance to keep them off his scent, when Gavin added one last comment that made his blood run cold. [i]He’ll explain what to her when she’s sober?[/i] He thought, staring at the knight with thinly veiled worry. Was it possible that Gavin had actually found proof of his allegiance to Jaxon? How could that have happened? He had been so careful to make sure everything had gone according to the plan. As hard as he tried to think of a way that the knight could have caught him, he drew nothing but blanks.

[i]He’s bluffing,[/i] he bit the inside of his lip, already feeling himself starting to sweat from his nervousness. [i]He has to be bluffing. He has no proof. He’s just trying to scare me.[/i] Despite his efforts to reassure himself that he was just being paranoid, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was missing something important, something that just might incriminate him for what he had done. He groaned inwardly. [i]Why did Olivia have to switch my drink tonight? I wish I was sober right now…[/i]

Crow was so wrapped up in his spiraling thoughts that he barely noticed when Penelope leaned her head against his shoulder. He blinked, realizing suddenly that Gavin had left, and he was still staring at the ghost of where the knight had been. Coming back to himself a bit, he broke his gaze away from the spot and turned to look at her. “Right…” he frowned, holding her closer to himself and resting his head against hers as he subconsciously sought comfort in her touch. The threats of her ex suitor continued to weigh heavily on his mind as he struggled once more to understand what could have made the knight so certain that he was right.

After some time had passed, he cleared his throat. “We shoul’ ge’ some sleep,” he murmured, pulling away from her to stand up. “’S late, an’ I don’ wan’ to wake up wi’h a headache t’morrow.” Once he felt steady enough on his feet, he braced one arm securely against the tree and offered her a hand to get up as well.