Crow smiled softly at Penelope when she placed a hand on his shoulder and assured him that she believed it was all just a misunderstanding. Apparently, her trust in him ran deeply enough that she would still side with him, even though Gavin had pretty much hit the nail on the head. He snuck a glance at the other knight. Even though he had convinced Penelope that her comrade had made everything up, it was concerning to him just how close Gavin had come to the truth just based on a few hints in the right direction. The man was smarter than he gave him credit for. He would have to be more cautious about covering his trail in the future.

As Gavin went on to tell Penelope that the thief was just manipulating her, the words struck Crow like a knife in his heart. He managed not to give away his inner turmoil outwardly, but inside, the comment stung quite a bit. He still felt guilty for sleeping with her two nights ago just to get away from the camp. Even though he knew it was for the best, it didn’t change the fact that he knew he was abusing her trust and, as her ex suitor had said, manipulating her. It wasn’t a good feeling to know that he was toying with the heart of the woman he loved, even if it was to keep her safe from Jaxon.

[i]At least I shouldn’t have to do anything like that again,[/i] he thought hopefully. As long as he managed to successfully throw them off Jaxon’s trail, he could just let the lack of evidence do the work for him. He would only have to intervene if they started to get too close to finding an actual lead again, and surely that wouldn’t happen that often. Jaxon was too intelligent to leave footprints all over the forest. He would have covered as many traces of his presence as possible, leaving the knights with little, if anything, to work with in their search for him. It was part of what made him such a dangerous enemy to make.

Crow was drawn from his thoughts when he heard Penelope ask him a question. He blinked at looked down to meet her gaze. “I think you’ve got the right idea,” he sighed and shook his head, taking on a frustrated expression. “I can’t believe after two trips we still came away with next to nothing to work with. I mean, the best guess we can make is that he passed through from Aramoor, but that doesn’t tell us where he went. As long as he keeps setting up fake rabbit trails for us to follow, it’s going to be hard to pin him down.”

“This is ridiculous.” Crow looked up again to see that Gavin was glaring at him with a clenched jaw and hands balled tightly into fists. “I know you did it,” he went on in a threatening growl. “The only one creating fake trails here is you.”

“We discussed this already,” Crow rolled his eyes in exasperation. “You were wrong, so let’s just move on already so we can catch the real criminal behind the raid on your camp.”

“I think I’m looking at him,” Gavin curled his lip. “You may have weaseled your way out of trouble this time, but I know you’ll slip up again. When you do, I’ll make sure everyone knows it.” He glanced at Penelope and then averted his gaze, going on in a low voice, “Come on. Let’s head back to camp.” With that, he turned and stalked off to wait for everyone near the edge of the clearing.

Crow watched him go with a wary gaze. He didn’t like how closely the knight was observing him. Gavin was a patient man, which meant that he was going to have to watch his step a little more carefully from now on. If he made any mistakes at all, the knight would be at his throat with an accusation before he had a chance to open his mouth with an explanation. The thought of Gavin finding more irrefutable proof of his betrayal made him uneasy too. After all, he could only lie his way out of so many situations before the other man found something he couldn’t explain. He sighed softly. One thing was certain: It was going to be harder for him to keep his head down for the remainder of the mission.

Turning back to Penelope he offered her a lopsided smile, “Well, I guess we might as well finish packing up our supplies, so he doesn’t accuse me of delaying your return to your camp.”