Crow nodded halfheartedly when Penelope said they would catch Jaxon eventually, knowing fully well that wasn’t going to happen as long as he was working to throw them off the other thief’s trail. He wished it was as simple as she made it sound, but unfortunately, Jaxon, as always, was three steps ahead of them. At the current rate they were moving, they would never even come close to catching the murderer. Jaxon and his band of criminals would continue sabotaging the Brerratic knights for the Younisians, and the war would swing in their enemies’ favor. He just hoped the other kingdom would be merciful if they ended up conquering Brerra.

He looked up as he heard Gavin call Penelope’s name to hurry her along. The knight was watching them with a cold gaze, clearly disliking the sight of his comrade in the arms of the thief whom he believed had sabotaged their battalion. Crow sighed. He wished he could have more time with her, but he supposed he should get going soon too. With nightfall fast approaching, his next meeting with Jaxon was just around the corner. He needed to get back to his camp with his companions, so they could all go to sleep, and he could slip away again for the scheduled rendezvous.

“See you then,” Crow said with a faint smile as Penelope spoke again. He leaned in to meet her halfway as she kissed him, savoring the feeling of her lips before she pulled back again. He took a step back from her to let her return to the other knights. “I love you too,” his smile wavered slightly as the memory of Jaxon’s threats resurfaced one more time, and he added: “You be safe too. There’s no telling if or when those thieves will attack your camp again. Please remember not to go after them without me if you do see them.”

With nothing left to say between them, he gestured for his companions to join him and turned to head back to their own camp, leaving the knights behind.

--

The walk back from Myrefall was also uneventful, without a single patrol to be seen. Despite this, none of the thieves spoke much to each other along the way. Alistair questioned Crow a little about when they would be able to meet up with the knights again—it was obvious that he was only asking out of an eagerness to reunite with Olivia—but he dropped the subject when his leader made it clear that he didn’t know if or when they would all be working together again.

On the other hand, Rikki didn’t talk at all. Crow could tell that she was treading carefully around him after all of her attempts to get between him and Penelope had fallen flat. Although he wasn’t sure if she was silent out of a nervousness to speak to him or if she was just busy working on another angle to approach him from. No matter what it was, he kept his guard up around her in case she decided to try anything funny before they got back to the waterfall.

When they eventually arrived at the hideout, Crow was greeted with the scent of freshly cooked supper. He looked around the cavern to see that Hazel was sitting by the hearth, stirring a pot of what smelled like stew. The other thieves were quick to notice her as well.

“You’re up,” Alistair noted obviously, staring at the herbalist in unbridled surprise.

Hazel just glanced at them and shrugged one shoulder in response, “I got tired of laying around.”

The thieves made their way over to join her. Crow followed after a moment of hesitation, still on edge around Hazel after she had snapped at him a few days ago. He made sure to sit far away from her when they all settled down around the fire and avoided looking in her direction out of fear that his presence would just make her upset again.

Unfortunately, the herbalist noticed his standoffish attitude. She eyed him for a moment with pursed lips and then looked away to fill a bowl with stew. “Crow,” she said in a soft voice that was edged with hesitation.

He flinched slightly and forced himself to look up.

She met his gaze and held out the dish she had filled. “Here,” she went on gruffly. “Take it.”

Crow blinked in surprise. After taking a moment to recover from the unexpectedness of the gesture, he reached out to take the bowl from her hand, “Thanks.”

Hazel nodded, lowering her gaze. “I’m… sorry about what I said to you before,” she murmured. “It wasn’t right of me to blame you for what happened. I know you were close to Simon too. I shouldn’t have said those things when you were also grieving, so… no hard feelings?”

Crow stared at her for a moment before averting his gaze as well. He wished she had been wrong before, but he knew the truth. It had been his lies that got Simon killed. It was his fault. She had been right to blame him in the first place. “No hard feelings,” he said quietly, deciding it was better to just let the subject go rather than argue with the others about it.

At his words, the herbalist visibly relaxed. “Thanks,” she smiled faintly as she lifted a spoonful of her own food to her mouth.

The group spent the rest of the evening filling Hazel in on what she had missed—she was frustrated to know that there was no news about the man who had killed her husband—and discussing other options about what to do next. They strategized about how to better defend their hideout, since, as far as any of the others knew, Jaxon had never found Crow and could come back again at any time, and discussed other places to search in the outer villagers on their own while they waited to hear back from the knights. Fortunately for Crow, none of the others suggested to look anywhere near Aramoor or Wheldrake, since they had already thoroughly investigated those villages, so he didn’t have to intervene to throw them off at all.

Eventually, everyone grew tired from the long day and they headed to the sleeping area to get some rest. Seeing an opportunity, Crow offered to stay up to wash the dishes for them while they went to bed. The rest of his companions agreed without question, too tired to find his offer suspicious as they settled down for the night. So, he collected the pot and bowls that had been used and slipped out of the cavern, making his way over to the shallow part of the river to clean everything off while he waited for the time to come when he was supposed to meet up with Jaxon again.