Crow cursed silently when Gavin didn’t back down. Of course the knight wouldn’t be deterred by an empty threat; he was far too stubborn for that. He hated the fact that among all the knights who could have caught him with Jaxon, Gavin was the one to have done so. He could have come up with a lie to fool Penelope or even Olivia, both of whom were much more trusting of him. However, the determined man standing before him now would never be so easily deterred. It would have been a waste of time to even bother trying.

He tensed, keeping his gaze fixed on Gavin’s sword as the knight took a step towards him. His following words sent a sharp pang of anger and frustration through the thief. He wanted to scream at the hard-headed man that he [i]hadn’t[/i] been the cause of his comrades’ deaths, and he [i]wasn’t[/i] using Penelope. While he normally didn’t care what noblemen thought of him, the knight’s repetitive accusations were becoming too much for him to bear. He tightened his grip on the daggers in his hands and took a calming breath to keep himself level headed. If he acted out of anger and attacked Gavin now, he would practically be admitting that he was the enemy here. For the sake of finding some sort of reasonable way out of this mess, he had to keep a handle on his temper.

However, that was much easier said than done as the knight began to question him about his dealings with Jaxon, even going so far as to accuse him of working for pay. [i]You don’t know how wrong you are,[/i] Crow gritted his teeth. He would never sink so low as to work for such a vile man for money. Everything he was doing was for Penelope—every last bit of it! But he couldn’t tell Gavin that. Not as long as there was still a chance for him to make it out of this with some secrets intact. If he didn’t admit to anything, Jaxon couldn’t accuse him of fully breaking his promise, and there was still some hope left of keeping Penelope safe.

“You don’t know what you’re getting involved with,” Crow said in a warning tone, taking a subtle step backwards as he began to discreetly look over the area for his exit points. “There’s more to this than you think.” One clear path to the southwest, and another to the north… “If you don’t want to die, just wander on back to your camp and forget you saw anything.” He finally looked back to meet the knight’s gaze with a serious expression. “Trust me. It’s better for everyone if you do.”