Crow braced himself as Gavin brought up his sword to block his dagger. The sound of clashing metal filled his ears as the blades bounced off of each other, giving the thief just the momentum he needed to sprint for the surrounding woods. Taking advantage of the knight’s momentary surprise, he turned and ran as fast as his legs could carry him, weaving between the trees to lose the other man, whose footsteps he could hear pounding on the forest floor behind him.

Fortunately, it wasn’t long before those footsteps began to fade as the distance between them grew. Crow glanced back over his shoulder as Gavin shouted one last threat at him just before he disappeared from his sight. However, even though it seemed like the knight had given up on pursuing him, he didn’t slow down quite yet. Heart hammering, the thief continued to race through the forest until he felt certain that he had left the other man far behind.

Eventually, the waterfall came into view up ahead, and that was when he finally slowed to a walk, panting lightly from the exertion of running all the way back from Myrefall. Now alone, he felt the frustration of what had happened all the more sharply. He couldn’t believe Gavin had caught him with Jaxon. It was the worst possible thing that could have happened, especially since the knight was just going to go straight to Penelope with everything he had seen. Now he was going to have to lie to her again when he would inevitably deny her ex suitor’s claims.

In a fit of anger, Crow stopped walking and swung a fist at the nearest tree, inhaling sharply as he felt the rough bark cut into his knuckle. The gesture did nothing to ease his inner turmoil. He pulled his arm back and clutched his bleeding hand in the other one, grimacing at the sting of the shallow scrape. It hurt, but he supposed it was better than taking out his frustrations on Gavin. If he had attacked the knight, he would have given him proof to bring back to Penelope of their encounter in the woods.

He let out his breath in a sigh and kept walking to the camp again, the pain of his cut somehow helping him calm down. As unfortunate as Gavin’s appearance had been, it wasn’t the end of the world yet. He felt sure that Penelope wouldn’t believe her former suitor over him, especially after the knight had already tried and failed to accuse him in the past. He would have to tread more carefully around the other man from now on, but as long as she still trusted him, he could still keep her safe.

Feeling a little better, Crow slipped quietly inside the cavern and made his way over to the sleeping area. After everything that had happened that night, he wanted nothing more than to get some sleep so he would be well rested to think through his next steps in the morning.