Rikki wasn’t fond of Penelope initial answer to her question. She snorted softly when the knight tried to flip the question back on her. Of course she would have wanted to save Crow if she’d had to. He was everything to her. It was why she had felt like her world had been shattered when she’d believed him to be dead. However, that still didn’t answer her question. While she felt genuine love for the thief, she had a hard time believing this other woman—this [i]noble[/i]—could ever feel the same way.

As Penelope murmured about how he shouldn’t have even been at the battle, Rikki wanted to roll her eyes. [i]You’re right,[/i] she agreed silently. [i]He should have been here with me, not running after you.[/i] Whatever had happened between them that had left Crow feeling like their relationship was over obviously hadn’t been enough to stop him from throwing himself in front of a sword to save this knight. Her hand tightened around the handle of the wooden ladle in frustration. Why was it so hard to get through to him that she was the better choice? If he had just accepted that three days ago, Penelope would have died, and there would have been nothing standing between them anymore. They could have finally been together.

She looked up at the knight again as she finished by saying that she just wanted him to be ‘happy and alive.’ “Sorry, but I just don’t buy it,” she shook her head, deciding it wasn’t worth it to pretend like she believed Penelope’s sappy expression. Even if the noblewoman really did care about Crow a little bit, there was no way her feelings could match the thief’s. [i]She[/i] loved him so much, she was willing to risk their friendship to make him see that she was the better choice for him.

“If you really wanted him to be happy, you would let him go,” Rikki went on. “He may be infatuated with you now, but he’ll eventually wake up and realize that [i]settling down[/i] isn’t really what he wants.” She stirred the medicine again. “He’s a thief. It’s in his blood. [i]This[/i] is the life where he’s happiest: Living amongst others of his kind where he’s free to do whatever he pleases.” She looked up again to meet Penelope’s gaze with a challenging expression. “If you don’t believe me, just listen to him talk about his life as a fugitive sometime. You’ll hear it in his voice—he loves every bit of it. If you take that away from him, do you honestly think he’s going to be happy?”