Rikki cringed when Penelope said she’d never heard Crow speak about their future together. She hated how the knight’s words actually managed to strike a chord with her this time. It was true that she hadn’t heard him talk about the details of the life he was planning with the noblewoman, but she [i]had[/i] heard him tell her about his feelings for the knight as well as his intentions to leave the other thieves to be with her. As much as she didn’t want to admit it, there had been a tenderness to his voice and eyes that she had never seen in him before. Usually, he was guarded with his body language, even around her and his other companions, and she considered them all close enough to be family. To see him wear such a gentle expression had been strange.

The thought made her feel a twinge of jealousy. She wanted Crow to be thinking of [i]her[/i] when he looked like that, not some noblewoman who didn’t deserve him. It pained her as she questioned why, even after a year of living together, he had never once looked at her so softly, while he had only been with Penelope for two or three months at the most and looked at her like that every time she’d seen them together. She bit her lip, feeling her chin quiver slightly with emotion. It wasn’t fair. She had done everything she could to win his affection, and all the knight had had to do was walk back into his life.

“I just don’t understand,” she said quietly after Penelope finished speaking, lowering her gaze dejectedly to the ground. “Why [i]doesn’t[/i] he leave you? I’ve been his closest friend for over a year. He’s told me things about himself that no one else knows, and I’ve kept every secret without fail. [i]I[/i] was there for him in every way he could have wanted, and yet he’s still with [i]you[/i].” She shook her head, running her slender fingers through her long, dark hair. “What am I doing wrong? What do you have that I don’t?”