Crow stiffened as he eyed Layth’s sword hand, preparing himself for the painful part of the interrogation to begin. However, before the knight even had a chance to draw the blade, Penelope intervened. The thief watched as she stopped her brother and tried to convince him not to use such harsh measures. Of course, he didn’t expect her efforts to go very far, and they didn’t. Layth was clearly set on using whatever force he deemed necessary to handle their prisoner, and he wasn’t going to be persuaded otherwise.

Crow glared venomously at the knight as he belittled his sister yet again. It was a good thing he was chained to the bed, because he would have had a hard time staying still if he had a free range of motion at the moment. He clenched his jaw, fighting the urge to defend her verbally. Even though he couldn’t stand hearing her brother talk to her like that, he couldn’t say anything about it without giving away how close they were. So instead, he forced himself to simply glower at the knight’s back while it was turned to him. Perhaps when he eventually escaped from the camp, he could pay Layth an extra visit and steal something valuable from him as revenge.

When Layth turned back to him, the thief was quick to regain his composure, meeting the other man’s gaze with a look of mild irritation rather than hard anger. Of course, the knight’s first impulse was to ask him about what he had learned from Penelope. Somehow, it annoyed him more that his first question was designed to get his sister in trouble as well, and he wasn’t about to play along.

“I already told you the last time we went through this,” Crow curled his lip at him ferally. “I’m not going to tell you anything, so you might as well save your breath.”

“Answer the question,” Layth spat, drawing his sword from its scabbard. “This is your last warning.”

Crow swallowed as he eyed the blade, remembering how persistent the knight had been during the last interrogation. However, he was too strong willed to give in after just a few threats. Looking up again, he met Layth’s gaze doggedly, “Do your worst.”

“Idiotic cur,” Layth raised his sword to inflict a blow, but at the last second, he wavered as something seemed to cross his mind. In the next moment, a sinister smirk crossed his lips and instead of cutting the thief with the weapon, he brought down his free hand over the bandages around his torso, leaning his weight into the wound beneath.

Crow cried out as an intense pain spread like wildfire through his body, but his reaction only seemed to encourage the knight.

“Maybe you’ll think twice about fighting with me now,” Layth said without easing up. “Now then, tell me everything you know, thief!”