Penelope chewed on the inside of her lip nervously as Layth turned back to Crow to question him. The female knight felt her gaze dart around the room as she tried to figure out what to do before things got worse like they inevitably would. However, it was difficult to come up with any other excuse other than the barons simply wanting to keep Crow alive. That wouldn't be enough to stop her brother from interrogating the thief as he pleased. Unfortunately it didn't seem like she had much time to figure it out either as she noticed Layth raise his blade. 

Her eyes widened and it took every inch of her self-control not to dart forward and stop her brother. However, she soon noticed that her brother wavered and for just a brief second, she nearly thought that he was second guessing his decision to hurt Crow. Turns out he was but not in the way she had hoped. She watched with horror in her gaze as he suddenly brought his hand down onto Crow's wound. Hearing Crow cry out in pain fueled the knight with both panic and rage. 

Rationality and self-control went out the window as she charged towards her brother and roughly shoved him away from the thief. The knight barely cared about how her actions might appear, all she cared about was getting Layth off of Crow. She glared at her brother and forced herself in between him and Crow as she held her head up defiantly. "That's enough." she growled. 

Layth stumbled from the unexpected force and had a brief look of shock until his gaze fell on Penelope. Shock quickly turned into rage at her interference and he glared at her with more venom than she had seen him look at her with ever before. "You little—" he didn't finish his sentence as he suddenly striked her across the cheek with his hand. The hit caused her to stumbled from the unexpected force he had put into it. Penelope brought a hand up to her cheek as she felt it sting from the hit. 

"Stop getting in my way." Layth growled threateningly. "Are you trying to keep me from finding something out?"

Recovering from her initial shock, Penelope stood up a bit straighter and glare coldly at her brother. "Idiot! I'm just trying to keep you from ruining everything." she spat. "Doing crap like that with his wound will only made it worse!"

"So?" Layth snorted. "Let it! I gave him a chance to start talking."

"Thinking like that is going to kill him before the barons even have the chance to make a decision." Penelope growled. 

"He should be dead anyways!"

The female knight struggled to reign in her temper. After hearing Crow cry out like that and receiving a hit from him as well, she could barely keep herself from throwing a punch at him as he continued to speak so cruelly about Crow. "That's not for you or me to decide, Layth. And if that's how you're going to keep interrogating him, you can leave now." she said with venom in her voice. 

"You have no authority over me." Layth growled.

She held her head a little higher and narrowed her gaze at him. "No. But I'm sure the barons won't appreciate hearing about an out of line lieutenant who—is not only pushing the boundaries of killing the exact person they said not to—but also assaulting a fellow lieutenant. Stay and risk that or leave and keep whatever respect they still have for you." 

Layth hesitated at her words. He wavered for a moment before clenching his jaw out of frustration as his gaze landed on her now red cheek. "Fine!" he spat. "But as soon as they decide to kill that bastard, I'll be the one to take his life. And I suggest you figure out your loyalties by then, traitor." He turned sharply and stormed out of the tent, clearly still fuming over the whole situation. 

Penelope didn't relax until he disappeared from sight. Once her brother was gone, she let out a shaky breath and quickly hurried over to Crow's side with a worried expression. "Oh gods Crow I'm so sorry. Are you alright? He didn't bust the stitching did he?"