Crow wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep but at some point, he must have done so because he was awoken by the sound of shuffling as the guards in his tent exchanged shifts. He yawned broadly and looked up to see an unfamiliar face watching him from the other side of the room. At first, he tensed in surprise, worried that this was one of Layth’s cruel followers come to interrogate him again. However, after a moment, he recalled what Gavin had told him earlier about a new guard. This must have been the man the knight had been referring to.

He studied Philip with new interest, curious to find out why Penelope would have selected him to be one of his guards. It wasn’t hard to see the reason. The knight was young—Crow guessed he had at least four or five years over him—and he was watching him with an expression that was so similar to the way Abraxas used to look at him, it was uncanny. The thief bit his tongue to stifle a smirk. It was quite clear that this man—or more accurately: [i]boy[/i]—was not equipped to guard a thief such as himself and was therefore no threat to him in any way. He supposed Penelope had put a lot of thought into her selection of knights when she’d chosen who would guard him.

Fortunately, Philip didn’t seem very interested in talking to him either. Crow settled down a little more comfortably on the bed—it was getting harder to do the longer he laid in the same position—and closed his eyes, deciding he might as well continue getting some rest while he had the chance. The knight in his tent was friendly this time, but there was no telling if or when someone showed up with the intention to injure him further. So, with that thought in mind, he let out his breath slowly and let himself drift off into a light nap.

--

Crow didn’t sleep for very long before he was roused by the sound of footsteps outside the tent. Still drowsy, he blinked and turned his head to see who had come to visit him this time, only to find that it was the baroness from before. The sight of her instantly ridded him of his remaining weariness as he remembered that she had told him she would come back when she and her comrades were deciding his fate. He swallowed nervously as she approached his bed. What was she doing here already? He’d thought they would take much longer to come to a decision than this.

He remained tensely quiet as she greeted him, eyeing her warily. It seemed like his guess had been correct. She was here because the barons were discussing what to do with him. He shifted slightly on the mattress, feeling his heart begin to pound in his chest with nervousness. Whatever the knights chose to do with him, he knew he wasn’t going to like it, and he was nowhere near healed enough to conduct an escape yet. Knowing that his window was growing smaller, he was beginning to feel cornered.

[i]Maybe it won’t be something that bad,[/i] he thought hopefully, holding his breath as he held her gaze. [i]Maybe they decided to let me off easy after everything I did to help them.[/i]

Unfortunately, his hopes were quickly dashed when Mia spoke again: [color=fdc68a][b]“As it stands right now, we will likely choose to have your hands removed.”[/b][/color]

Her words sent a flash of panic through the thief that made his stoic expression waver. However, the reveal was brief, and he hurried to recover, not wanting to give this knight the satisfaction of seeing his fear. Internally, he wasn’t nearly as calm as he appeared. His chest felt tight with worry, and his heart was racing wildly. If the barons decided to cripple him before he could get away, there was nothing he could do to stop them. Even if they let him go afterwards, he was certain he would just end up dying at the hands of someone else later. He’d have no way to protect himself against the bounty hunters that were after his reward. He needed to be able to fight if he was to survive after this ordeal was finally over. Besides that, he couldn’t even imagine trying to function normally if they cut off his hands. Just the thought of it made him shiver.

After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat. “Isn’t that a bit harsh?” he challenged Mia, trying to keep his voice level as he spoke. “I’ve done quite a bit to help you knights. I would think my actions warrant praise, not punishment.”