Crow had been expecting John to back down or at least hesitate when he’d reminded him of the king’s mission, but instead, he realized all too late that his haughty words had only served to further fan the flames of the man’s anger. As the knight raised his voice at him and moved in to swing his sword, the thief’s eyes widened in fright. He wanted to run, but the shock of seeing John come at him with a sword had frozen him in place, and he was unable to even duck out of the blade’s path. Turning his head, he squeezed his eyes shut as he prepared himself for the bite of the weapon. However, it never came.

He flinched as the sound of metal clashing with metal filled the air and looked up in surprise to find that Penelope had come to his defense. Feeling weak with relief, he finally found the strength to step backwards and put more distance between himself and the enraged father who was clearly not afraid to kill him despite his relationship to the king. Once he felt a little safer, he watched the two knights speak with a wary expression, tensed to run if John came after him again.

Of course, Penelope’s attempt to explain that she loved him fell on deaf ears. Crow didn’t expect anything less. It was why he hadn’t bothered to try and tell John that they were in love when the knight had first questioned him. The older man would never believe it, even though it was the truth.

As John grabbed Penelope by the wrist, the thief watched in dismay, wishing he could stop the knight from pulling them apart, but helpless to do anything since he didn’t have a weapon of his own. However, his worry was quickly replaced with a sharp flash of anger at John’s following words to him. “I am [i]nothing[/i] like that bastard!” he snarled, curling his hands into fists at his sides. He trembled slightly as he fought to keep from swinging at the knight, triggered strongly by the accusation. His father was the last person in the kingdom that he ever wanted to be compared with, so for John to say so now struck a very personal chord in him.

“How dare you even suggest that,” he continued venomously, unable to back down as the knight’s comment rang incessantly in his head. “We may share blood, but that’s as far as the similarities go.”

John just scoffed in response, “You have more in common with him than you think, cur.” He gave Penelope’s wrist a sharp tug. “Come. I don’t want you anywhere near that criminal.”