Crow lowered his gaze to the ground, glaring angrily down at the grass. He wasn’t anything like the king. It didn’t matter what John thought; he knew that he wasn’t the same. His father was selfish and greedy, and he didn’t care who he trampled in his path as long as he continued to rise in power; while the thief was perhaps self-centered to a degree but would never go to such lengths to get what he wanted. If he had been in Albin’s shoes and gotten a peasant woman pregnant, he would have stayed to help her raise the child, not turn around and call her a harlot to ruin her reputation.

As Penelope tried to calm the situation, Crow glanced up at the two knights, hoping her words would get through to her enraged father. Unfortunately, it didn’t seem to help, and John continued to insist on separating them. The older man’s stubbornness made the thief grit his teeth in frustration. He was getting sick of all the people who thought they had a right to get between him and Penelope. It seemed like any time someone found out they were together, they would fight against them as much as they could. He wished that [i]for once[/i], they wouldn’t have to constantly defend themselves to everyone who thought they were making the wrong decision.

Crow curled his lip at John as the knight told him to keep his distance. “Sure, take her away from the one man who’s treated her the way she deserves and replace him with a noble who will just use her for his own selfish gain,” he spat. “That seems like a great way to earn your daughter’s trust.”

“Bite your tongue, thief,” John growled. “I know what’s best for her, and I’m not going to let some [i]rogue[/i] ruin her life. You will stay away from her, or I’ll kill you before you can so much as lay a finger on her.”

Crow scoffed and averted his gaze again. He could see now that there was no getting through to the knight, so he didn’t bother to give him a reply. Instead, he pushed past the other man as he made his way into the surrounding trees, eager to put some distance between them before he lost what little control he still had over his temper.

“Where are you going?” John asked sharply.

“To get my bag,” the thief answered without looking back. With the peaceful break ruined by John’s interference, he wanted to keep moving and get the rest of the trip over with. He just hoped it would go by quickly.