Crow nodded when Penelope brought up the point that it was going to be harder to clear his name since Adam had actually stashed the stolen jewelry in his bed chamber. He was concerned about that too. Even if they marched into the throne room and demanded it had been a set-up, they had no proof to back up the claim. By any outside perspective, it looked like he really had stolen the nobles’ things. They needed more if they were going to prove someone else had done it.

He glanced at John as the older knight added the fact that he didn’t have an alibi. As Penelope’s father looked between them, Crow blinked in mild surprise. He hadn’t realized that John had found out about his getaway with the female knight. He narrowed his eyes slightly. It wasn’t like he could have foreseen that this would happen. The older man had no reason to look at them like they had done anything wrong. As her father, John had to have known about Penelope’s fear of stormy weather. He should have been grateful that the viceroy had stayed to comfort her during the thunder yesterday.

Before he had a chance to defend himself, however, the knight suddenly changed the subject by announcing that he had an idea. As determined as he was to explain his actions the day before, Crow was even more concerned about finding a way out of this sticky situation, so he kept his mouth shut as John went on to tell them his plan.

He leaned back against the footboard of his bed and crossed his arms thoughtfully. It sounded like a decent enough plan as long as they could keep the baron from finding out where the jewelry had gone. “Risky?” he smirked at John amusedly when the knight said they would need his help. “It’s just stealing in reverse. I could do that in my sleep.”

“Don’t let that head of yours get too big,” John said sternly. “The entire royal guard is going to be on alert. One mistake is all it would take for you to get caught and thrown into a holding cell.”

“So?” Crow shrugged, lifting the jewelry in his hand to look it over as if the conversation was uninteresting to him. “I’ve stolen from the nobles in this castle plenty of times before. Just show me where their bed chambers are, and I’ll return everything exactly where it belongs. No one will ever know I was there.”

“That bragging was what got you arrested the last time,” John grumbled.

“Only because I happened to run my mouth to the last king’s informant,” the viceroy objected with a confident grin. “None of you going to tell anyone about this, so there won’t be an issue, now will there?”

John held his gaze for a moment longer before letting out a sigh. “I only hope you’re able to back up all that big talk with action.”

“There’s a reason why I was the most wanted thief in Brerra,” Crow casted him a wry wink. “Just you wait. By this time tomorrow morning, it’ll be like nothing happened.” He turned to Preston next. “That just leaves you, kid. Do you think you can handle hiding these until tonight?” He held out the jewelry in his hand.

Preston hesitated for a moment before he nodded, “I can do it.”

“Great,” Crow handed off the small collection of pendants and rings to the attendant, who hid them inside his shirt. Once that was done, he faced the knights again, “Alright, let’s go. I want to see the look on that bastard’s face when you tell him you didn’t find anything in my room.”