For the rest of the evening, Crow avoided facing Otto by drinking with Naida and Rayner at the Black Dagger. Knowing that he was going to be sneaking out of the inn to visit his old companions later that night, he limited himself to one honey mead, though his sister managed to convince the uptight lieutenant to indulge in a second mug with her. For the most part, the baron’s son kept to himself, so conversation with limited to the two siblings. Evelyn dropped by every now and then when she wasn’t busy taking care of other patrons, but the rest of the villagers in the tavern kept their distance. It was hard to tell if they were unnerved by the sight of nobles in their territory or if they didn’t know how to approach the former thief now that it was apparent that something major had changed in his life. Either way, no one besides the tavern keeper dared to approach him while he was there.

After a while, their fun was put to an end when Otto sent Percival to retrieve them. The knight seemed uncomfortable being given the role of chaperone, but he followed through with his orders, reminding them that they needed to return to the inn to eat dinner before food was no longer served. The threat of missing a meal was enough motivation to convince Crow to get moving, so he said his goodbyes to Evelyn and dragged his drunk sister with him to the other building alongside Rayner and Percy, where they met up with Otto and Preston for supper. Naturally, the baron took the first opportunity to reprimand them for loitering at the tavern for over an hour—and for letting the princess have too much to drink—but the viceroy brushed him off as soon as their food arrived, distracted immediately by the delicious-smelling meat and vegetables on his plate.

After the meal was over, they continued on their way to their room which, thankfully, was the proper size for once. It seemed like the travelers going to and from the warfront had no need to visit a village that was closer to the border than most of the battalions were. It was good news for him, because it would be easier for him to slip out of the room unnoticed if he wasn’t sharing a bed with another man. Percival seemed like a heavy sleeper, but he couldn’t be certain that the knight wouldn’t wake up if he got up in the middle of the night to leave. Even the stealthiest of thieves couldn’t prevent the creaking of an aged bed or the shift of a mattress when his weight was removed from it. Since this room had six beds—Otto had even paid for a sleeping space for Preston, likely because he foresaw that the viceroy would protest if he hadn’t—he could just snag a spot close to the door, so he could get away without disturbing anyone else.

With a plan in mind, he followed the group into the room as they filed through the narrow doorway one by one. As soon as he was inside, he turned toward the closest beds to the exit, only to pause when he saw that Otto and Rayner had already claimed them. The space was arranged with three beds against the left and right walls, so it would have been easier for them to make their way towards the back of the room and fill in that way. He narrowed his eyes slightly, certain they’d chosen those spots intentionally. Ever since Penelope had left, it seemed like the baron was determined to make sure he couldn’t run away. The watchful behavior reminded him of the way William had acted when he’d traveled to Younis the first time. Only now, it was even more vexing since he was no longer a criminal being transported by guards.

“Is there a problem, Lockton?” Otto asked, taking notice of his lingering stare. The baron was observing him with an unreadable expression, as if he was keeping an eye on a ward whom he didn’t trust to behave.

Crow scoffed and kept walking to one of the beds in the center of the room that had yet to be claimed. “You know exactly what you’re doing,” he said simply as he began removing his outer layer of clothes. There was no way for him to object to the baron’s sleeping arrangements without coming across as suspicious, so he didn’t bother. Laying down near the door would have given him easy access to the hallway, but he was skilled enough to slip out even if he had to walk a couple extra meters. His plans were still in motion, so he limited himself to making it clear that he was aware of the tricks Otto had been pulling recently to keep him in line.

“I don’t know what you mean,” the baron said, obviously playing dumb.

[i]Of course he isn’t going to admit he’s treating me like I’m still a thief,[/i] Crow rolled his eyes. “Yes, you do,” he argued stubbornly, tossing his cloak over the footboard of his bed without meeting the older man’s gaze. He didn’t have to see the baron to know that he was probably pretending to be clueless about his own actions. He was also sure that his moody behavior was attracting the attention of the others, and he didn’t want to cause a scene the same night he was actually trying to sneak away from the group. “I’m not going to discuss it with you,” he warned Otto causally. “Just understand that I know what you’re doing, and I don’t appreciate it. That’s all.”

“You don’t appreciate being protected?” Otto crossed his arms, apparently unwilling to drop the subject. “I don’t know why it matters to you, but Rayner and I are sleeping by the door so that we’ll be in the middle if we’re discovered and attacked.”

“Discovered by who?” Crow asked, finally looking up after he’d removed his boots. Well aware that the others didn’t know about the mercenary he’d seen in Bellmare, so he was genuinely curious who Otto was afraid of being attacked by. “The Younisians don’t know we’re coming, so we won’t have to worry about being received poorly until we run into one of their battalions.”

Surprisingly, Otto faltered at the question. His eyes flicked to the other knights, who were also looking at him expectantly, before he cleared his throat. “Criminals, of course,” he stated firmly. “It’s common knowledge that these villages are riddled with them. It’s likely that we could be targeted while we’re staying here because we stand out, so I would feel more comfortable knowing you’re in the center of the room, where it’s safer.”

[i]Bullshit,[/i] Crow shook his head, not buying the excuse for one second. The fact that the baron had wavered meant that he’d been scrambling to think of a believable lie. He was certain that Otto was trying to keep him from running away, even though he had no intention of abandoning his assignment. All he was going to do was see his companions for a little while and come back. There was no harm. “Whatever helps you sleep at night,” he drawled in unbridled disbelief, swinging his legs onto his bed and pulling the blanket over himself. There was no reason to keep fighting about it. The sooner everyone fell asleep, the sooner he could leave to visit the other thieves. For now, the smartest move was for him to let it go, so the rest of the group would wind down to sleep.

Hoping they would soon, he closed his eyes in wait for his chance to get away.

--

Crow wasn’t sure how much time passed, but it wasn’t too long after the lights went out that the sound of gentle snoring permeated the room. He shifted carefully on his mattress, opening his eyes to make sure that the knights were all unconscious. Naida was tossing and turning on her bed at the back of the room, but her breathing was heavy enough that he could tell she was dreaming. Preston and Percival both laid still, while Rayner and Otto seemed to be the sources of the snores. He smiled to himself as he silently crawled out of his own bed and bent down to put on his boots, working quickly to lace them up and then slipping on his cloak.

Once he was ready to go, he threw the hood over his head and crept toward the door with featherlight footsteps. He was just about to reach for the handle when he heard a voice hiss: “Collin.”

Bristling at the unexpected whisper, the former thief whirled around and groaned inwardly when he saw the dim glint of open eyes in the darkness. “Go back to sleep,” he murmured under his breath to Percival, who must not have been asleep like the others were. In retrospect, he supposed he should have known to wait until he heard the burly knight snoring like the other men. He hadn’t been a quiet sleeper the last few nights they’d been on the road.

“Where are you going?” Percy asked softly, disregarding the advice by sitting up on his bed. The mattress groaned beneath his shifting weight, and Crow grimaced, glancing furtively at Otto’s still face in the hopes that the sound wouldn’t rouse him.

“It doesn’t matter,” he hissed, his heartbeat quickening slightly with urgency. “Stop moving before you wake anyone else up… I’ll be back later.”

“You’re not going to see Penelope, are you?” Percival asked, taking a shot in the dark.

“What?” Crow frowned. “No, she went back to her battalion. I won’t be seeing her again until we get back from Younis.”

“Then where are you going?” the knight asked again.

The viceroy tipped his head back slightly in exasperation. “I just have something I need to do while I’m here,” he answered vaguely. “I’ll probably be gone for most of the night. Don’t wait up.”

Percy studied him for a moment longer before he stood up as quietly as he could manage. “You shouldn’t go alone,” he said decidedly, putting on his boots.

“Gods, don’t follow me,” Crow groaned again.

“If something happens to you, it will ruin the whole mission,” the knight argued with a shake of his head. “You either let me accompany you as your guard, or you’ll have to stay here.”

“When did you get so bossy?” the former thief muttered, irritated that the other man had managed to back him into a corner. He could tell that if he didn’t agree to Percival’s terms, the knight would wake up Otto, and any chance he had of seeing his companions would disappear. The stakes were too high.

“When the king told me it was my job to keep you safe,” Percy replied, pulling his long hair out of his face into a low ponytail with a piece of twine. He slipped his cloak on and stepped over to the door. “Besides that… I wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh?” Crow blinked, mildly surprised that the taciturn man had an ulterior motive.

Percival nodded. He glanced at Otto’s sleeping form before taking the doorknob in his hand and pulling it open with a gesture for the viceroy to pass through first. Once they had both stepped into the corridor and put some distance between themselves and the others, he finally spoke again. “Do you think Baron Theroulde has been acting strangely?” he asked, meeting Crow’s gaze with a concerned expression.

The former thief raised his brows, caught off guard by the inquiry. He and Percy had been getting along decently for a while, but he hadn’t thought that a born and bred nobleman would ever care about his opinion on something like this—especially when the question he’d just asked could have gotten him into trouble. He was almost flattered that the knight wanted his input at all. “It’s because he doesn’t trust me,” he replied with a shrug. “I’ve been a criminal my whole life until about a month ago. Like a lot of the other people in the inner kingdom, he can’t look past the fact that I used to have a bounty on my head. That’s why he’d been so strict, I’m sure.”

“I don’t think so,” Percy said slowly, further surprising the viceroy with his disagreement.

“What do you mean?” Crow pressed.

“Well,” the knight rested a hand on the hilt of his sword. “It’s just the way he behaves sometimes. I may be off my mark, but there’s just something… [i]jumpy[/i] about him. I didn’t notice it until the night you had your… erm, your dream. It was almost like we’d caught him red-handed when he came back into the room. I’ve been paying closer attention to him since then, and every once in a while, he says things that don’t sound right.”

Crow chewed on his lip thoughtfully as the other man spoke. Truth be told, he hadn’t noticed any of the “things” the knight was talking about. He’d always considered himself to be observant, but he wondered if Percival was right, and there was something about the baron that he was missing. “What do you think he’s hiding?” he asked, curious to hear the guard’s opinion.

“I don’t know… maybe nothing,” Percival exhaled deeply, seeming conflicted. “I don’t want to believe he’s hiding anything. He had an impeccable reputation at the castle, and I felt honored to work alongside him when I was told he would be joining us. Now that I know you haven’t noticed anything unusual about him, I think I may be seeing things that aren’t there too.”

“But that’s not necessarily true,” Crow objected. “I’ve been trying to avoid him more often than not, so I wasn’t watching him as closely as you have been. Now that I know you think there’s something fishy about him, I’ll start paying closer attention as well.”

Percival nodded, “I just wanted to make sure someone else was aware of it. If he truly is hiding something, it’s better for us to be alert.”

“It is,” the viceroy agreed. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Of course,” the knight said politely.

With the conversation out of the way, they hastened their pace as they walked toward the forest. Crow was still perplexed about the mystery of what the baron was potentially keeping from them, but as they drew closer to the meeting point, his concerns were outweighed by his excitement to see his old companions again after they had been apart for an entire month. He couldn’t wait to see them and find out what they had been doing since they’d last crossed paths.