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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

It makes sense for their characters though cx

Gavin is a good, upstanding guy, while Rikki is a manipulative, lying criminal.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Crow waited for Penelope to arrive, he couldn’t stop replaying the events of the day over in his head. He still couldn’t believe Rikki had tried to seduce him, and for such a malicious reason too. A tangle of negative emotions weighed heavily in the pit of his stomach, making him feel sick. He had never been betrayed by anyone like this before. It was painful to have been so hurt by someone he had thought was his friend. He didn’t know what he was going to do when he saw her again. In fact, he didn’t even know if he could face her.

He stopped pacing as a figure appeared from the southern side of the clearing, and his heart leapt with excitement as he recognized her to be Penelope. She had finally made it. He stepped towards her, hurrying to meet her halfway as she moved to close the distance between them. As soon as they met in the middle, he wrapped his arms tightly around her and pressed into her lips fervently as she kissed him. Her presence was comforting, and he soon began to relax into her embrace.

When she pulled back, he shook his head. “You have no idea,” he breathed, leaning in to meet her lips again. He kissed her with zealous passion, losing himself in her touch like a strong drink. Only when he needed to pull back for air did he finally part from her, panting as he caught his breath. “I love you so much, Penelope,” he murmured, holding her close and touching a few affectionate kisses to her jawline. He shuddered as he thought again about how close he had come to losing her that day, and suddenly he couldn’t wait any longer. He had to have her.

With a subtle change in his demeanor, Crow met Penelope’s lips with renewed energy. He ran his hands sensuously over her hips, leaning into her to push her back against the nearest tree. When he had her pinned with his own weight, he began to kiss her along her neck, working his way from her collar to her ear. “I want you now,” he whispered against her skin, fingering the clasp of her dress before moving to undo it.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Sorry that took so long. I had some friends over for a bit ^^

Crow figured out that Rikki isn't as innocent as she wanted him to believe

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Over the course of the following two days, Crow’s life finally returned to something of a state of normalcy. After he had told Hazel about his physical improvement and she had seen it for herself during his sparring match with Rikki, the herbalist had finally backed down from trying to make him stay close to the camp to rest. Instead, she simply focused on making his medicine and asking him about the state of his health at the end of each day.

He spent most of his free time with Rikki—and Alistair whenever the thief joined them. Now that the tension between them had fully died off, he had a hard time telling if she was still trying to win him over or not. One moment, she would act affectionate and caring in a seemingly romantic way, and the next she would offer to go on another walk with him to help him keep tricking the other thieves. Her back and forth attitude confused him, but as long as she didn’t push his boundaries, he decided he was just going to deal with it. After all, he had stopped instigating all physical interactions between them and had told her directly that he was in love with Penelope, so she couldn’t accuse him of leading her on again.

So, when the day came at last when he was going to see Penelope again, he didn’t think twice about accepting her invitation to go to the marketplace in Wheldrake to get more supplies. They left just before noon, heading south through the forest on their way to the village. A comfortable silence fell between them, which Crow spent thinking about the coming night. As the sun made its course through the sky, his excitement to see the knight grew, and he was glad that Rikki had suggested they go on this trip since it would make time go by faster.

After they had walked for a while, the female thief finally broke the silence between them. “So,” she started in a tone that made him think she had something planned to say. “I was thinking… Maybe we could turn this trip into a real getaway.” She looked up at him with a light blush on her cheeks. “I know it’s been a while for both of us. We might as well have a little fun… blow off some steam, if you know what I mean.”

Crow turned to her, surprised at the forwardness of her words. “Why would you even suggest that?” he asked. “It doesn’t matter how long it’s been. I’m still with Penelope. That hasn’t changed.”

“Come on,” she rolled her eyes. “You’re not married to the woman, and you certainly aren’t making any effort to court her. What’s the harm?” She sidled up a little closer to him. “You know just as well as I do that noblewomen are often courted by more than one suitor. Why can’t you have the same luxury?”

Crow averted his gaze, “She left her suitor for me. She’s serious about our relationship, and so am I.”

“You haven’t even seen this knight for nearly a month,” Rikki slipped her arm around his, pressing ever closer as she caught sight of a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. “You barely have a relationship. I’m sure she would understand that you can’t keep waiting around for her. You’re a man with needs, and I’m a woman who can meet them.” She leaned up to whisper in his ear, “I can be there for you until the end of the war. It’s just a bit of harmless fun.”

Crow shuddered at the feeling of her warm breath on his ear. He hated that her words were actually tempting to him, but she made some valid points. It was true that there was technically nothing to keep him loyal to one woman outside of the bonds of marriage, and it was also true that it had been a while… His eyes wandered to Rikki’s attractive body as he felt swayed by her seduction. No, he closed his eyes. I’m faithful to Penelope. I can’t ruin what we have over a stupid fling. Taking a calming breath, he pulled his arm out of her grasp.

“I’m faithful to Penelope,” he repeated out loud, speaking to the thief this time. He met her gaze sternly, “I would be upset if I found out she had slept with someone else. I’m not going to cause her that pain.”

“She doesn’t have to know,” Rikki murmured, leaning into him again. “We don’t have to tell her.”

Crow stared at her, shocked to hear such words come out of his friend’s mouth. Suddenly, everything snapped into place. The friendliness, the playful touches, the help she had been offering him; it had all been leading up to this moment. “You’ve been planning this from the start,” he said slowly as he pieced it all together. She had been gaining his trust to seduce him into sleeping with her and tarnish his relationship with Penelope. It had all been one long con.

And he had almost fallen right into it.

“I can’t believe this,” he stepped back from her, curling his lip. “I thought you were the one person here that I could trust. To do something like this… Maybe you’re not the woman I thought you were.”

Rikki crossed her arms defensively. “I was doing you a favor,” she snapped. “Penelope is a knight. Wake up, Crow. It doesn’t matter how much you think you love her; you’re just going to get hurt. I just figured it would be better for that to happen sooner rather than later.”

“Stop acting like you know her,” he narrowed his eyes. “None of you do. You’re all too blinded by your prejudice against nobles to see that she’s different from the rest.”

“Did you ever consider that maybe you’re too blinded by your infatuation to see that she’s playing you like a lute?”

“Not even for a second,” Crow took another step back from Rikki, appalled by her sudden change in attitude. No, not sudden. She’s believed all of this from the start. He suddenly felt the intense urge to get away from her. “You can finish your errands alone,” he spat, turning to walk away from her. Without waiting for her to respond, he stormed off into the surrounding trees, not caring where he was going as long as it was away from her.

--

Crow spent the rest of the day away from the camp, wanting to avoid any chance of running into Rikki again before his meeting with Penelope that night. He was still seething that she would have tried such a dirty trick on him, and he shuddered to think what would have happened if it had worked. He could have lost Penelope’s trust, or worse, lost her completely. Just the thought of it sent a knife through his heart.

When night finally fell, he made his way to the clearing in the north, more eager than ever to see her and put this whole mess behind him. He walked cautiously through the dark forest, his eyes flitting over the shadows as the more paranoid part of his mind worried that Rikki would follow him and somehow find another way to ruin his relationship with Penelope. Of course, no one was there, and he made it to the clearing without trouble.

His eyes swept over the space to find that it was empty. He was the first to arrive. Glancing into the trees around him, he began pacing agitatedly as he waited for the knight to appear, hoping she would reach him soon.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Feel free to throw in a skip if you want. I don't have any more interesting plans for the thieves until then ^^

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow stood across from Rikki in the middle of the northern clearing with one dagger clenched in each hand and his eyes fixed on her body as he watched her for sudden movement. They circled around each other slowly, each thief waiting for the other to make the first move. Off to the side, Alistair, Simon, and Hazel all stood by the tree line to watch. It had been a while since the last time Crow had been able to fight, so they all wanted to observe the match to see how he would perform.

In addition to that, he suspected they were hoping for an entertaining match. Alistair had once told him that his fights against Rikki were the most exciting to watch because of how fast-paced and wild they were. Both of them had the same fighting style of striking at their opponents in rapid succession to wear them down and using cheap tricks to knock them off their feet. Of course, he couldn’t watch himself fight, but he supposed he could understand why the others would find it interesting to observe.

Focusing on the match at hand, Crow’s eyes wandered critically over Rikki’s arms and legs as he searched for weak points in her posture. However, before he could move in to strike at one he found on her right side, she charged at him first with her short sword aimed at his wounded leg. He smirked to himself. It looked like she wasn’t going to go easy on him.

Sidestepping her attack, he brought the dagger in his left hand around to swing at her right shoulder. She ducked to dodge his strike and lunged at him with her sword raised. Their blades clashed loudly as the fight commenced. Crow gritted his teeth, focusing intently to keep track of her swift movements while also looking for opportunities to cut through her defense with his own weapons. She hadn’t been lying when she said she had improved earlier. They met each other blow for blow, neither thief able to gain an edge over the other. That is, until Crow felt Rikki slide her foot behind his ankle.

He cursed, shifting his weight to try and offset her attempt to unbalance him, but he wasn’t quite fast enough. As she pulled her foot back towards herself, he could already tell he wasn’t going to be able to stay on his feet. However, that didn’t mean he was going to let her take him down by himself. While she dragged his leg out from under him, he leaned unsteadily onto his back foot, freeing up his other leg to catch her behind the knee. She inhaled sharply as he pulled her to the ground with him.

Taking advantage of his fleeting opportunity to get the upper hand in the fight, Crow rolled over and hurried to get back up, but Rikki wouldn’t let him. Before he could get his feet underneath him, she lashed out with her sword, sending him off balance and toppling over once again when he tried to dodge. He spat in the grass, frustrated at how easily she was keeping him down. Very well, he thought, keeping her in his sight so she couldn’t catch him by surprise again. If this is how she wants it, we can play by her rules.

Just as Rikki tensed to get up, he lunged at her, bowling her over in the grass and sending her sword clattering from her hand. He was careful to keep his own daggers away from her skin, finding it more difficult not to hurt her while they were fighting like this. With a sly grin, he pinned her down with his weight and moved to aim the blade in his right hand at her throat. However, she wasn’t about to give up so easily.

While he was distracted in thinking he had won, she slipped her arm free from his grasp and struck him hard in the wrist, forcing him to drop his weapon. He grimaced and tried to restrain her again, but she was too quick. Before he could catch hold of her arm, she drove her elbow into the crook of the arm he had been using to hold himself up and forced him to fall. Now that he no longer had a secure hold on her, she slipped out from beneath him and began looking for her sword in the long grass.

Unwilling to give up, Crow scrambled to his feet and ran over to where he remembered the sword had fallen, kicking it away just before Rikki could wrap her fingers around the hilt. She muttered something foul and sprang to get up as well, coming at him with her bare hands as they continued the fight without weapons.

Close combat wasn’t a specialty of Crow’s, but since he had an advantage of strength over her, it gave him just the edge he needed to finally put an end to the match. He caught her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back, quickly following the motion by grabbing her free arm and repeating the process until he had both of her hands pinned. Then, holding both of her narrow wrists in one hand, he hooked his boot beneath the blade of the sword at his feet and carefully lifted it up to his free hand.

“Yield,” he panted, pointing the tip of the weapon at her throat.

“Fine,” Rikki said breathily. “You win.”

Crow nodded, dropping the sword and glancing off to the side as he heard Alistair whistle. “What a show,” the thief grinned at him. “Looks like you haven’t lost it after all.”

“Did you think I had?” Crow snorted, letting go of Rikki’s arms and taking a step away from her as they made their way over to join the others.

“Maybe,” Alistair shrugged. “But I definitely don’t now.”

“How do you feel?” Hazel asked, her blue eyes sweeping over him analytically.

“Honestly, I feel great,” Crow said. “No pain or fatigue or anything.”

“Good,” Hazel laced her fingers with Simon’s and turned to the blonde thief with a smile. “Just watching that made me hungry. I’m ready for supper.”

“Me too,” Simon agreed.

“All in favor of chicken for dinner, say ‘I’,” Alistair raised his hand.

“I,” Crow said in unison with everyone else. After such an intense sparring match, having a meal with meat in it sounded delicious.

He and Rikki collected their weapons from the clearing and hung back slightly as they followed the others back to the camp. “How are you doing?” he asked, glancing her over for injuries. In his intent to win the match, he had been a bit rough with her, and he hoped she hadn’t been hurt too badly.

“I’m fine aside from my wounded pride,” she smirked at him jokingly and then turned a bit more serious. “Putting my embarrassing loss aside, I’m glad you’re feeling better, Crow. It’s good to have you back.”

“Thanks,” he said. “I am too.”

Rikki hesitated for a moment, chewing on the inside of her lip, and then stepped closer to Crow and wrapped her arms tightly around his middle. He blinked in surprise as she pulled away again, “What was that for?”

“Just happy, I suppose,” she shrugged and then hastened her pace. “Come on. Let’s catch up to the others. I need to make sure Alistair isn’t talking badly about me behind my back.”

“Alright,” Crow eyed her curiously as she trotted ahead. She was a difficult woman to read. Whenever she made gestures like that, he couldn’t tell if she was still vying for his attention or if she was merely being friendly. He hoped it was the latter, but he made a mental note to keep an eye on her just in case she was still clinging to some faint hope of being with him.

Putting the thought aside for now, he hurried to catch up with the others so he could talk with them on their way back for supper.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice cx
Crow convinced Hazel to let him start getting back to a normal life again

Since this first day is super packed, we can skip to Crow and Penelope's meeting after it's over if you don't have anything you want to add before then

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow wandered aimlessly through the trees, having no destination in mind as he made his way east of the camp. All he wanted to do was get away for a while to process through everything Hazel had told him. He was still reeling from the fact that there was a chance he would never heal from his illness. Before, he had thought he would either recover completely or die trying. To find out that there was an unexpected third option wasn’t the best way to start the day.

He sighed, brushing a low-hanging tree branch aside as he walked through a particularly thick part of the woods. Of all the news Hazel could have given him, he supposed this wasn’t the worst. Even if he never got better, at least they seemed to know for sure that he wasn’t going to die from the disease. He could still have the future he wanted with Penelope; it just might not look exactly the same as what he had pictured before. He should still be grateful that he could be with her at all.

After a while, he slowed to a stop and looked up, realizing that while he had been lost in thought, he had wandered a bit farther than he had intended. He was currently standing near to the spot where he had intercepted Penelope on her way back from Myrefall the night before. He glanced in the direction of the knights’ camp. Not wanting to linger so close to them while he was alone, he turned around to make his way back to the river, his stomach growling to remind him that it was almost time for lunch.

--

When he arrived back at the thieves’ camp, he found his companions all sitting outside in the shade of the trees, eating a simple meal of dark bread and freshly picked blueberries that it looked like Rikki had found. When the female thief noticed him approach, she greeted him with a friendly grin and gestured for him to come sit by her. “Hazel told me you went out for a walk,” she said, handing him a full plate of food. “I wasn’t sure if you’d be back in time to eat with us, so I got this for you.”

“Thanks,” he nodded appreciatively as he accepted the plate. Popping a handful of blueberries into his mouth, he turned to her in surprise. “These are pretty good. Where’d you find them?”

“Near the Younisian border,” Rikki sat up proudly. “There’s a whole bunch of bushes over there that no one else seems to know about. As long as it stays that way, the harvest will last the five of us for the rest of the summer.”

“Nice job,” Crow said, swallowing another mouthful. “It’ll be helpful for us to have at least a few food sources that don’t require us to steal from the knights.”

“I think so too,” Rikki agreed. “I don’t want to give them a reason to come after us again—especially not after what happened last time.” She shuddered. “We got lucky that Penelope was so quick to warn us. I’d rather not risk it all over again.”

Crow eyed her curiously, “I’ve never heard you so hesitant to steal. You’re not getting soft on me, are you?”

“Not a chance,” she gave him a playful shove. “I just think we should be a little more careful.” Her lighthearted expression faded as she went on. “This is the longest we’ve ever gone stealing from the same group of people. I suppose I’m just a little concerned about giving them a reason to retaliate.”

Crow nodded, understanding what she meant. Before the war, they used to travel near the central kingdom to rob nobles of their excess wealth. They never hit the same manor twice, and they moved around frequently enough that the local guards could never pin them down. Now, they were consistently raiding the same knights and had planted themselves down in an immobile camp because they often harbored too many war supplies to carry in one trip. It was a much riskier method of living.

“We’ll be alright,” he offered her a reassuring smile. “Trust me. The tunnels we’re living in now are safer than the ravine ever was. Even if the knights somehow manage to find us again, it’ll be easy to keep them out of our camp.”

“I guess so,” Rikki sighed, biting into her piece of bread and chewing thoughtfully.

The two thieves passed the rest of the time eating and chatting idly. Once Crow was finished with his lunch, he set his plate aside and met her gaze challengingly. “What do you say we go work off this food with a sparring match?” Recalling how well he had been able to keep up his stamina when running last night, he hoped she would be willing to help him test his fighting abilities today.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to spar until you’re better?” Rikki prodded him teasingly.

“Well, I feel better now,” he retorted, smirking at her snidely. “What? You’re not afraid of losing to an ill man, are you?” Since their fighting styles were so similar—he still used his speed to overpower an opponent as Penelope had taught him long ago—Crow always won when he sparred against Rikki simply because he had the advantage of strength over her. He hoped that by flaunting this fact, he might get under her skin just enough that she would throw caution aside and give in to his request.

“Please,” Rikki snorted. “I nearly won against Alistair recently, and he’s the best swordsman in our group. If anything, I’m worried I’ll beat you so badly, you won’t be able to recover.”

“Sounds like an excuse to me,” Crow shrugged nonchalantly. “But it’s fine. I understand if you’d prefer to save face. I’ll just ask Alistair or Simon instead. They’re better competition anyway.”

“Gods, you’re infuriating,” Rikki groaned and shot him a glare as his words finally got to her. “Fine. If you really want to get trounced that badly, I’ll spar with you.”

“I can’t say no to that,” Crow grinned.

“I can,” Hazel spoke up from where she was sitting with Simon beneath a nearby tree. The herbalist crossed her arms over her chest. “You know you’re supposed to be resting, Crow. That means no fighting.”

The thief turned towards her, ready to argue, but then paused, his eyes flicking towards the others as a thought crossed his mind. “Can I speak with you privately?” he asked, changing his approach at the last second, as he decided he preferred not to have this conversation with her so publicly.

Hazel pursed her lips for a moment and then nodded. “Fine,” she said, rising to her feet. “I just hope you know that if this is to change my mind, you’re wasting your time.”

“Perhaps,” he said vaguely, standing up as well to walk with her. Once they were far enough away from the other thieves that they wouldn’t be overheard, he stopped and turned to face her again. “Why are you so opposed to the idea of me doing anything besides resting in the camp?” he narrowed his eyes accusingly. “This is the best I’ve felt since before I came to find you in Silverpool, yet you’re acting like I’m still on my deathbed.”

“I just don’t want to see all of this progress go to waste,” Hazel answered curtly. “If you strain yourself and get worse again, I don’t know if there’s anything more I can do to heal you.”

Crow held her gaze contemplatively for a moment before speaking up again, “This is about what happened in the last battle, isn’t it?”

“What?” the herbalist blinked, caught off guard.

“I knew it,” he sighed. “You’ve been acting different ever since that accident happened. It’s like you think I’ve suddenly turned into some fragile creature that needs protecting from the big bad world.” He shook his head. “Well, despite what you seem to think of me, I can take care of myself. I have no intention of getting worse again. I know my limits, and I won’t push myself past what I can handle.”

“How can you possibly know what your limits are?” this time it was Hazel’s turn to accuse him. She knitted her brow suspiciously. “I thought you’ve been following my orders to rest.”

Crow faltered slightly as he realized the slip of his tongue. “When I went on that walk earlier today, I tried running again, just to see if I could,” he lied, lowering his gaze to the ground as if embarrassed for having been caught. “I figured out that I can keep going until I get a pain in my chest right here.” He gestured to the spot in the left side of his ribcage where he had felt the twinge before.

“That must be where the worst blood clot is,” Hazel mused, seeming interested in this new information. She looked up to meet his gaze with a frown. “While I don’t approve of your reckless method of finding this out, I suppose it does give us a way to better track your progress.”

“Does that mean you’ll stop forcing me to rest all day?” he asked hopefully.

“As long as you continue to be careful not to push yourself too far, then yes,” she admitted reluctantly.

“Great,” he smiled. “I’ll let Raven know.”

The two walked back to rejoin the others, and Crow headed over to where Rikki was sitting. He shot her a competitive smirk, “I hope you’re ready to surrender, love, because our match is still on.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

No worries! I spent all of yesterday doing homework, since I didn't get much done over Thanksgiving ^^;
As of this morning, I'm done with 2/5 classes (just the easy ones, but still lol)
I also managed to write my post in advance again xD
It was a very productive day~

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Crow made his way back towards the thieves’ camp, he glanced back over his shoulder to make sure the knights hadn’t followed him. As far as he could tell, the forest was clear. He slowed his pace slightly to a steady jog, blinking in realization as it clicked in his head that he had just run without getting dizzy for the first time in months. His heartbeat quickened with excitement. When he had heard the sounds of the nobles coming towards him, he hadn’t even thought twice before taking off at such a speed. It had just felt natural, like it used to before he had gotten sick. He felt a shiver of elation at the thought that he was recovering so well. All that was left now was for him to get rid of his persistent cough and he would be good as new.

Enjoying the freedom of being able to run again, he picked up his pace once more, weaving effortlessly through the trees on his way to the river. He expected the trip to be easy, but after a while, he noticed his breaths were beginning to come to him a bit more labored than they normally did. Perhaps he was a little out of shape after going so long without moving at this pace? Inhaling deeply, he tried to offset the weariness in his lungs by taking in more air, but it didn’t seem to help. Instead, he felt a slight twinge of pain in the left side of his chest that convinced him that his shortness of breath was probably linked to what remained of his illness rather than his own endurance.

Not wanting to risk pushing himself past his limits, he slowed to a walk and focused on steadying his breathing until the pinprick in his chest faded away of its own accord. He smiled to himself, turning the dagger over in his hand and untying the owl feather he had attached to it earlier. All things considered, he was doing much better than he had been since the second phase of the illness had started long ago. Compared to when he used to pass out from running, dealing with a bit of pain and panting was nothing. He wondered offhandedly how well he would perform in a fight if he tried to spar with anyone now. At the rate he was improving, he wouldn’t have been surprised if he was near to his natural capabilities again.

Maybe I can convince one of the others to test me tomorrow, he thought, dropping the now untied feather behind him and sheathing his blade at his waist. The thief yawned and stretched his arms over his head as he saw the waterfall come into view up ahead. He could think of a way to get one of his companions to spar with him in the morning. After staying out much later than he normally did to see Penelope, he was exhausted and ready to get some sleep.

Moving quietly so as not to disturb the others, he slipped inside the cavern and headed over to the supplies to drop off everything he had taken with him where he had found it. Even though he knew he was well enough to travel, he didn’t want Hazel to know he had snuck out again, since she was still under the impression he couldn’t function on his own.

Once he had placed everything back where it had come from, he stepped silently over to the sleeping area and laid down on his bed, drawing his blanket over himself and closing his eyes as he drifted off to sleep.

--

The next day, Crow got up around mid-morning. Over the course of the past ten days, he seemed to be returning to a somewhat normal rhythm of rising and falling with the sun, something Hazel had attributed to his steadily improving health. He filled his stomach with a quick meal that Rikki had left at his bedside—he wasn’t waking up quite early enough to join the others for breakfast yet—and then climbed to his feet to go outside and look for his companions.

The first person he happened to find was Hazel, who was kneeling on the riverbank near the camp entrance to wash some freshly picked herbs in the water. She looked up as she saw him walking towards her. “How are you doing today?” she asked. “Any better?”

“Well,” he exhaled, sitting down heavily at her side and taking some of the plants from her basket to help her clean them. “I haven’t had any coughing today. Although, I did just wake up, so I don’t think it really counts.” He nudged her teasingly. “Give me a little longer, darling, and I’ll have a better answer for you later.”

“As long as you’re not getting worse, that’s all I care about,” Hazel muttered, ignoring his cheeky attitude.

Crow rolled his eyes and set aside the herbs he had just washed, reaching into the basket to take another handful. After a moment, he cleared his throat. “So, how did your meeting go last night?” he asked airily, feigning ignorance while trying to coax her into telling him about her conversation with Penelope. With the limited time he’d had with the knight, he never got the chance to ask her more about it, and he still wanted to know the rest of the details.

She glanced at him furtively out of the corner of her eye before answering his question with a shrug, “Same as always. The physician thinks we should just keep trying the medicine you’re currently taking. Hopefully, with time, it will start to work the way we want it to.”

Crow eyed her warily. “I see,” he said, turning away again. “I hope it does.” She’s testing me, he thought with a pang of annoyance. She’s trying to see if I react to her withholding information from me. Well, he wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction of catching him in his own lie. He took a stabilizing breath as he forced himself to keep a neutral expression. “So, if I just keep taking this stuff, I’ll get better?” he asked, twirling the stalk of an herbal flower between his fingers.

Hazel wavered for a moment, pursing her lips together before giving a curt nod, “That is the hope, yes.”

“You keep saying that,” Crow set aside the herbs in his hand and turned to her with a frown. “Hope. Why do we need to ‘hope’ that I’ll get better? Isn’t this the cure we’ve been looking for?”

“In theory,” Hazel said slowly, avoiding his gaze as she inspected the leaves of a plant. “These are the herbs you need to heal. However, there is a small chance that nothing will change.”

“What?” Crow stared at her in unbridled surprise. “You mean there’s a chance I won’t ever fully heal?”

“Technically, yes,” Hazel grimaced as she gave him the bad news. “From what I understand, if the herbs don’t thin your blood enough to remove the clots that formed in your lungs, you’ll have to live with them and keep taking this medicine to cope for the rest of your life.”

“Well, that’s just great,” the thief muttered, drawing his legs to his chest and folding his arms over his knees. “And here I thought we were finally on track to curing me of this wretched disease.”

“We still are,” Hazel narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t discount all of the work I’ve put into this medicine for you. Just because there’s a possibility that you won’t be cured doesn’t mean you should give up all hope.”

“I know,” he shook his head, keeping his green eyes fixed on the river rather than meeting her gaze. “I’m just getting tired of dealing with this illness. I want to feel like myself again.”

“I understand that,” Hazel’s voice softened slightly. “And with any luck, you will. Just be patient.” She reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder. “By the way, my meeting with those nobles wasn’t all doom and gloom. I spoke with your knight. She’s going to meet with you in the clearing north of our camp two days from now at nightfall.” She offered him a comforting smile, seeming to have given up on baiting him into revealing that he had snuck out last night.

Crow nodded, forcing a slight upward curl of his lip. Normally, he would have tried harder to convince her that the news was unexpected and exciting, but after finding out he might be chronically sick, he didn’t feel like putting in the effort. “Thanks for letting me know,” he said mutedly. “It will be good to see her again.”

Hazel studied him for a moment and withdrew her hand from his shoulder. “Look at it this way,” she said, leaning forward to wash another handful of herbs. “Not even two weeks ago, you thought you were going to die. Now the worst thing that might happen is that you have to keep taking this medicine for the rest of your life. I’d say that’s a pretty damn good outcome of contracting a fatal disease.”

Crow just grunted in response, bringing a hand up to rest his head against as he continued to stare out at the water. He knew she had a point, but it didn’t change the fact that he was disappointed with this update. After the last remedies had brought improvement to his health, he had thought for sure that meant he was going to be cured. His expectations had inflated, and it was going to take some time for him to bring them back down.

Suddenly feeling restless, he stood up and brushed off his pants. “I’m going for a walk,” he said. “I’ll be back in time for lunch.”

“Okay,” Hazel nodded, casting him a quick glance before returning to her task. “Don’t go far.”

“I don’t plan to,” he said, nodding curtly in goodbye before turning to head into the forest north of the camp. After finding out he might never recover from his illness, he needed some time to clear his head.