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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Penelope continued to shoot down his alternate ideas, Crow felt his heart sink. He could see now that there would be no convincing her to stay out of this. Whether he liked it or not, she was going to try to track down the thieves whom had raided her camp and killed her comrades. He let out his breath in reluctant defeat as she went on to suggest that they work together. He wanted to be excited about the prospect of working side by side with her again, but knowing who they were up against, he just felt hollow instead.

He was just about to open his mouth to respond to her question, but Gavin spoke up first, taking the opportunity to prod at him one more time. The thief glared at him coldly, tempted to give him a sharp reply, but instead, he held his tongue. Now that the tension between them had died down, he didn’t want to say anything that would cause the knight to reach for his sword again. He wasn’t afraid to fight him, but he still wanted to avoid the confrontation if he could.

Moving subtly, he sheathed his daggers beneath his cloak and turned back to Penelope. “Fine,” his gaze softened slightly. “If you’re so set on going after them, then I’m going to come with you.” He hesitated for a moment, concern lacing his expression. “However, if we do this, there’s something you need to know…” He trailed off, looking back up at Gavin and narrowing his eyes. “Though I’d rather not say it in front of him.”

“That’s just too bad,” Gavin crossed his arms. “Because I’m not leaving her alone.”

“Stubborn fool,” Crow curled his lip. “I’m sure you’re enjoying believing that I’m the enemy, but you’re wrong.”

“If I’m so wrong, then I’m sure you have nothing to hide,” Gavin retorted dryly.

Crow glared at him for a moment before exhaling in exasperation. “Fine,” he spat, turning to Penelope once more. He wavered slightly, since what he was about to admit wasn’t something he was proud of. After a moment, he took a steeling breath and went on to speak, “I can’t tell you how I know this—” He shot one more irritable look at Gavin. “But I think I know who raided your camp.” He shifted his weight uncomfortably. “They’re a band of thieves from the inner kingdom led by a man named Jaxon, and they’re some of the most vile people I’ve ever met. They’re greedy and cruel, and they’ll kill anyone who they believe poses a threat to them… no matter who they are.” He grimaced as the memory of Jaxon’s sword running through a young noble boy’s chest flashed through his mind.

“If I’m right about this, and his group is the one that stole your supplies, then hunting them down is going to be extremely dangerous,” Crow reached out to take Penelope’s hand in his, holding her gaze seriously. “These people aren’t your average thieves, love. They kill for sport, and if they figure out you’re going after them, they will not hesitate to end your life. I need you to promise me that you will never go after them alone—in fact, don’t even try to track them down unless I’m at your side.” He searched her eyes, wearing an expression of worry as he tried to read if she would listen to his request. “Can you promise me that?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

He's still being stubborn about it though xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow wavered again as Penelope didn’t take his suggestion to move on from the incident. He had been hoping she would accept the fact that they couldn’t change the past and that it was unlikely their supplies would ever be found and returned. After all, he hadn’t been lying to the two knights. It was entirely possible that the group who had stolen the nobles’ supplies were on their way to make a profit as they spoke. Even if they started looking now, they probably wouldn’t catch up in time to get everything back.

As Gavin tried to push the blame onto him yet again, Crow narrowed his eyes annoyedly. Either this man was completely dense, or he was hellbent on making Penelope believe the thief had betrayed her. Either way, Crow didn’t like how aggressive he was being. He tightened his grip on his daggers, ready to move if the knight chose to make things physical.

Fortunately, it didn’t come to that. He glanced at Penelope again as she snapped at her former suitor, putting him firmly in his place. It was amusing to see him roll over to her, since she was practically half Gavin’s size, but he was glad that her attempt to make the man stop accusing him seemed to work. He shot the knight a smug look, feeling pleased that Penelope had sided with him.

As she turned back to explain to him why she couldn’t give up on hunting down the thieves, Crow shifted uneasily. He really didn’t want her to get involved with these people. If he told her more about them and something happened to her because of it, he would never forgive himself. He couldn’t let her do it.

“How about this,” he said tentatively. “You go back to your camp and help the other knights clean up after what happened, and I’ll look for your missing supplies.” He groaned inwardly, already regretting the offer he was about to make. “I know how to track down thieves better than any of you nobles, as is evident by the fact that none of your patrols have managed to find us again.” His green eyes flicked towards Gavin again briefly before returning to Penelope’s face.

“You have to admit that it’s unlikely any of your comrades will find whoever took your things, but I at least have a chance,” he murmured, averting his gaze. “Just forget about hunting them down and leave that part to me.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow figured it out, but he doesn't want to get Penelope involved

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow didn’t like how intent Gavin was on staying with them. He took another step backwards, tempted to just forget about his meeting with Penelope this time and head back to his camp. However, he couldn’t do that. For one thing, he was just as curious as she was about who had so viciously attacked the nobles’ camp. He cared little about the knights who had been killed and the supplies that had been taken, but if the mysterious thieves came back, Penelope could end up hurt or dead. He couldn’t stand to think of it.

For another thing, he couldn’t simply turn around and walk back to the tunnels because Gavin could easily follow him there. He trusted Penelope to keep their camp a secret from the knights, but he knew almost nothing about this man. If Gavin was more loyal to his superiors than he was to Penelope, then he could easily give away the thieves’ location to the barons, and they would have to defend themselves much sooner than anticipated. He couldn’t be the one to instigate that.

So, trapped in the clearing by the knight’s stubbornness, Crow listened tensely as the two went on to argue about the situation. He narrowed his eyes as Gavin said a second raid happening on the same night was ‘too convenient.’ As unlikely as it seemed, the thief knew that had to be what had happened. None of his companions could have pulled off something this ruthless. They had only stayed long enough to take what they needed, and then they had all gone out to the tavern in Myrefall to drink afterwards. There hadn’t been time for anything else in between. Besides that, the four of them weren’t even capable of carrying so many supplies out of the knights’ camp without taking many trips. It had to have been done by a much larger group.

He turned towards Penelope as she repeated the same thought that he’d had about the Younisians. The enemy knights simply didn’t have the skills to pull off such an elaborate raid. It had to be someone with more skill—

Suddenly, Crow’s eyes widened as the pieces began to fall into place in his mind. Skilled thieves, large numbers, murderous intent… But it couldn’t have been them, could it? He swallowed nervously as the possibility made itself more realistic. It had been over a year since he had last seen them, and they hadn’t even been close to the outer villages, but it wasn’t impossible that they had traveled out here. He felt a shiver run down his spine. He hoped to gods it wasn’t them, but who else could have pulled off something this merciless?

“If it was another enemy, then why does he look like he knows something?” Gavin’s voice snapped Crow back to attention. He looked up to see the knight glaring at him accusatively.

The thief shifted his weight hesitantly. It was true that he believed he knew who had raided the knights’ camp, but he was reluctant to tell them. His eyes wandered to Penelope’s face. He didn’t like the fact that Gavin was nosing around, but even more so than that, he didn’t want to get her involved in something that might get her killed. If he told her who had taken their supplies and murdered her comrades, there was no question that she would want to go after them. He couldn’t let her do that. These people were too dangerous.

“I say just forget the whole thing,” Crow muttered after a long moment of silence. “It’s unfortunate that so many of your comrades had to die, but whoever raided your camp after we did already got what they wanted. They’re probably long gone to sell it all off by now. Just send in another request to the king for more supplies and move on.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Lucky cx I want to go back the next time I'm in that part of Cali.

Crow turned hostile fast ^^;

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow looked up at Penelope again as she explained what had happened to the knights’ camp the night before. He was surprised to hear that she hadn’t been exaggerating but had been accusing him because someone—or perhaps a group of people—had come in sometime during the night to raid their camp and slaughter all of the guards. He folded his arms over his chest, just as mystified as she was about how that could have happened. All he knew for sure was that whoever had done it must have shown up after he and his companions had finished their own raid, since all of the guards had been alive at that point.

For a moment, he wondered if the Younisians had done it to sabotage the Brerratic knights. It seemed like a desperate enough trick to pull, so he wouldn’t have put it past them, especially if they felt like they were going to lose the war. However, that didn’t add up to him. For the intruders to have killed the guards and escaped with half of the nobles’ supplies so seamlessly meant they had to have some skill with thievery already. He knew for a fact that the Younisians had no such talents because of all the times their barons had tried to recruit him and his companions to steal for them. If they already had members among their ranks who knew how to raid a camp, they would have had no need to hire thieves from another kingdom to do it for them.

He was just about to ask Penelope if there was anyone she could think of that the knights had wronged, when he heard the sound of a voice that made him stiffen in surprise. He looked over her shoulder to see none other than Gavin step into the clearing with a hand resting threateningly on the hilt of his sword. Immediately, Crow took a defensive step back and reached for his own weapons, narrowing his eyes hostilely at the new arrival. Aside from the fact that the knight had interrupted his time with Penelope, he didn’t like how close he was to the thieves’ camp.

His eyes flicked to Penelope as she spoke to her ex suitor. Her words made him falter. She told him to ‘let her handle this?’ he thought with a pang of annoyance. It sounded like she had still been keeping in touch with Gavin even after he had asked her to keep her distance from him. However, he didn’t have time to focus on the detail. With his gaze fixed on the knight’s sword hand, he silently drew his daggers beneath his cloak, readying himself to fight if the man came after him.

As Gavin told him to tell the truth, the thief stood up slightly taller and shot him a cold glare. “I owe you nothing of the sort,” he spat obstinately. “Why don’t you just run back to your camp now and keep your nose out of places it doesn’t belong?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice! Snowmen don't survive long where I live xD
The upperclassmen at my college decapitate them every year lol It's pretty savage

I don't remember if I've been to Yosemite, but I feel like I have. You should definitely see the redwoods! They're amazing. One of my favorite stops the last time I road tripped through California.

Crow's so confused now

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow knitted his brow in confusion when Penelope said she would have lost everything if she had been blames for the raid. Was she really on such shaky ground with her leaders that they would have forced her to resign? All the thieves had done was take a bit of food and war supplies. He didn’t think it warranted such an extreme punishment, even if she had been blamed for the mess. Although, by her words, it sounded like that wasn’t the reason why she was upset.

He flinched as she went on angrily, but what she said next only further confused him. He and the others had barely taken a fraction of the supplies the knights kept in their camp. It was nowhere close to half. He would have guessed Penelope was exaggerating if she hadn’t added on that all of the night guards had been killed. The allegation made him frown. He and the others hadn’t killed a single person there. Simon had knocked out one physician, but otherwise, they had left the nobles unscathed.

At her final words, he felt a stab of pain, hurt by the accusation. “What? Of course not,” he shook his head. “I was just trying to help you. Besides,” he shifted his weight. “I have no idea what you’re going on about. The raid went as I said before. We just took the things we needed, and we didn’t kill even one of the guards, let alone the whole lot of them.” He grimaced and averted his gaze, going on in a softer tone, “I’m honestly shocked to hear you even accuse me of such a thing. I thought you knew me well enough by now to know I would never do something like that.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Nice! Do you guys go skiing or anything? I personally like to snowboard, even though I'm pretty bad at it xD
I can only turn left lmao

Yeah, I like LA, but I also really like the northern parts of CA. Have you been to the redwood forest? I went camping there two years ago and it blew my mind how huge those trees were.

Crow is still clueless ^^;