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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow’s eyes flickered down to Gavin’s hand as the knight reached for his sword. The thief tensed and moved to rest his right hand on his dagger’s hilt as well, prepared to defend himself if Gavin chose to come after him. While he had been trying to prod at him, he hadn’t expected the knight to react so violently to his last comment. He eyed him curiously. For some reason, his words had struck a raw nerve in the man. He didn’t know why, but he made a mental note to tuck that information away in case it proved to be useful another time.

As Gavin stood hostilely before him, the thief slowly drew his blade from its sheath at his hip. However, before either of them had a chance to attack the other, Penelope intervened. Crow watched as she snapped at her former suitor, feeling a twinge of pleasure as Gavin caved to her and released his weapon. He liked that she was still openly siding with him. The competitive part of his nature took it as a victory over the man she had left for him, which made him feel quite satisfied.

He was just about to make another snide remark to Gavin about it, but he stopped when he felt Penelope jab his side and tell him that he needed to learn when to stop. Apparently, he wasn’t quite as in the clear as he had thought. Glancing down at her, he lifted his shoulders in a shrug and offered her an apologetic look. She definitely seemed more upset with him than before, and he didn’t want to give her another reason to snap at him like she had with Gavin. “Sorry,” he murmured, deciding it was a safer move to simply apologize to her rather than give her the childish excuse he had wanted to say: He started it.

As Olivia finally spoke up, Crow turned to her inquisitively. It sounded like she had been watching them so quietly because she had been expecting the situation to spiral out of control on its own. He shook his head. She was just as devilish as he remembered. However, his amusement faded as she went on to address Gavin. He narrowed his eyes as he glanced back at the male knight. So, his initial suspicion that Penelope’s ex suitor was trying to win her back wasn’t wrong, after all.

“And just what were you doing before?” he growled, suddenly curious to find out how this man had been trying to win over the woman he was with.

Gavin’s eyes darted to Penelope’s face for a moment before he shook his head. “Olivia doesn’t know what she’s talking about,” he said, shooting the female knight an annoyed look. “I told Penelope that I would respect her decision… even if I find myself questioning the character of the man she chose.”

“Is that right?” Crow studied him coldly. As a thief who deceived others for a living, he could tell that Gavin was lying through his teeth, but he also knew the knight probably wouldn’t confess to his ulterior motives while Penelope was present. Besides, she was already upset with them both as it was. He didn’t want to risk angering her further by arguing with her former suitor to draw the information out of him. So, he let the subject drop, venturing instead to take Penelope’s hand again as he hoped she had cooled down enough to accept the gesture.

Off to the side, Olivia clicked her tongue in disappointment, “Well, that was boring.”

Crow rolled his eyes. He was beginning to think he wasn’t going to enjoy her company as much as he had thought if she was going to keep trying to instigate fights between him and Gavin.

The group fell into a tense silence now that Crow and Gavin had stopped bickering with each other. However, it didn’t last long before the thief’s stomach decided to interrupt. He blushed and turned to Penelope with a bashful smile, “I don’t suppose you knights packed any lunch, did you?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow may have struck a nerve in Gavin without realizing it ^^;

That's real xD
I still have friends who stress about getting straight A's, and I just don't understand why anyone would want to put themselves through that much anxiety in college unless they need the grades to keep a scholarship or something

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow was feeling rather pleased with himself when he noticed Gavin tense at his words. It was almost too easy to rile the man up. As someone who prided himself on his ability to say just the right thing to make a knight mad, he found the current situation to be quite entertaining. He held Gavin’s gaze evenly as the nobleman opened his mouth to argue. However, in the next moment, he blinked in mild surprise as Penelope elbowed him in the side and muttered his name in a disapproving tone instead.

He glanced down at her and shrugged haplessly, offering a lopsided smile. While he didn’t feel guilty for prodding at her former suitor, he could tell she wanted him to stop. So, out of respect for her wishes, he held his tongue as the knight finally spoke up again to try and convince her to agree with his side. The thief rolled his eyes. It was clear that Gavin wasn’t willing to let the subject drop until he managed to win some sort of victory over him, whether it be by gaining Penelope’s favor or proving him wrong.

As the two knights continued to go back and forth over the topic, Crow’s eyes wandered to Olivia, who was awfully quiet during the whole exchange. He was a bit surprised that she wasn’t jumping at the chance to make the situation worse, since he remembered that she liked to fan the flames of chaos. As his gaze landed on her, he noticed that she wasn’t ignoring them as he had thought but was observing with a bemused expression on her face. He recalled that she’d had the same look when he had thrown his dagger at Gavin earlier, and he wondered what she found to be so amusing.

Before he had a chance to question her, his attention was drawn back to Gavin as the knight decided to arrogantly claim that the only reason he and his thieves hadn’t been caught was because of Penelope’s efforts. He felt a slight twinge of annoyance at the notion. He and his companions had been successfully outrunning the knights since long before Penelope had arrived. For Gavin to attribute their accomplishments as the efforts of someone who had only recently offered any help was demeaning to the thief. He wasn’t going to stand by and take the insult lightly.

Momentarily forgetting that she had wanted him to stop pushing Gavin, Crow smirked haughtily as he responded, “Oh, I’m quite grateful for everything she’s done for me.” He slipped his arm around her waist in a gesture that was clearly meant to annoy the other man. “But that doesn’t negate the fact that right now, I’m your best chance at catching the thieves who raided your camp. In fact, without my help I doubt you’d be able to find them at all.”

“I’m sure we would do just fine without you,” Gavin narrowed his eyes.

“Well, I beg to differ,” Crow snorted. “Penelope may have helped me when all of you arrived in the outer villages, but I’ve been avoiding your incompetent comrades since this war began. Do you really think you’re going to catch a band of thieves with this much skill, when you haven’t been able to stop us for an entire year?” He scoffed. “Come on. Even you have to see how foolish that sounds.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gavin growled.

“Nothing much,” Crow shrugged airily. “It’s just that I’ve never met a man with such little common sense before.” He met Gavin’s eyes with an arrogant look. “It’s a wonder you’ve even managed to get this far as a knight.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Figured I'd throw in space for Penelope to intervene since Crow is harassing Gavin quite a bit ^^;
He doesn't know when to stop poking the bear

I can see the end, and it's glorious xD
My grades went down the toilet, but who needs a good GPA anyway?

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Olivia spoke up, Crow casted her a sideways glance before turning to Penelope and listening to her reply. He wondered just how much she had told her friend about the thieves they were going to be dealing with. By the sound of their conversation, it seemed like she was still trying to imply that their enemies weren’t very well known. He appreciated that she was keeping his secrets, but he also felt that in this case, it would be better for him to share at least some of the information he had on Jaxon’s group so they all knew what they were going up against. If Olivia and Gavin went into this mission just expecting regular thieves who weren’t afraid to kill, they were going to be in for an unpleasant surprise.

In his momentary lapse in focus, he missed the look that Gavin gave him. Instead, what drew his attention back to the conversation was Penelope’s mention of hoping that they would get back some of the stolen supplies. He shifted his weight uncertainly, averting his gaze. Knowing that the journey to Younis didn’t take much longer than a day or so, he wasn’t very confident that they would get much back, if anything at all. It had already been two days since the raid, so the thieves were probably well on their way to the Younisian baron’s camp by now. The only way he and the knights could catch up now was if Jaxon’s men had decided to take some time to rest before leaving to sell off the weapons.

It’s unlikely, but it’s not impossible, he thought, trying to stay optimistic. The journey from the inner kingdom could have left them tired if they had gotten to the outer villages recently enough. Perhaps it wasn’t too much to hope that they were still sitting on the supplies they had taken.

“One more question.” Crow blinked and looked up at Olivia as she spoke up again, noticing that she seemed to be directing her words at him now. “Why are we just working with you? Not that I have a problem with it, but where are the other thieves right now?”

“They’re staying behind in our camp,” he shrugged. “It’s too much of a risk for all four of us to be out while there are so many patrols in the area. A bigger group is bound to draw attention, and I don’t want to risk any of their lives over this manhunt.”

“I see,” Olivia turned away from him again, seeming slightly disappointed.

“One thief is more than enough,” Gavin spoke up with a shake of his head. “The less criminals we include in this patrol, the better.”

“To that point, I think we could do with one less whiny knight,” Crow said blandly. “You ought to be a little more grateful for the help I’m offering, you know. It’s not every day you’ll find a thief who’s willing to work with you to track down his own people.”

“I never asked for your help,” Gavin glared at him. “We’re perfectly capable of catching bandits on our own.”

“Oh really?” Crow smirked wryly. “You had no idea these thieves even existed until I told you about them. If it wasn’t for my unnecessary help, you three wouldn’t have had the first clue where to look for them.”

“We would have figured it out on our own,” Gavin protested stubbornly.

“After they sold off all of your precious supplies and came back for more, perhaps,” the thief snorted. “Please. You need me, and you know it, so why don’t you be a good little knight and bite your tongue?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I'm starting to notice that Gavin likes to follow people xD
It's kinda spooky how good he is at it lmao

No worries! I'm gonna try to get my last project mostly done today anyway ^^
It's about time this hellish semester is over lol

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As they stepped out of the house, Crow closed the door behind him and adjusted the strap of his bag, so it fell more comfortably across his shoulder. He laced his fingers with Penelope’s as she took his hand, falling into step beside her as they made their way back to the others. After sharing such a secretive piece of his past with her, he felt strangely lighter. It was nice to have someone else who knew about his history with Jaxon’s thieves, even if it wasn’t a piece of his past that he was proud of. Of course, his companions knew about it as well, since they had all been a part of the group, but it was such a sore subject that they never spoke about it.

Thinking about Simon, Alistair, and Rikki again, he hoped word wouldn’t get back to them about Jaxon’s arrival in the outer villages. They all held grudges against the man for various reasons, and he didn’t want them chasing recklessly after him after they had all been deemed traitors of the group. He didn’t doubt that Jaxon’s men wouldn’t hesitate to kill his companions if they showed their faces to them. And while he was out conducting a separate hunt with the knights, he wouldn’t be able to protect them.

At least they’re all confined to the camp until the patrols die down, he thought. And all of the knights believe we were the ones who destroyed their camp. There’s no way anyone could figure out it was Jaxon. Feeling slightly reassured, he walked a little closer to Penelope, enjoying the remainder of their time alone as the other two knights came into view up ahead.

Of course, as soon as they reached them, Gavin was quick to make a snide remark to Crow. The thief rolled his eyes. “No,” he said dryly. “I still have to get my other bag from the other side of the village.”

“What else could you possibly need?” Gavin groaned, seeming to have missed the sarcastic edge in Crow’s voice.

“Oh, just the weapons I’ll be using to kill you all in your sleep,” Crow shot him a devilish wink. His upper lip twitched slightly as he fought to keep from laughing. He may have disliked Penelope’s former suitor, but he was going to have quite a bit of fun if it was always this easy to fool him.

Gavin’s eyes widened for a moment and then narrowed as he finally seemed to catch on that the thief was mocking him. “Let’s just go already,” he grumbled, turning to lead them down the road.

Crow smirked, feeling pleased for having gotten under the knight’s skin so effortlessly, and gave Penelope’s hand a gentle tug as he followed after him.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I like it ^^ Especially if he gets accepted into Jaxon's group, because that would cause some urgency on Crow and Penelope's side to try and get him out before the thieves are eventually captured/killed by the knights. Also, I feel like part of Jaxon's requirements for Crow when he blackmails him would be to report back to their camp every few days to let them know where the knights are searching for them, so he might run into Hartley alone then. Of course, he wouldn't openly tell Hartley that he was only working with Jaxon because he was being blackmailed, so when he and Penelope try to convince Hartley to get out of Jaxon's group later on, Hartley would probably be like "But you're with him too" and be hesitant to listen to them.

Speaking of the reports, I imagine this would be how Gavin would figure Crow out. I could see him catching him sneaking off if they're all camping together one night. Either that, or he would eventually convince Penelope to go out with him late at night to prove that Crow had turned traitor and show her that he was meeting with Jaxon (maybe they'd hide somewhere along the route that Gavin suspected Crow was taking or even follow him to his meeting place with Jaxon and eavesdrop?). Let me know what you think cx

As for the militia part, I could see the local knights training the peasants in basic fighting, since they're all on the same side, unlike the people in Brerra. I don't think it would make sense for them to jump up to knighthood or a position in the battalion from there, since the world we built operates on a feudal system where class changing would be super uncommon (Crow's case would likely be unheard of when his father makes him an ambassador, but even then he's only half peasant anyway). They could have some other kind of recognition that Hartley is after though :) Maybe they would get a title that's specifically for them, even though it wouldn't necessarily make them part of the battalion.

Also, I'll get started on my reply in like 10-20 minutes ^^

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Ironically, Crow is probably more right to worry in this case, since Jaxon is going to manipulate him later xD

Also, I'm thinking the way Jaxon will find Crow is by paying his friends a visit while he's away (since he's trying to kill him for the bounty right now). He would question them to find out where Crow is and end up being misled to Wheldrake initially. This would piss him off, so he would go back and either attack them all or kill one of them as a warning for lying to him before going to search Myrefall, since it's the closest village and Simon mentioned that Crow frequently visited there.

I'm thinking when he gets there, Crow and Penelope would be at the house to sneak in some alone time, or Jaxon would find a way to track him down from there to wherever he and the knights are at the time.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow nodded faintly when Penelope said she understood why he believed Jaxon’s thieves had been the ones behind the attack on the knights’ camp. “I wish it wasn’t true, but it’s the only thing that makes sense,” he said with a frown. “They’re the only thieves I know of with the numbers and skill to pull off something like that. I just don’t understand why they would have come to the outer villages when there’s so much more wealth in the inner kingdom.”

He sighed, still puzzled by that detail. Jaxon and his men were fueled by their greed, so he couldn’t think of a good reason why they would have wanted to come to such a poor part of the kingdom. Even though the Younisians could pay them well for the stolen weapons, they would make much more money if they simply continued to raid the nobles in and near the citadel. It didn’t make sense. There had to be something he was missing—something that was attractive enough to draw Jaxon out of hiding and into the frontlines of the war.

As Penelope got up and moved to stand beside him, the thief leaned into her, taking comfort in her warm presence. He closed his eyes as she brushed aside a loose strand of his dark hair and kissed him on his forehead. Her lips were soft against his skin, and he found himself relaxing in spite of the less than comfortable subject they had been discussing.

Feeling a bit affectionate, he wrapped his arms around her and rested his head against her chest. At her confident words, he couldn’t help but smile. “He doesn’t know who he’s up against,” he chuckled softly, looking up to meet her gaze. “I’m sure if he took one look at you, he’d go running for the hills.” While he was clearly exaggerating, he did find her determination inspiring. Besides, she was right. They had dealt with killers before, and they could do it again. How much worse could Jaxon be?

Pushing back his chair, Crow stood up and turned to Penelope again, leaning down to press a deep kiss to her lips while snaking one arm behind her back to hold her close to himself. When he pulled back, he smiled at her fondly. “I’d love to stay here with you longer, darling, but we should probably start heading back before Gavin thinks I murdered you.”

Taking his own advice, he stepped over to the bed and knelt down, reaching underneath to retrieve the bag he had stowed there earlier. Once he had it, he got up and slung it over his shoulders, glancing back at the knight, “Ready to go?”