Trash Panda

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow didn’t like where this conversation was going at all. He’d thought that when Mia had said she would involve him in the final decision, she’d meant he would have something of a say in it. Instead, it seemed like she had just come to tell him what his punishment would be before someone came in with a knife. He looked away from her, struggling to keep a handle on his fearful emotions.

Despite what Mia was saying, he would have rather been left to die in Jaxon’s camp than suffer through something like this. At least that way, he wouldn’t have had to go through the pain of having his hands cut off and then living out the rest of his life looking over his shoulder in fear of being caught by a bounty hunter. Even if he managed to survive for a few more years with the help of his companions—and Penelope, if he saw through the end of the war—he wouldn’t have much of a life at all. In his opinion, what the baroness was offering him was a fate worse than immediate death.

As Mia went on to say that he could give an alternative suggestion, Crow took a moment to think it over. It was hard for him to think clearly while his mind was riddled with panic, but he forced himself to try. After all, if she was being serious about letting him give his input, this could be his only change to save himself from a very horrific consequence.

“I don’t think a punishment is the only course of action here,” he started tentatively, turning back to meet the stern woman’s gaze again. Perhaps there was still a way for him to convince her to let him go. He wasn’t certain she would come around, but he had to try. “Those thieves who raided your camp were working for the Younisians. They were hired for pay to sabotage your battalion and turn the tide of the war,” he explained, his voice straining faintly with a mixture of excitement and desperation. “What if we formed the same type of alliance? I know others who would be willing to work under your command to sabotage the enemy forces too.”

He paused to study her face, trying to read whether or not she was interested in his proposal. “Surely there’s something to be gained in hiring us. My reputation speaks for itself, after all. I’m quite good at what I do, and I can personally attest to the skills of the others.” He really hoped she was at least considering his offer. If the other barons liked it, things would turn out in everyone’s favor. The knights would finally gain the upper hand against Younis, the thieves would get paid a better wage than what they were making by trading stolen goods, and he and Penelope could look forward to an accelerated end to the war. It sounded perfect in his mind.

“I know you nobles have your reservations about working with criminals, but we’re in the middle of a war,” he continued, trying to play on any desperation Mia might have to conquer the enemy kingdom. “I believe this is a gray enough area that you could make an exception.” His lip turned up in a small smile as he added: “I want this war to end just as much as anyone else, so I’m quite willing to set our differences aside to make that happen. What say you?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow's internally panicking ^^;

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow wasn’t sure when he’d fallen asleep but at some point, he must have done so because he was awoken by the sound of shuffling as the guards in his tent exchanged shifts. He yawned broadly and looked up to see an unfamiliar face watching him from the other side of the room. At first, he tensed in surprise, worried that this was one of Layth’s cruel followers come to interrogate him again. However, after a moment, he recalled what Gavin had told him earlier about a new guard. This must have been the man the knight had been referring to.

He studied Philip with new interest, curious to find out why Penelope would have selected him to be one of his guards. It wasn’t hard to see the reason. The knight was young—Crow guessed he had at least four or five years over him—and he was watching him with an expression that was so similar to the way Abraxas used to look at him, it was uncanny. The thief bit his tongue to stifle a smirk. It was quite clear that this man—or more accurately: boy—was not equipped to guard a thief such as himself and was therefore no threat to him in any way. He supposed Penelope had put a lot of thought into her selection of knights when she’d chosen who would guard him.

Fortunately, Philip didn’t seem very interested in talking to him either. Crow settled down a little more comfortably on the bed—it was getting harder to do the longer he laid in the same position—and closed his eyes, deciding he might as well continue getting some rest while he had the chance. The knight in his tent was friendly this time, but there was no telling if or when someone showed up with the intention to injure him further. So, with that thought in mind, he let out his breath slowly and let himself drift off into a light nap.

--

Crow didn’t sleep for very long before he was roused by the sound of footsteps outside the tent. Still drowsy, he blinked and turned his head to see who had come to visit him this time, only to find that it was the baroness from before. The sight of her instantly ridded him of his remaining weariness as he remembered that she had told him she would come back when she and her comrades were deciding his fate. He swallowed nervously as she approached his bed. What was she doing here already? He’d thought they would take much longer to come to a decision than this.

He remained tensely quiet as she greeted him, eyeing her warily. It seemed like his guess had been correct. She was here because the barons were discussing what to do with him. He shifted slightly on the mattress, feeling his heart begin to pound in his chest with nervousness. Whatever the knights chose to do with him, he knew he wasn’t going to like it, and he was nowhere near healed enough to conduct an escape yet. Knowing that his window was growing smaller, he was beginning to feel cornered.

Maybe it won’t be something that bad, he thought hopefully, holding his breath as he held her gaze. Maybe they decided to let me off easy after everything I did to help them.

Unfortunately, his hopes were quickly dashed when Mia spoke again: “As it stands right now, we will likely choose to have your hands removed.”

Her words sent a flash of panic through the thief that made his stoic expression waver. However, the reveal was brief, and he hurried to recover, not wanting to give this knight the satisfaction of seeing his fear. Internally, he wasn’t nearly as calm as he appeared. His chest felt tight with worry, and his heart was racing wildly. If the barons decided to cripple him before he could get away, there was nothing he could do to stop them. Even if they let him go afterwards, he was certain he would just end up dying at the hands of someone else later. He’d have no way to protect himself against the bounty hunters that were after his reward. He needed to be able to fight if he was to survive after this ordeal was finally over. Besides that, he couldn’t even imagine trying to function normally if they cut off his hands. Just the thought of it made him shiver.

After a moment of silence, he cleared his throat. “Isn’t that a bit harsh?” he challenged Mia, trying to keep his voice level as he spoke. “I’ve done quite a bit to help you knights. I would think my actions warrant praise, not punishment.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Understandably lol
I fully expect that Crow will panic and try to get up from his bed at some point as he gets more desperate to escape xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

The next morning, the first thing Crow was aware of was that he felt deeply uncomfortable. The feeling wasn’t caused by any specific sensation. After being bedridden for…—what was it? Four days?—he was simply getting restless and longed to be able to get up and stretch his legs. His body ached from laying in the same position for so long too. It was even worse than when he’d been bedridden from his illness because at least then, he’d been able to turn from his back to his sides and shift freely when he was beginning to feel stiff. However, this time, he didn’t have the same luxury. Between then chains around his wrist and ankle and the pain his wound caused him whenever he did anything more than stretch his limbs a bit, he was trapped flat on his back with no way of relieving the discomfort that continued to build up inside of him.

To make an already bad situation worse, his empty stomach was plaguing him more now than ever before. It had been over half a week since the last time he’d eaten anything, and he was starting to feel sick from the lack of sustenance. His head was foggy, and his body felt weak. Additionally, he had noticeably dropped in weight—not to a severe degree, but enough that he was able to tell the difference. The discomfort of it all was almost enough for him to break his resolve and throw caution to the wind by asking one of the knights to sneak him some breakfast. But he still couldn’t do that. Perhaps if Layth hadn’t stopped by the day before, he would have been feeling well enough to stomach something other than water, but after having his wound mercilessly targeted by the other man, he didn’t think he would be able to do it. The hole in his middle pained him more today than it had the day before.

He let out his breath in a sigh. As long as men like Layth continued to stop by to harm him, he was going to have a long stay in the knights’ camp. The thought made him feel a pang of longing to be back in his own camp with his own companions. He missed their company quite a bit. Even though it was nice to see Penelope every day, he would much rather have been recovering amongst friendly faces compared to waking up every morning wondering who was going to try to kill him next. It was stressful to feel so trapped. He hated being at the mercy of his enemies like this.

Shaking off his lingering weariness a little more, Crow looked over the tent to examine his surroundings. From what he could tell, nothing had changed aside from his guard. He vaguely remembered Olivia and Gavin trading shifts sometime in what he guessed had been the early morning, but he had only woken up about halfway, since he’d realized the sounds of their shifting hadn’t been caused by anything dangerous. Now more alert, he saw that Gavin was studying him with his usual look of contemplation before he asked his usual question: “Do you need anything from Jane?”

“No,” Crow shook his head, although it wasn’t entirely the truth. He was hungry, so he wanted food; and he was in pain from his wound, so he wanted something to take the edge off. However, the physician would have provided him with neither of these things. He still couldn’t eat, and he could tell that she wanted him to suffer. It would have been pointless to even ask for anything.

Stretching in an attempt to ease his discomfort, the thief let out a tired yawn. “What time is it?” he asked, glancing across the room at the knight.

“Late morning,” Gavin answered with a shrug.

“Oh,” Crow frowned. Part of him had been hoping that he would have slept in much later than that, but unfortunately, it looked like this was going to be a long day. He gazed dully up at the canopy of the tent, hoping Penelope’s meeting with the barons would go by quickly. She was the only person that made his confinement here somewhat bearable.

“There’s going to be a new guard coming to watch you at midday,” Gavin spoke up again, still eyeing the thief with that thoughtful expression of his. “His name is Philip.”

“Who sent him?” Crow asked warily, turning back to the knight.

“Penelope did… I just thought you’d like to know in advance.”

Crow held Gavin’s gaze for a moment longer before he nodded, “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“Mhm,” Gavin grunted in response.

With nothing else for the two men to discuss, they both lapsed into silence. Crow propped his arm behind his head and stared up at the canopy again. Even though he was tired, he found that he wasn’t in a mood to take a nap, so instead, he let his mind roam as he waited for the long day to pass, hoping it would go by quickly so that he could see Penelope at nightfall.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I finished it out cx
The next day or two are going to be super stressful for them, haha

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow leaned back against the mattress with his eyes closed, trying to get comfortable while Penelope searched for water to give him. His wound still hurt after what Layth had done, so it was difficult for him to settle down, but he still felt like the pain had lessened enough that he would be able to sleep that night. Even though he couldn’t tell the time from inside the tent, he knew he was tired, so he guessed it was probably dark outside by now.

When Penelope returned with a flask of water, Crow murmured a quick ‘thank you’ and brought the container to his lips, downing the rest of its contents all at once. The cold liquid stung a little on the way down, probably because of the damage Layth had caused, but he still managed to finish it off. Once the flask had been emptied, he set it aside on the bed and let out his breath in a content exhale. It hadn’t been quite enough to quench his thirst, but it was better than nothing, and his mouth wasn’t dry anymore.

At Penelope’s mention that she had to leave soon, the thief looked up at her with a frown. He wished she could stay with him through the night, but he knew it was too much to ask. She had probably already drawn enough attention to herself as things were by staying in the tent all day. Besides that, she was probably tired too. They both needed to get some rest after everything that had happened that day, and she couldn’t do that if she was watching over him through the night.

“Alright,” he smiled softly as she kissed him on the cheek and met her gaze when she pulled back. “I’ll be here.” He followed her with his eyes as she exited the tent and then sighed, suddenly finding the room to be lonelier. It was especially disheartening to know that he wouldn’t be able to see her again until the following night. He didn’t want to spend most of his day in the company of knights he barely knew—and some he didn’t even know at all.

Maybe I can just get some extra rest tomorrow, he mused, his eyelids drooping wearily as he drifted closer to falling asleep. After all, if Penelope was in a meeting, that meant Layth would be too. With the vengeful knight out of the way, he might actually be able to spend a full day recovering properly from his injury. That was a pleasant thought. Settling down a little more comfortably on the bed, he was about to let himself fall asleep when Olivia spoke up once more from across the room.

“Goodnight, Collin,” she cooed, clearly intent on milking the fact that she knew his real name.

The thief shook his head faintly in exasperation. He regretted letting the other knights find out such a personal detail about himself, but it was too late to do anything about it now. He supposed he might as well just accept that the information was out. “Night,” he murmured, closing his eyes to signal that he was done speaking. Olivia may have found out his secret, but that didn’t mean he was going to give her the satisfaction of complaining about it. With that stubborn thought in mind, he finally drifted off into a light slumber, hoping the next day would go by quickly so he could see Penelope again.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I'm excited cx
We can probably end this day pretty soon. I don't see much else happening

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As Penelope said she hoped they wouldn’t have to use the medicine on him again, Crow nodded faintly in response. Somehow, he doubted the rest of his time in the knights’ camp would be so pleasant. There were too many people who wanted to hurt or even kill him, so he fully expected that as long as he was trapped here, it was just going to be a painful experience. Penelope and her friends couldn’t protect him every time. If Layth or one of the other knights who hated him showed up again, they might not be as willing to back down as he had been the last time and do more damage. He winced at the thought of being “interrogated” throughout the rest of his recovery. If he couldn’t heal properly, he would never escape from this place before the barons reached their decision.

The thief looked between Penelope and Olivia as they went on to mention speaking to someone about Layth. Unsure what they were talking about, he frowned confusedly. Fortunately, Penelope seemed to catch onto his blank expression fairly quickly and explained that Jane had stopped by while he’d been unconscious. That would explain the new bandages, he thought, glancing down at his torso. If the physician had been that upset, he wondered just how much damage Layth had done to him. He was certainly sorer now than he had been before the hotheaded knights’ visit. He just hoped it wasn’t so serious that his recovery would be delayed yet again.

“I see,” he mused when Penelope concluded by saying that Jane had gone to the barons. “I hope so too… I’ve seen enough of your brother to last a lifetime.” He rested his free arm behind his head to prop it up a little more comfortably. Despite the lingering ache of his wound, his mobility had begun to come back to him a bit more after a few days of healing. He hoped it meant he would be well enough to move on his own soon, but, of course, there was no way to tell for sure.

Suddenly, Crow had another thought and turned to look at Penelope again, “By the way, do you know if that physician has any water flasks around? I’m parched.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow has big regrets xD
Although, he's happy they didn't learn anything else about who he is besides his name