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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow smiled as Penelope thanked him. He was glad that his words had helped ease her worries. After all, it seemed like an honor that the gods had chosen them of all people to fulfill their plans to save the kingdoms of Brerra and Younis. He didn’t want her to be constantly fretting about losing control over her life, when what they were really doing was voluntarily accepting a task from a higher power like she would do with her barons or the king. Granted, this task had some serious repercussions to it if they failed, but it wasn’t very different in any other way.

Besides, if they succeeded, there would be even better benefits: The kingdom would be saved, a war of monumental scale would be prevented, and they could finally be together to have the life they’d been dreaming about. Just thinking about it made him feel giddy with excitement. If anything, the gods’ trust in them allowed them to have even more control over their lives. Instead of waiting around for the war with Younis to play out, he and Penelope could work from the inside of the castle to turn everything in their favor. They could have an active role in the fate of the kingdoms. If that wasn’t control, he didn’t know what was.

As Penelope said that she didn’t think she would be fighting against the gods’ request of her, Crow nodded. “Alright, then I’ll be right beside you when you confront the king,” he assured her confidently, bringing his hand up to run his fingers through her hair. “Maybe I could even use whatever he wants from me as leverage to get him to listen.” It was an interesting thought, but he wasn’t sure how well it would work out in practice. If Albin was as conniving as he was—which was likely the case, since his mother had been an honest woman, and he didn’t know where else he could have gotten his skills for deceiving people—he was going to have his work cut out for him.

When Penelope pulled back from his arms, he laced his fingers with hers and followed after John again. “Yeah,” he murmured in agreement. “I have a feeling that tomorrow is going to be a long day…”

--

When they got back to the inn, Crow was reluctant to part with Penelope. After everything that had happened that night along with his nervousness about confronting his father the following day, he longed to sleep with her by his side again. However, with John in the room as them, he was too uncomfortable to suggest the idea. Even though the older knight seemed to be more tolerant of him now, he didn’t want to brazenly share a bed with the man’s daughter while they were right next to each other. He wasn’t that cocky.

Deciding to return the respect that John had begun to show to him, the thief chose to press a tired kiss to her cheek and murmured a quick ‘goodnight’ to her before he settled down on his bed alone. It took a while for him to fall asleep, since his mind was so wound up with anxiety about meeting with the king, but eventually, he managed to drift off into a light and somewhat fitful slumber.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

I think it has more to do with the fact that he secretly thinks it would be cool to have the glory of being a hero xD
Crow tried his best to help her cx

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow listened quietly as Penelope explained why she was feeling so distraught. He was a bit surprised to find out that the same conclusion he’d found so intriguing was causing her so much stress. Sure, if the gods had some sort of elaborate plan for their lives, then that might mean they didn’t have control over every little thing that happened to them, but he fully believed that they were still in charge of the outcome of every situation they were put into. After all, they weren’t puppets. Their decisions were still theirs to make, regardless of what the gods threw at them. He wanted to help her understand that

Casting a brief glance at John to make sure he wasn’t looking, Crow took Penelope by the wrist and pulled her to a stop. For a moment, he simply stood, holding her gaze as he studied her worried green eyes, before he stepped forward to wrap his arms around her in an embrace. “We’re not the gods’ pets,” he said quietly, leaning his head against hers as he tried to reassure her. “If you want proof of that, just look at what’s happened so far. If the gods were really controlling us as you say they are, then wouldn’t our mission in Younis have been a success? They clearly didn’t want this war to happen, yet here we are.”

He pulled back to brush a strand of her hair out of her face and offered her a soft smile. “Our shortcomings are what make us human, but they’re also proof that we’re free to make our own decisions. If the gods were really masterminding our every move, we would never mess up, and everything would go exactly according to their plans. Obviously, that isn’t the case, since they seem to feel the need to speak with us in person to convince us to do what they want instead of orchestrate it all from the heavens.

“And as for our feelings for each other…” he pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead and grinned at her fondly. “I don’t think the gods had anything to do with that either. Sure, maybe they arranged for us to meet and even work together, but we fell in love all on our own. So, don’t worry about being someone else’s horse. Whatever the gods may have planned for our lives doesn’t matter, because we’re still in control of our own decisions. We can handle anything they throw at us, because we’re a team, and we have final say over our own lives.” He caressed her cheek affectionately and leaned in to press a long kiss to her lips.

When he pulled back again, he winked at her playfully, “Besides, you know me, love. I don’t play by anyone’s rules. If you decide you don’t want to do what the gods want, I’ll fight back against them right alongside you.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow's the exact opposite xD
He's more like "omg we're like the guys from the legends"

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow studied Penelope with a concerned expression when she just nodded in response to his observation. He had thought she would find the news just as interesting as he did, but instead, it seemed to have struck some sort of raw nerve in her. He wondered why. In his mind, the knowledge that both sets of their parents had known each other before was fascinating. All their lives, they had been so close to each other, yet so far. However, it seemed to be a good thing that they had taken two decades to meet.

When she was younger, she had been training to become a knight of Brerra, while he had been raiding the nobles of the kingdom. If they had ever crossed paths before their mission to Younis, they would have ended up fighting—maybe not in the literal sense of the word, since he didn’t know how to fight very well back then, but they certainly wouldn’t have gotten along. Every big incident in their lives had drawn them together at exactly the right moment, from his arrest to the previous king’s mission and even to the war that had brought them back into each other’s lives yet again.

And now, after all that, they had both been approached at separate times by the gods of two kingdoms. It was hard to deny that it seemed like their lives had been sculpted to fulfill some greater purpose. The thought made him feel both nervous and excited. It reminded him of the tales he had been told by the people of the outer villages about the heroes of old. Part of him was worried about what that would mean for the rest of their lives, since the men and women from those stories never really got to ‘settle down’ the way that he and Penelope wanted to, but another part of him was eager to see where the fates were going to take them next, because it was surely going to be exciting.

Suddenly, Crow was pulled from his fantasizing when he felt Penelope’s hand slip out of his. He turned to her in surprise, unsure why she was putting distance between them. She had just met a god and seen her dead mother for the first time. Of course, that had to have been overwhelming, but it had been a good thing, right? She had seemed happy enough when she’d been telling him about it earlier. He wondered what had changed to make her look so melancholic.

The thief glanced briefly at John as the older knight spoke up and then turned to look at Penelope again. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked softly, reaching out to rest a tentative hand on her back. “Did something else happen that you haven’t told me about?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow's mind is being blown by all of this xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow frowned disappointedly when Penelope said that her mother had just mentioned Madeleine’s name. He’d been hoping to hear a little more about his mother than that. After going longer than a decade without her warm presence by his side, the prospect of hearing about how she was faring in the afterlife had been exciting. Still, even though Penelope didn’t know much else, he supposed it was still nice to find out that she had been looking after him all this time. The thought brought a faint smile to his lips. He wondered what she thought of him now, fully grown and making a living for himself as a thief. Was she proud of the man he’d become? He knew she wouldn’t have condemned him for his decision to continue stealing, since she was the one who had taught him to begin with.

He was drawn from his thoughts as he heard Penelope speak up to question her father. Her words made him raise a brow in surprise, and he turned to look at John with interest. He never would have guessed that the older knight knew his mother, but now that he thought about it again, it made a strange amount of sense. John knew the thief was related to Albin somehow, and he had also been in love with a peasant woman who had apparently been close friends with his own mother. It wasn’t that far of a stretch to guess that John and Madeleine had crossed paths long ago.

When John confirmed that he had in fact met Crow’s mother before, the thief listened curiously. He wondered if the night Penelope’s father was speaking about was the same night when Madeleine and Albin had had their fling. His mother didn’t often speak of their brief time together, since she never liked to talk about Albin in general, but he recalled that she’d mentioned meeting his father in a tavern. It felt strange to hear about the incident from someone else’s mouth.

“What was your mother’s name?” he asked suddenly, turning to Penelope with newfound intrigue. Perhaps if the two women really had been as close as John claimed, his mother may have told him about her before.

“Lilliana,” John answered first in a soft voice.

“No way,” Crow’s eyes widened in recognition. “I’ve heard of her before.” It was faint, but he vaguely remembered his mother telling him about a friend she’d had before he’d been born who had gone by the same name. Turning back to Penelope, he shook his head in disbelief. “I can’t believe our mothers were from the same village. What are the odds of that?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow got way too excited

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow nodded when Penelope agreed with him that they should go back to the inn. After everything that had happened, he wanted to lay down, and he didn’t doubt that she felt similarly, since she was the one who had come face to face with a god that night. Honestly, if his encounter with Aeklora two years ago hadn’t been right in the middle of a fast-paced palace raid, he probably would have been much more freaked out. He was a bit impressed that Penelope was as outwardly calm about it all as she was.

When Penelope rose to her feet, Crow stood up beside her, staying close so that he could take her hand when she reached for his. Standing so close to her father, the thief’s eyes flicked warily towards the older man, and he remained tense, unsure if he was still going to force them to separate in spite of everything that had happened. With Penelope shaken up, he wasn’t going to be as willing to distance himself from her as he usually was when her father intervened. However, to his surprise, John didn’t say anything about it.

As the older knight merely said that it was getting late, Crow stared at him in unbridled surprise. Perhaps it was just because he was shaken up from encountering his dead lover, but he was acting much more tamed than usual. Whatever the case, it was a pleasant change, so the thief didn’t say anything about it. After all, he didn’t want to risk letting his tongue slip and saying something to set John off again. So, keeping close to Penelope’s side, he followed after the knight in silence as the other man led the way back to the inn.

“By the way… your mother’s name is Madeleine, right?”

Crow’s breath caught in his throat at the mention of his mother, and he whirled on Penelope in shock. As far as he could remember, he’d never told her his mother’s name before. Why would her mother mention his? How did she even know her name? His heart began to race as dozens of questions rose up inside of him. It was difficult to keep his thoughts straight, but after a moment, he cleared his head enough to speak.

“Yes, that’s her name,” he said hurriedly, unable to keep the excitement out of his voice. “Your mother knew her? What did she say? Did she tell you anything else?” His grip on her hand tightened slightly in his urgency, and he held her gaze with widened eyes as he waited for her to tell him what she knew.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow believes her, but now he's overwhelmed xD