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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow confessed cx
Yeah lol Honestly, I could see Edward either being totally pissed when he finds out, or seeing their relationship as an opportunity to advance the Vermillion name, since Crow's gonna hold the most prestigious position in the castle outside of royalty xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As John brought up the fact that Crow and Penelope weren’t courting yet again, the thief curled his lip irritably. He wished the knight would stop reminding him of something he’d always been a little ashamed of about himself already. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to court her. If it had been up to him, he would have started courting her a long time ago, but it just wasn’t that easy. There were too many obstacles in the way for him to give her the treatment she deserved. Of course, he didn’t believe he was disrespecting her in any way by sleeping together outside of wedlock, since she had made it quite clear that she wanted to be intimate with him too, but he did wish he could give her all the same things that a man of a higher status could.

But I might be able to soon. Crow blinked as the realization hit him abruptly. As soon as he accepted his father’s offer, there would be nothing standing between them anymore, and he would be able to court her properly for the first time. He still doubted that it was a good idea to come public about their relationship, since almost every noble in the inner kingdom despised him—he didn’t want to ruin her name by letting any of them discover that they were together until he had a better reputation—but it was better than nothing. The thought caused a faint smile to tug at his lip.

However, his brief moment of excitement was quickly interrupted as John turned to address him again. The knight’s scathing words made him grit his teeth in annoyance. It was really starting to grate on his nerves how often Penelope’s father compared him to Albin. His father’s selfish decision to abandon his mother had nothing to do with him. Unlike the king, he actually cared about the woman he was intimate with, and he wasn’t just using her for his own pleasure. He wished that John could put his own traditions aside long enough to see that.

“Would you quit with the comparisons already? I told you; I’m nothing like my father,” Crow snarled. He paused, taking a moment to reign in his temper before going on. He didn’t want to make an already bad situation worse by raising his voice at Penelope’s father. Even though the knight was frustrating him, he knew he was just doing so out of concern for his daughter. As annoying as it was, he couldn’t hold that against him.

He also knew he needed to give John a reason to believe him.

Taking a calming breath, the thief continued in a more level-headed tone, “I do care about Penelope, and I can prove it.” He turned his head to look at her, his expression softening as he met her gaze. “I’ve decided I’m going to take my father’s offer so we can be together, and she’ll lose nothing.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Makes sense that he would be afraid she'll end up going down the same path he did, haha.
Crow's getting a little defensive

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow glanced up at John as the knight questioned them, biting his tongue to keep himself from spitting a reflexive: “Do you really need me to explain it to you?” Even though he was embarrassed about having been caught by Penelope’s father, he was also getting a bit frustrated by how involved the older man was trying to be in their lives. Sure, the knight was her father, but what business was it of his if they wanted to sleep together? They were adults who were perfectly capable of making their own decisions, even if the decisions they made weren’t very traditional. It wasn’t John’s job to dictate the way they conducted their relationship.

He set his jaw stubbornly as the knight went on to say that they had been practically ‘begging’ to get caught. In his opinion, they hadn’t been that careless. It was quite late, and the servants wouldn’t come by until the morning. If John hadn’t shown up, he felt certain they would have gotten away with it without anyone knowing. Besides, they’d mostly snuck out in the woods to be alone in the past. By her father’s logic, that wasn’t very safe either since there weren’t even walls, but when they didn’t have any other choice, they just had to make due with what they could get. Comparatively, a private room in the castle seemed much more secure.

At John’s comment about the fact that they weren’t courting, Crow felt a twinge of annoyance. It wasn’t his fault that they couldn’t have a traditional relationship. Given their lifestyles until this point, it simply hadn’t been an option. He was a thief, and she was a knight. By the kingdom’s culture, they shouldn’t have even been together to begin with, yet here they were. He didn’t think it was fair of her father to question the manner in which they chose to make their relationship work.

When the knight suddenly turned on him and questioned his intentions, Crow bristled, disliking the way John compared him to his father yet again. He opened his mouth to retort, but then faltered when the other man went on to ask what he planned to do if the situation had gone worse. The thief shifted uneasily, averting his gaze off to the side. Of course he didn’t want to get Penelope pregnant, but that was why he’d been taking precautions to keep that from happening. “We’re being careful,” he muttered defensively.

“‘Careful’ isn’t good enough,” John growled in response. “You can be as careful as you want, but that doesn’t guarantee that everything will go as you plan.”

Crow looked up again to meet his gaze with a frustrated glare. “Maybe not, but I wouldn’t just run if something happened,” he argued hotly. “I’m not my father. I care about Penelope. Even if she got pregnant, it would be my responsibility too.”

“There shouldn’t even be a responsibility to discuss,” John shook his head exasperatedly. “Because the two of you shouldn’t be risking this in the first place.” His eyes flicked between them before landing on Penelope as he went on. “This stops now; do you understand me? I am not going to allow my daughter to throw her life away over a man who isn’t even courting her for marriage.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Figured Penelope would do better to explain, since Crow is so obstinate that he would probably just make the situation worse xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow slid a little further beneath the blanket, averting his gaze uncomfortably as John and Penelope spoke. Why did it have to be her father of all people who had come into the room tonight? He could have lied his way out of this mess if it had been Hunter or another servant who had stopped by, since no one else knew he and Penelope were together. Instead, it had to be the one person who knew exactly who was hidden underneath the blanket with him who decided to show up at that moment. Worse still, it was the only person who would be angry about catching them sleeping together. He wanted to bury himself underneath the bedsheets in discomfort.

As John turned on him with a glare, Crow shrank beneath his cold gaze and nodded dully at the older knight’s order to get dressed. The rebellious part of him was almost tempted to defend himself and Penelope, since they were their own people and had every right to be intimate if they wished, but he knew that would just make the situation worse. Nobles weren’t the same as peasants anyway. From what he knew, parents of noblemen and women had much more control over their children than anyone in the outer villages did. He’d be fighting against John’s culture if he tried to push his own values on the knight. So, deciding it wasn’t worth the effort, he held his tongue.

Once Penelope’s father left, Crow fell back onto the mattress and pulled the blanket over his head with a groan. “Gods, he’s going to kill me, isn’t he?” he muttered sourly, his voice muffled by the thick fabric that was covering his face. As much as he wanted to just crawl underneath the small mountain of pillows on the bed and pretend like the awkward moment had never happened, he knew it wouldn’t be long before John came back into the room expecting them to be fully dressed. So, forcing down his discomfort, he climbed off the bed to retrieve his clothes from the floor and put them back on.

Not long after they were decent again, another knock sounded on the door, followed by a slightly longer pause before John stepped back into the room. Crow leaned back against the bottom bedpost with his arms folded defensively over his chest and his gaze averted from the knight’s, leaving some distance between himself and Penelope to keep from angering her father more. Unfortunately, the gesture did little to improve the older man’s bitter mood.

“So,” John growled, looking between the two with narrowed eyes. “Would one of you care to explain to me what the hell you two think you were doing?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

John is angry xD

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow felt his heart begin to race excitedly as Penelope agreed to be with him as long as they were quiet. He was glad that she didn’t object, since he knew it was unlikely that anyone would be dropping by until the morning. They had all the time in the world to be together that night. As she began to kiss him along his neck, he sighed softly, slipping her pants off and chuckling at her words. “Me too,” he murmured before moving to meet her when she pressed a passionate kiss to his lips.

Pulling back slightly, he shifted to allow her to remove his tunic and then reached to hold her by the waist when the clothing was off, adjusting the way they were lying on the bed so that they would be more comfortable. Once that was done, he hovered over her teasingly for a moment before carefully sliding her shirt over her head, trailing kisses from her stomach to her chest as he did. He closed his eyes and dropped her shirt to the ground, enjoying the feeling of being with her like this. After going so long without her intimate touch while he’d been recovering, he was more grateful for the opportunities they found to get away lately. And now that he had his own private room in the castle, they wouldn’t have to worry about sneaking off to find someplace to hide. It was nice to have such a luxury.

Crow met Penelope’s lips again with zeal, guiding her hands to his waistband and allowing her to remove his pants as he kissed her. His heart pounded in his chest, and he ran his hands sensuously over her body, shifting on the bed as he got ready to take things farther. However, just as he began to meet her, the thief tensed as a knock sounded on the door. Someone was coming inside.

With no time to hide, Crow spat a curse and reached for the blanket that was folded back at the bottom of the bed, fumbling in his urgency as he pulled it over both of them and making sure to cover Penelope’s head as he did. It was still obvious that he had someone with him in the room, but he didn’t want whoever was about to enter realize that someone was Penelope. If it was Hunter or one of the other servants or—gods forbid—William, he needed to make sure they didn’t spread word to anyone else that the two were together. So, even though it was a rather clumsy attempt, he hoped it would be enough to deter the unknown visitor from asking any questions.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t that easy.

As the door opened, it wasn’t one of the servants, but John who stepped inside. Crow met his gaze across the room, staring a bit dumbly as his mind failed to come up with an excuse to give the other man. John wasn’t much better off. The older knight stiffened by the entrance as his eyes flicked from Crow’s flustered face to the clothing piled haphazardly on the floor to Penelope, covered by the blanket the thief had thrown over her.

For a long moment, neither of them spoke a word, until Crow managed to overcome his shock and cleared his throat awkwardly, “Umm… I wasn’t expecting company…”

John said nothing at first, but the thief could tell he wasn’t happy. His jaw was set, and his lips were pursed into a thin line as he folded his arms over his chest and turned back to his daughter. “Penelope, is that you under there?” he growled with clear displeasure.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow's trying not to think about it too much xD
Also he got distracted

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

As the two ate their food, Crow lapsed into silence, focused more on filling his empty stomach than holding a conversation at the moment. Just like the last dinner, the food was incredibly flavorful with a variety of spices he’d never tasted before to enhance each dish. He mostly filled his plate with venison, since it was his favorite type of meat, but he also made sure to try the other platters, since almost all of it was new to him. While there wasn’t much about noble life that was appealing to the thief, the meals were something he knew he would never grow tired of.

Once he felt pleasantly full, he leaned back in his chair with a satisfied sigh. It wasn’t often that he had the chance to eat to his heart’s content and still have food leftover. Living in the outer villages, it was rare that he could even completely fill his stomach and remain full throughout the day. Most of the time, he and his companions would split what they could while trying to ration their food to last long enough that they wouldn’t have to frequently go on raids to replenish their supply. They still ate enough to sate their appetites, but he often found himself growing hungry again mere hours after finishing a meal.

However, that didn’t happen with the rich dishes of the castle staff. After his supper the previous night, he hadn’t felt famished in the morning like he usually did after eating the lighter foods that he and the other thieves could scavenge. It was nice to finally be able to truly satisfy his ravenous appetite with red meat and other heavy foods.

Crow glanced at Penelope when she stood up from the table, following her with his eyes as she looked over the library and leaned against the bed. “I know what you mean,” he murmured when she brought up how much was changing, letting his gaze wander over the ambassador’s room—his room. It was still strange to think that he was going to own anything. Aside from the house in Myrefall, he’d never had any possessions like this to his name before. Even though it was technically part of the castle that his father was the ruler of, it was still a private space that would belong to him when he took the job. He wasn’t sure how to feel about it yet.

As Penelope went on to talk about how she hadn’t been expecting him to take the king’s offer, Crow stood up from the table to walk over to where she was standing. His green eyes swept over her, and a smirk tugged at his lip. “A lot of things will be different,” he said in a low voice, moving to stand in front of her with his hands resting on either side of her waist. “But not everything has changed.” His eyes flicked back up to her face. “I may be taking a new title, but I’m still me.”

Leaning in, he touched a few soft kisses to her jawline, letting his lips brush against her skin as he added in a sultry whisper, “And I still find you unbelievably attractive.” In the next moment, he moved in to kiss her more passionately, leaning his weight forward to push them both back onto the bed so that he was lying on top of her. Guessing that no one else would be stopping by now that it was so late, he let himself sink into her touch without worrying about the door.

“Want to help me make this room feel more like my own, love?” he grinned at her breathily when he pulled back from the kiss, trailing one hand down her side to toy with the hem of her pants.