Crow flinched at the sound of William’s furious voice behind them. He turned to see the knight approaching them with his brow knit tightly in anger. He cursed under his breath. He had been hoping to slip into the room while the others were still asleep so he could avoid this very situation. Penelope might have been willing to overlook his attempted escape, but William would never be so forgiving. He shivered. He could almost feel the cold metal of the chains he would be shackled in once again for trying to run—or maybe he was just chilled from the river water that still drenched his clothes.

However, before Crow could move to defend himself, Penelope spoke up first, sharply telling William to leave her alone. The other knight seemed to hesitate before he complied and told them to go to the den where they could warm up. As he turned to walk away, the thief spoke up, “Ah, do you have any dry clothes I could borrow? Coming straight from prison, this is all I have, and it’s soaking wet.” William made a face at the idea of lending his clothing to a criminal, but Crow went on before he could object, “You said you don’t want anyone getting sick, and I’m part of that ‘anyone.’ Besides, I won’t be much use to the king if I’m ill, right?”

“Fine,” William spat sourly. “The king did provide us with spare clothes for everyone, but they’re kept with our other supplies in the wagon. I will check with Abraxas to see if he brought any to the inn with him when he dropped the wagon off. The boy is always overly prepared.” He muttered the last sentence under his breath as he walked inside the building. Crow followed after him, but went to the smoking lounge rather than the room, as the knight had suggested. He led Penelope over to the fireplace, letting her go so he could get a flame started with some flint and fire steel that lay nearby.

Once that was done, he sat down beside her on the wooden floor and yawned, “Now, if William can just find us some dry clothes, this’ll be quite cozy, huh?” He nudged her teasingly. “You know, it’s almost romantic: sitting by the fire like this. I wouldn’t blame you if you wanted to scoot a little closer so I can help you warm up.”