Crow nodded when Penelope said she just needed to wake up a bit on her own. He shifted away from her on the bed, giving her space to stretch and loosen up. At her mention of not knowing how much longer they had until they reached the castle, he sighed. There were probably only a few more days of traveling left, but he was more concerned about what was to come when they found the Younisian palace.

With the way William had been hurrying them along, it sounded like the king of Brerra wasn’t planning to give him much time to actually steal the staff. Hartley’s description of the protection around the Younisian king wasn’t encouraging either. Crow would have liked to have at least a month to prepare for the raid, if not longer, but it was beginning to look like he would have a few days at best. That wasn’t even enough time to learn about all of the weapons the guards used, let alone the layout of the palace itself. If he was going to pull this off, he needed a miracle.

[color=fff79a][b]“Crow, I think I should teach you how to fight,”[/b][/color] Penelope said suddenly. [color=fff79a][b]“I mean, from what I’ve heard you already know some, but I can help you refine those skills. I’m your only back up, so if something happens to me or if I can’t get to you, I want to make sure you can get yourself out of there.”[/b][/color]

“I don’t know,” Crow shifted his weight uncomfortably. “It’s not that I can’t fight, it’s just…” he trailed off, averting his gaze. [i]It’s just that I can’t stand the sight of blood,[/i] he finished silently. It was probably the secret he was most ashamed of in himself. He knew it wasn’t a very manly thing to be afraid of, but he couldn’t help it. He had been hematophobic since he was a child. It was the reason why he spent extra time preparing for raids like the upcoming one—so he would never have to resort to brute force.

“I’ll be fine,” he offered Penelope a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry about me. I’m good at finding my way out of tough situations.” He pressed a kiss to her forehead, hoping she would just take his word for it and drop the subject. “Besides, I prefer to avoid fighting at all. If we get caught in a battle in the middle of a palace full of Younisian knights, it won’t turn out well. We should work on not getting caught to begin with.”