“I know that,” Crow laughed softly and rolled his eyes. “But it’s not like we’d have to go far…” He leaned in and met her lips again, resting his hand on her hip. “We could come back to this spot,” he went on in a murmur, speaking between kisses. “Just for a little while… William would never even know we were gone.” He gave her bottom lip a gentle nip before finally pulling back to meet her gaze with a pleading smile. “Come on, love. Wouldn’t it be fun to be a little risky?”

If he was honest with himself, he knew it wasn’t the wisest idea for them to let their guards down and abandon the watch, but that didn’t change the fact that he wanted to make the most of his time with Penelope while they were still in Younis. Besides, what were the chances that they would get attacked tonight of all nights? Surely it couldn’t be that dangerous to relax for a little while… right?

Suddenly, Crow flinched at the sound of a twig snapping nearby. Heart racing, he quickly rolled off of Penelope and sat up to look for the source of the noise, worried that William had gotten impatient and come down to the brook to tell them to come back to the campsite. Fortunately, his fear was laid to rest when he spotted a deer upstream that had come to drink from the water. He let out his breath in relief and laid down next to Penelope on his side, propping his head up on his palm, “Thank the gods. I thought that was William for a moment.”