As they stood wrapped in each other’s embrace, Crow found himself unable to keep from staring at Penelope. His eyes wandered over her face, taking in every detail of the features he hadn’t seen in nearly three weeks. After so much time had passed, he had nearly forgotten how beautiful she was, or at least, he was starting to think he was exaggerating her image in his mind whenever he’d thought about her when he had been trapped in his bed. Seeing her again in person reminded him that he definitely hadn’t worked her memory up in his head. She was just as breathtaking as he remembered her to be.

He ran his hand slowly down the length of her back as she pressed into his chest, murmuring about how she had thought she was going to lose him. Her words sent a pang of sadness through him. While he had been at his worst, he hadn’t had time to think about how the knight had been taking everything. Looking back on it all now, he realized she must have been worried sick after hearing from Hazel that his illness had progressed, and that he couldn’t see her.

“I made you a promise,” he said, offering her a comforting smile. “It’s going to take a lot more than a simple disease to keep me from breaking my word to you, love.” He held her tightly for a moment, his grin widening slightly as she kissed his cheek. After going for so long without her touch, every small brush of her lips or stroke of her fingers was like lightning to him. He wished they could just stay there forever and forget about their responsibilities and problems.

Unfortunately, her following words forced him to stay grounded. He let out his breath in a soft exhale as he looked over her shoulder at the forest between her camp. As nice as it would be to let go, she was right; they didn’t have the luxury. Still, he was reluctant to part with her just yet. They still had some time left before the knights would show up and he would have to separate from her to go back to his camp. There was no reason to rush.

He looked down to meet her gaze again as she finished by saying that she had spoken to Hazel about meeting with him again in three days. The comment made him quirk a brow in surprise. “She talked to you about that after all, huh?” he mused aloud. After the last medicine had done little to nothing to improve his health, he had thought for sure that the herbalist would refuse to set anything up between them. It was the whole reason why he had snuck out again in the first place. To find out that she had been willing to speak with the knight was good to hear.

Still his trip that night hadn’t been completely pointless.

Crow leaned in and pressed a series of affectionate kisses to Penelope’s skin, working his way from her cheek to her neck as he savored the dwindling time they had left. “I hope we never have to part for so long again,” he breathed, resting his head against hers, cheek to cheek. He remained there for a moment with his eyes closed as he enjoyed being in her presence.

After a short while, he glanced up again as the distant sounds of shouting interrupted the tranquil silence. He clicked his tongue and hesitantly pulled back from the knight. “Sounds like I need to go,” he sighed, meeting her gaze with a smile. “I love you, Penelope, and I’ll see you again in three days.” With no more time to wait around, he touched one last fleeting kiss to her lips and moved quickly to retrieve his dagger from the tree trunk. Once the blade was free, he spun around on his heel and ran back into the forest, disappearing from sight just as the first knights started to arrive.