Crow glanced down at Penelope as he felt her squeeze his hand. He let out the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding, forcing himself to relax. Even though he had never met his father, he had quite a bit of pent up emotions about the man. He despised him for abandoning his mother and ruining her reputation in her home village, and he loathed the fact that the consequences of his actions never seemed to catch up with him. Albin hadn’t lost his noble status over the affair, and now he had even advanced to Brerratic royalty. It felt unfair that a man as twisted as his father would be rewarded with his own kingdom after he had wronged his mother so terribly.

He looked up at Gavin as the knight spoke up again and scoffed. The thought of Albin lifting so much as his little finger to help someone else was ludicrous to the thief. Gavin could try all he liked to convince the king to help, but Crow knew his efforts would be wasted. It would take nothing short of a miracle to convince a man that greedy to care about the state of the outer villages. He doubted the king would have cared if half of the villages had been wiped out in the war—well, unless he noticed a shortage in the taxes at the end of the season.

As Penelope flinched at her former suitor’s words, Crow turned to her with a sympathetic frown before shooting the other knight a glare. Gavin had no right to question her methods of helping the outer villages. Using status wasn’t the only way to evoke change. She could still do quite a bit for the peasants without money or titleship, such as helping them rebuild their damaged property or treating the villagers who had been injured in the battles. It was what he planned to do when the war was over, since they were going to need all the help they could get. The king may not have been willing to do anything, but the two of them could do quite a bit on their own.

He studied Penelope curiously as she explained what her plan had been for after the war. The idea actually wasn’t bad, especially if she was right about there being other nobles in the kingdom who shared her desire to help the peasants of the outer villages. He felt a small pang of guilt for taking her away from the opportunity to put together a group with so much potential, but she seemed determined in her intent to be with him in spite of it all. Besides, it was also true that Gavin could take over the plans for her. She may have been the one to think of the idea, but she didn’t have to see it through to the end.

Feeling a burst of affection for the knight, Crow pressed a kiss to her head. “And while he’s doing that, we can work from inside the villages and use the money they receive to rebuild their homes,” he said with a grin. “Who needs the help of a king when we’ve already got your clever mind coming up with solutions?”

“A mind that we could really use in the king’s court,” Gavin muttered with a shake of his head. It was clear that he felt like Penelope was wasting her potential by giving up her status.

Crow rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you nobles will do just fine without her,” he said, slipping his arm around her waist.

Gavin ignored him, turning instead to speak to Penelope directly, “You could do so much more if you stay, not only after this war, but for years to come. Just think of it, Penelope.”