The next morning, Crow awoke feeling like he hadn’t slept at all. His mind had been wired all night with thoughts about how to handle the situation with Penelope, filling him with uncertainties that had kept him from sleeping as soundly as he had hoped. In addition to that, his body was stiff from the tension he had built up from his stress, and the ache in his back from the night before had gotten worse rather than better. Overall, it wasn’t the most pleasant experience first thing in the day.

He groaned tiredly as Penelope shifted against him and pressed a kiss to his cheek. The gesture would have normally been welcomed by the thief, but with his internal confliction that had yet to be solved, a leaden weight of fear and uncertainty replaced the joy he usually felt at her touch. However, he didn’t want her to know that he had eavesdropped on her conversation last night, so to cover his discomfort, he feigned a weary smile and squeezed her tightly in an embrace.

“Just a little longer,” he murmured, burying his head against her neck. While he was still exhausted from the terrible sleep he had gotten, he also didn’t feel ready to let her out of his arms quite yet. He had yet to make up his mind about whether or not he was going to let her go, but the fact that parting ways with the knight was even on the table again made him reluctant to even put physical space between them. His heart still wasn’t in a place to accept that he might lose her, so he wanted to savor every moment he was certain they had left.

Crow held her a little closer, focusing on every detail about her; her soft skin, her warmth, and even her smell. He felt a swell of affection for the knight, but the moment was disrupted as the image of her disappointed face flashed through his mind once again. As much as he didn’t want to let her go, the logical part of him knew that he was only making things harder on himself by holding her so tightly. If he was going to get to a place where he could let her go, he needed to put some distance between them.

Pulling back from his embrace, he forced himself to sit up—his back smarted at the motion, making him wince faintly—and glanced down at Penelope. “Alright, I’m ready now,” he said, stretching his limbs to rid himself of his lingering weariness.