Of course it wasn’t going to be easy to convince Penelope to let him go. Crow had known that before he had even opened his mouth to suggest the idea. Still, her words were hard for him to hear. She said he was wrong, but he knew better than to believe that, no matter how much he wanted to. Love always faded with time. It was a bit of wisdom that he had been taught by his mother long ago. No matter how infatuated they were with each other now, the strength of that emotion would be tested by countless hardships if they stayed together. He didn’t want to go into those hardships with the baggage of having already ruined her life. She would surely come to resent him for it later on.

Turning back to the knight, he was about to explain that to her, but he didn’t have a chance before she took his hand and lifted it to her cheek. The unexpected gesture made him freeze, and he held her gaze as she went on to tell him more about what she had gone through during their two years apart. She had already explained it to him in part, but he was surprised to learn that she had been so desperate to stop the war and come back to him. He had thought that she had been trying to save her family, not reclaim the life they had planned together. The news brought a swell of mixed emotions to the thief that made his chest feel tight.

As she went on to tell him that she didn’t even want everything she had now, he stared at her, unsure what to think. He had never even considered the possibility that she was only going about this life because it was the best that she could attain as a noblewoman. She cared so deeply about her family, and her job as a lieutenant gave her the power to protect the people of Brerra who couldn’t protect themselves. It seemed from every angle like the life she would have wanted. For her to tell him now that she wanted a life with him even more made him feel warm with affection. He had always known that she had loved him, but he’d never imagined her love for him ran this deeply.

Crow felt a wave of sadness when Penelope looked up at him with tear-filled eyes, and suddenly, he realized that he had hurt her, but not in the way that he had previously thought. Biting the inside of his lip, he averted his gaze for a moment once she had finished speaking, still processing everything she had just said. While there was still a part of him that couldn’t let go of his fear that she would someday regret being with him, he couldn’t deny that his belief that they should end things had been wrong.

[i]Maybe we can make this work, after all,[/i] he thought, feeling a bit more confident. They might not have been together for very long in the grand scheme of things, but they had already faced a number of trials that had tested their dedication to each other. Their passion may have been fated to fade with time, but as long as they faced whatever future hardships that awaited them as a team, who was he to say they would fail? Perhaps he was being premature in his decision to quit. If Penelope was willing to face the future head on, then he should have been willing to do so too.

In a sudden burst of affection for the knight, he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace, burying his head against her neck. “Thank you,” he said in a shaky voice that was muffled by her long hair. “I needed to hear that.” Pulling back from her slightly, he pressed a kiss to her cheek and then shifted to meet her gaze with a fond smile. “I love you too, Penelope. I just want you to be happy.” He lifted a hand to her cheek, tracing her scar gingerly with his fingertips until he reached the corner of her eye. Brushing a tear away, he leaned in to kiss her tenderly.

“I had no idea you felt that way about me,” Crow breathed when he pulled back from her lips. He traced his hand down the nape of her neck and shook his head. “If you really feel like this is what you want, then I’ll do everything I can to make you happy. You’re the only woman I love, and I want to give you the life you deserve.”