Crow spent the rest of his time before supper taking a light nap. Knowing that he was going to be shortchanged on sleep during the later part of the night, he wanted to make up for the loss as much as he could now. After all, with Gavin watching him so closely, he didn’t want to appear completely exhausted when they explored Wheldrake the next day. He hoped that by sleeping now, the lack of rest later wouldn’t be quite as detrimental to his performance.

So, when Penelope came over to tell him that supper was ready, he blinked slowly as he woke up. Letting out a yawn, he sat up and stretched his legs, looking up to meet her gaze with a weary smile, “Thanks for letting me know. I’ll be over in a minute.” Before he followed after her, he took a moment to stay behind and shake off the rest of his lingering grogginess. As he did, he glanced furtively at the others, who were already filling their plates with the contaminated food. It seemed like no one had noticed the valerian root he had tossed in with the rest of it. Good. All that was left now was to wait for the sedative to take effect.

Rising to his feet, Crow headed over to join the rest of the group by the firepit. He studied the pot of cooked food contemplatively, wondering if it would be a good idea for him to eat any of it at all. With so much to do that night, he needed to be clearheaded, and the valerian would just make him drowsy. [i]A small bite can’t hurt,[/i] he thought, peeking at Penelope from the corner of his eye. Since she would probably be awaiting his reaction to the food she had prepared, it would be too obvious for him to refuse to eat any of it. [i]As long as I don’t have too much, it shouldn’t be enough to affect me.[/i]

Having made up his mind, he filled up a plate with food for himself and sat down next to the knight. He had helped himself to a portion that was of comparable size to the amount he usually ate for dinner, but he only intended to consume a small amount of it. He would just have to find a way to dispose of the leftovers when she wasn’t looking.

Crow lifted a bite of mixed vegetables and chicken to his mouth, and then turned to Penelope with a smile, “You did a good job.” He pressed a swift kiss to her cheek, hoping that since he had given her a reaction early, she wouldn’t watch him as closely as he slowly worked on the rest of his plate.

“This [i]is[/i] good,” Alistair spoke up, staring down at his food with wide eyes. He looked up at Crow and Rikki with a frown. “We steal their ingredients all the time. How come our meals never taste like this?”

Rikki glanced over at him curiously before lifting a bite of chicken to her mouth. She said nothing about it, but there was a flicker of astonishment in her gaze that gave away the fact that she was just as impressed with the food as Alistair was.

Crow watched them both with an amused smirk. “You can thank them,” he said, gesturing to Gavin and Penelope. “They did all the work.”

Alistair stared at the two knights for a moment before turning to Olivia, “Do you know how to cook like this too?”

At his question, the knight choked on her food.

Crow snorted and leaned in a bit closer to Penelope, “I bet she regrets making that big speech about how cooking is a waste of time now.”