Crow looked away guiltily when Penelope said she wished he had come to her sooner. Reflecting back on everything, it probably would have been the better move to tell her what had been happening, so they could have worked on finding a solution together. However, at the time, he had been too worried about her safety to even consider doing that. It had seemed safer to go along with what Jaxon had wanted to keep the murderer from killing her. He supposed his fear of losing her had blinded him to making the more rational decision, and Jaxon had used that to manipulate him.

As she went on to bring up the alliance he had been willing to make with the Younisian baron, he shrank a little beneath her words. He was well aware that working for the enemy kingdom was far from the most honorable thing to do, but again, he had been afraid of losing her. Even though it pained him to turn on his homeland—especially the people of the outer villages—he cared more about ensuring his future with the knight than he did about fighting a losing battle to make sure everyone would be safe. Besides, his skill set didn’t do much for the battles anyway. Sure, he could fight decently enough, but he was just one man on the battlefield. He could do much more in the shadows, stealing from or sabotaging the knights.

The thought made him pause. He and his companions had been prepared to work for the Younisians because the baron had offered to pay them, but if he was honest, he didn’t really care about the money. All he wanted was his future with Penelope. Even though the Brerratic knights had made no such offer to form a real alliance, what was stopping him and the other thieves from simply working to sabotage the Younisians by themselves? They had made it this far without the help of their own kingdom. They didn’t need it now. His heart began to beat a little quicker as a plan started to piece itself together in his mind.

Crow glanced back at Penelope as she apologized for everything she had done to him on the night she had found out about his dealings with Jaxon. When she brought up his wound, he frowned and pulled her closer. “You can’t say that,” he murmured. “There’s no way we could know if anything would be different, so you can’t blame yourself for what happened.” He offered her a smile. “I was the one who decided to stand in the way of that sword, love. It was my decision alone, and I’m not going to let you try to pin it on yourself when it had nothing to do with anything you did.”

“As for everything else,” his smile faltered. “I understand why you would have been upset after everything I kept from you, so I’m not angry.” He sighed. “You were right that I should have come to you about it. In hindsight, I wish I did.” Holding her gaze, his expression softened, and he reached up to tuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “I’m just glad everything seemed to work out on its own, regardless of the choices either of us made.”

Feeling a burst of affection for the knight, Crow leaned up slightly to meet her lips in a kiss. He closed his eyes and trailed his hand down her back, losing himself in her touch. After a moment, he pulled back again with a grin. “I guess there’s one perk to getting impaled,” he said jokingly. “Because now I get to see you more often.”