Crow chuckled softly as Penelope said she would hold him to his promise. Despite the difficulty of their situation, he wasn’t too worried about sneaking her out of the inner kingdom with him if or when the time came for them to escape. He’d gotten out of tighter spots than this before, and he could do it again. As long as she was willing to run away with him, they would be able to start up the life they had been dreaming about in the outer villages. It was only a matter of time now.

As she told him to go back to his own bed, he nodded wearily, letting out a tired yawn. Though he wanted to stay beside her all night if he could, he knew he needed to get some sleep while he still could. They had another long walk to the next village, and on top of that, his wound still had plenty of healing left to do. He needed to be in good condition to make it all the way there, so he wouldn’t need to make any extra stops along the way. Plus, she was right that the longer they stayed up talking, the longer they risked John waking up and catching them together. The last thing either of them needed was for her protective father to get any more involved than he already had.

“I hope so too,” he sighed, touching one more kiss to her cheek before he carefully rose from the edge of her mattress. Casting her a sleepy smile, the thief reached out to run his hand down the length of her arm and gave her hand a quick squeeze. “Goodnight, love. I’ll see you tomorrow.” With that, he turned and made his way silently back to his own bed, laying down and reattaching the chain to his wrist, so John wouldn’t know he had let himself loose to visit with her.

Settling down as comfortably as he could manage, Crow pulled his blanket up to his chin and closed his eyes, drifting off almost instantly into a light, yet peaceful slumber.