Crow blinked at William’s question, confused at first by his accusations of Penelope until he remembered that the knight had found out about them being together two years ago. He studied the other man cautiously. He and Penelope had been trying to keep anyone else from finding out about their relationship, but it was going to be hard to convince her old comrade that there was nothing left between them when he had already caught them once before. If William realized the truth, there wasn’t much to stop him from running his mouth to the other knights in the castle. Of course, that wouldn’t be a problem if he chose to accept his father’s offer and take on a noble title, but he had yet to decide if that was the path he wanted to follow. For the sake of keeping his options open and preventing Penelope from having to run away with him early, they had to convince William that they weren’t together anymore.

He listened tensely as Penelope tried to brush off their involvement as a simple guard duty assignment from her father. It was a thin lie, and William was clearly still suspicious, but at least it gave them something plausible to work with. He glanced at Penelope, biting back a pleased smirk as she combatted the other knight’s attempts to separate them with yet another lie. It seemed that if William was intent on catching them a second time, he was going to have to find a better angle than what he was working with now. As long as they could continue using John as a scapegoat, her comrade was helpless to prove that there was more going on here than met the eye.

Fortunately, William seemed to realize this as well and reluctantly backed down, although not without spitting one last warning at Penelope for good measure. Crow rolled his eyes. The threat was empty anyways. Since her father already knew about them, there wasn’t much the other knight could do to separate them by going to John about their relationship. But, of course, he kept his mouth shut since he didn’t want to alert William to the fact that they were back together at all.

Before anyone had a chance to respond to William’s last words, Crow heard the sound of footsteps on the wooden floor outside the room. He glanced past the older knight’s shoulder to see the attendant from before step inside with an uncomfortable expression on his face as he announced that he had come to bring the thief to his chambers. Sneaking a look at William, Crow smirked to himself. Naturally, he had to fit in one more gibe before they parted ways with their old comrade.

“That’s right,” he mused, folding his arms loosely over his chest as he grinned at William. “Because the [i]king[/i] arranged for me to have my own bed chambers in the castle while I stay here.”

“I’m sure he only did that so he could have his guards keep an eye on you, pest,” the knight growled.

“Whatever helps you sleep at night,” Crow shrugged, turning back to Penelope. “Come on, love. I want to see what sort of arrangements the king has made for his [i]honored guest[/i].” He shot William one more sly smirk before stepping around him to exit the room.