Crow smiled as Penelope kissed him on the cheek and turned back to the paper in front of him to practice writing out his alias. As much as he would have liked to write his birth name, he knew he would probably be using the name ‘Crow’ more often once he got better at writing, since he didn’t want to give out his actual name to any more people than the few who already knew it. It was simply safer to keep the name ‘Collin’ between himself and Penelope, so no one else could find out about it.

However, he had just barely touched the quill to the paper again when a knock suddenly sounded at the door to his room. The thief spun around in his chair just as the door opened, only to see Penelope’s father step inside. The sigh of the older knight made him relax, since he’d been momentarily worried that Hunter had come back. It wouldn’t have been good if the attendant had caught him sitting so close to Penelope, since they didn’t want to tip him off about their relationship.

Despite the fact that he knew he could trust John, Crow supposed he should have been a little more attentive as the other man commented on the papers between them. The thief’s eyes flicked to them for a moment before returning to John’s face, and he hurriedly snatched the two sheets off the table to hide behind his back in one hand. It wasn’t a very subtle move at all, but he didn’t want the knight to see what they had been writing, since his real name had been on the papers.

Clearing his throat awkwardly, he averted his gaze off to the side. “Penelope was just teaching me how to write,” he mumbled in response to the question.

“I see,” John mused, knitting his brow as he studied the thief with a confused look, as if he wasn’t sure why he was trying to be secretive about something like that. His eyes wandered down to the thief’s torso like he was trying to see through him to look at the concealed papers as he added, “Who’s Collin?”

Crow blanched. It seemed he hadn’t hidden the papers quickly enough to hide what they’d written on them after all. He glanced at Penelope as he fumbled to think of a lie, but apparently, his initial reaction had been enough to give the sharp-witted knight his answer.

“I see,” John said again before the thief could make up an explanation. He turned to Penelope, moving on abruptly from the subject. “If you’re finished here, our sleeping quarters have been prepared for us. Come with me, and I’ll take you to them.”