Crow snorted when John said that accepting his father’s offer was ‘the smartest decision he’d ever made.’ It wasn’t like denying the job would have been that much worse. He and Penelope still could have had a decent life in Farhill, since he was a successful enough thief to support them both well enough to get by in the poor outer villages. He’d just decided on his own that he didn’t want to make her give anything up for him as long as there was a way for him to prevent her from doing so. So, even though he agreed that becoming the king’s viceroy was the better choice, he didn’t like the way the older knight acted like he would have been a fool to choose to continue being a peasant criminal.

As John went on to ask if they were expecting him to approve of a courtship between them, Crow blinked, caught a bit off guard by the question. After everything the knight had said about wanting to separate them, those words were the last that the thief had expected to come out of his mouth. He shifted his weight, unsure what to say. He didn’t necessarily feel like he needed John’s blessing to be with Penelope, since, in his opinion, they were perfectly capable of choosing to be together without anyone else’s involvement, but there [i]was[/i] a small part of him that felt it would be nice to know that her father approved of him.

However, before he could say anything, he glanced at Penelope as she spoke up first. It seemed that she wanted her father to approve of him as well. He turned back to the older knight, studying his reaction as Penelope went on to tell her father that she planned to be with him, implying that they weren’t going to end things no matter what he thought of their relationship. John’s facial expression was difficult to read as he took in everything his daughter was saying, and the thief held his breath as he waited to hear his response.

[color=fdc68a][b]“I’ll think about it.”[/b][/color]

Crow’s eyes widened slightly in surprise. It may not have been an outright ‘yes,’ but it certainly wasn’t a ‘no’ either. His heartbeat quickened in his chest. He’d never thought he was the type of man to earn any father’s blessing, let alone the father of a noblewoman. In fact, he’d always just assumed that if he ever married, it would be because someone chose to be with him [i]in spite[/i] of her father’s opinion. The possibility that John would actually give him permission to court his daughter made the thief feel unexpectedly eager to prove himself.

He nodded dazedly as John said that he’d taken a step in the right direction. “Hopefully that won’t be the only one then,” he said, casting a fond smile at Penelope and reaching out to give her hand a gentle squeeze.

John just grunted in response before gesturing to his daughter, “Come on; it’s getting late. We’re going back to our own sleeping quarters now.”