Crow’s shoulders sank when Penelope said she couldn’t just ignore her barons. Though he wished they could just pretend like her leaders had no influence over her, he knew it was a longshot that Mia would simply let her lieutenant go, even if they chose to skirt past the battalion on their trip this time. The knight was probably right when she said that she was going to have to get permission to return to the castle to work as a guard no matter what. He just hoped the baroness would be willing to hear her out when she got there.

As Penelope went on to say that she might not be gone long if Mia denied her request, Crow looked up at her again with a frown. The uncertainty in her voice didn’t slip past him, and he doubted she was right about the war ending so soon. There were simply too many steps for that to happen. First of all, she was going to have to convince Albin to agree to a peaceful negotiation with the king of Younis, which didn’t seem easy to do. Even if his father was reasonable about it, he would probably have a lot of things to take into consideration as the king of Brerra that would delay his answer. Then, if he did agree, he would have to start communicating with the other king to come up with a compromise to end the feud, and there was no telling how long that would take.

[i]Oh gods, that’s going to be my job, isn’t it?[/i] Crow grimaced as the realization struck him. Suddenly, the weight of the title he’d accepted began to bear down on him a bit more heavily. How could a simple, illiterate commoner like him possibly learn enough to negotiate with a foreign ruler? It seemed impossible that he would be able to handle such an important responsibility, and he began to wonder if he’d bitten off more than he could chew by deciding to become his father’s viceroy.

“No matter what happens, there’s nothing more we can do about it now,” he said with a halfhearted shrug. “I suppose we should just enjoy the time we’ve got while we still have it.” Letting out his breath in a calming exhale, he offered her a small smile. He wished he could hold her hand or kiss her or do anything to close the distance between them, even for a moment, but with so many other people around, he couldn’t risk getting any closer to her than he already was.

“I can’t wait until we get to the inn,” he murmured quietly, changing the subject as he glanced up at the sky overhead. “It’ll be nice to escape from all these prying eyes and just be alone with you.”