Crow glanced back at Penelope as she sat on the other side of the bed and then leaned over to take his boots off for the night. After doing so much walking since he’d recovered from his injury—well, mostly; it still pained him slightly if he stressed it too much—it felt good to sit down and rest again. Letting out a quiet sigh, he straightened his posture and looked over his shoulder as he felt Penelope slip her arms around him. A fond smile played on his lip, and he closed his eyes, leaning into her when she kissed him on the cheek.

Despite his lingering concerns about facing his companions soon, he was still able to enjoy the warmth of her company, alone in their room at the inn. Hopefully it wouldn’t be much longer before they would be able to spend every night together like this. He felt like they deserved it after all the trials they had been through so far. Surely if the gods really did favor them, they would be granted some sort of reward for everything they had done. It only seemed fair.

Crow opened his eyes again to meet Penelope’s gaze as she spoke to him. “That’ll be nice,” he mused at her mention that they could slow down once they reached Myrefall. Weariness aside, he wanted to take his time saying goodbye to the outer villages since, as far as he knew, it was going to be quite a while before he could ever come back, and even if he did, nothing was going to be the same. He wanted to savor the time he had left in his homeland before he returned to the castle to begin his new life as a nobleman.

When Penelope moved away to let him lay down, Crow twisted at the waist to swing his legs onto the bed. In the next moment, he casted her a mischievous look and wrapped his arms around her middle, pulling her down with him as he collapsed back onto the mattress. He pressed a kiss to her cheek and grinned at her playfully as he held her tightly against himself, “Huh, seems like I’ve still got some energy left after all.”

Looking into her eyes, his teasing expression softened into a tender one, and he moved in to meet her lips in a deep kiss, overwhelmed with a sudden burst of affection for the knight. “I don’t think you know just how grateful I am that I met you,” he breathed when he pulled back again, trailing his fingers gently through her hair as he held her gaze. “You mean so much to me, love. Really. Before I met you, I didn’t care about anyone other than myself, but now I couldn’t imagine going back to living on my own… I think it’s a good change.”

He rested his hand against the nape of her neck, smiling softly, “I’m so lucky I’m going to get to marry my first and closest friend. I love you, Penelope.”