Crow exhaled peacefully as he leaned against Penelope’s side, feeling relieved that the trip was going well so far. Now that he’d tied up loose ends with his companions, all that was left was to convince Penelope’s baroness to let her come back to the inner kingdom with him. He wasn’t sure what to expect with that. The woman seemed reasonable enough, but she might not want to let go of her lieutenant before the war was over. He just hoped Penelope would be able to convince her that she could do more from inside the castle than she could on the warfront.

As the knight went on to say that she could leave first so he’d have more time with the other thieves, Crow mulled over the idea and then nodded. “If you go early, that will give you more time to convince Mia too,” he mused under his breath, wanting to keep the conversation between the two of them. “I could still meet up with you tomorrow night, so we’ll be ready to head back to the inner kingdom in the morning if you can come with me, but you should go before then, so you can talk to your baroness sooner.”

He held Penelope a little closer to his side as he thought about the possibility that she might not be able to come back to the castle with him. Since she was the whole reason why he had accepted the job in the first place, he wanted her to be by his side when he began his new life as the viceroy for his father. If she was forced to stay with her battalion, it was going to be a lot harder for him to adjust to nobility. Of course, he knew he still had Naida, who had expressed that she wanted to help him get used to castle life, and he was grateful to have her friendly face around, but it wasn’t the same. He wanted to be with Penelope.

“You both look tired,” Alistair suddenly broke the silence, smirking at them amusedly.

“We’ve done a lot of traveling over the last week,” Crow answered him with a yawn. “And there’s still one more three-day trip back to the castle.”

“It’s still strange to think that you’re going to the inner kingdom for any other reason besides raiding nobles,” Rikki shook her head.

“Who said I’m not?” Crow casted her a mischievous grin. “I may be taking a new title, but I’m still a thief at heart. If any of the nobles there get on my bad side, I’ll be sure to put them in their place.”

“Just don’t get yourself into trouble,” Hazel rolled her eyes. “I don’t want to find out you ruined your chance to do something meaningful for these villages just because you couldn’t let go of a petty feud with some powerful nobleman.”

“Alright, I promise I won’t fight with anyone who outranks me,” Crow said and then snapped his fingers. “Oh wait, that’s just my family.” He winked at her slyly. “Looks like you don’t have anything to worry about after all.”

“Gods,” Hazel pinched the bridge of her nose. “Who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to give [i]you[/i] power?”

“Just the highest-ranking man in the Kingdom of Brerra,” Crow quipped snidely.

“Just don’t do anything outlandishly stupid,” Hazel huffed. “As long as you don’t get yourself arrested again, I don’t need to know about whatever other idiotic stunts you pull at the castle.” She rose to her feet and smoothed down the front of her dress. “Anyway, I’ve had about as much of you as I can take for one night, so I’m going to bed.”

“Oh, come on, love,” Crow rolled his eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

“Nope,” Hazel shook her head, although he could see a teasing glint in her eyes. “After being free from your jabbering for a whole month, I need to ease myself back into this. Goodnight.”

“Night,” Crow smirked, following her with his eyes as she headed back to the sleeping area. Once the herbalist was gone, he let out a sigh and leaned into Penelope again, letting most of his weight rest against her side in an exaggerated fashion. “We should get some sleep soon too. I’m exhausted.”