When they finally arrived at the gates to the wall that surrounded the castle, Crow felt ready to collapse from exhaustion. Between all the traveling they had been doing and his lack of sound sleep the night before, the only thing he wanted at that moment was to lay down in his new bed and get some much-needed rest. The desire was strong enough that he nearly forgot about the fact that he and Penelope would have to be parting ways when they reached the castle doors.

That was, until she reminded him.

 Crow turned to her with a frown as the large gates groaned open. Even though he’d been prepared to spend less time with her when they returned, he supposed he’d been hoping to prolong the time they still had left. However, it seemed like that wouldn’t be possible. If she had to speak with the other palace guards right away, it would look strange for him to accompany her for no reason. He would just have to go back to his room alone and hope that they could find a way to meet later on.

“Alright,” he nodded after a moment, stifling a weary yawn. “While you do that, I think I’m going to take a nap before supper.” He turned to her as she added that she hoped they would be able to see each other again soon. “I hope so too,” he said softly, subtly brushing his hand against hers as they walked up to the main doors of the castle.

As always, he ignored the stares and jeers of the knights they walked past. The nobles closest to the castle had seemed to grow more hostile toward him as of late, and he wondered what sort of rumor must have spread about him for their attitudes to change so quickly. Perhaps someone had gossiped that he was going to be hanged after all? The ridiculousness of the thought made him want to snort. If he was really going to be executed, he would never willingly return to the castle like he was now. The knights would have had to drag him back in chains, screaming and kicking the whole way. They had to be fools to believe he was going to face any sort of punishment while he carried himself with such an even temper.

When they reached the large doors that would admit them into the castle, the guards on either side pulled them open with smug expressions, likely fallen for the same rumors as everyone else. Crow rolled his eyes and turned to Penelope as they stepped inside. “I guess this is where we part,” he offered her a halfhearted smile. “See you around, love.” He wished he could give her a kiss goodbye, but not wanting to draw attention to them, he simply nodded his head and turned away from her to make his way over to the stairs that led up to his room in the castle.

The climb was tiring, and he bean to wish his bed chambers were closer to the ground floor of the palace. [i]How does my father do this every day?[/i] He wondered wearily, letting out the yawn that he had suppressed earlier. Of course, the rational part of him knew it wouldn’t be nearly as difficult to make it to the top of the stairs when he wasn’t as worn out as he was now. But of course, when he was tired, he didn’t want to listen to that voice. All he wanted was to sleep, and if anything or anyone got in the way of that, he was going to be disagreeable.

When he got to the floor where his room was located, Crow ambled down the hallway, not minding his steps as carefully as he usually did. At the current moment, he didn’t care if anyone heard him coming though. The knights all knew by now that he was allowed to be on this floor. All he cared about was laying down. Fortunately, the guards in this part of the castle didn’t bother him outside of their usual glares, so he made it to his bed chambers without any trouble.

He reached for the handle on one of the large, wooden doors and pulled it open, stepping through the opening and closing it again to escape the eyes of the nobles in the hall. Now alone in his room, he closed his eyes and let out his breath in a quiet sigh of relief. The silence was relaxing. Knowing that he was going to be under watchful gazes for what would likely be the remainder of his life, taking moments to be by himself felt much more meaningful now.

He slid his bag off his shoulders and turned around to go lay down in his bed. However, when he looked up, he discovered that he wasn’t as alone as he’d thought he was.

Crow startled slightly as his eyes fell on a figure standing by his bed. It was a boy—about Hartley’s age, he noted—wearing the clothing of a castle servant. The stranger had reddish-brown hair and bright, hazel eyes that gave him a rather innocent look. He was also a bit on the short side—if they had been standing closer together, Crow guessed he would have been nearly a head taller than him. In the boy’s hands was a broom.

For a moment, the two stared at each other without saying anything, but after a period of tense silence, Crow managed to find his voice again. “Who are you?” he asked, studying the stranger furtively. The boy didn’t look dangerous, per say, but the thief wasn’t one to trust any person he didn’t know, no matter what they looked like at a glance.

To his displeasure, the boy didn’t answer his question right away.

“You’re Crow Lockton, right?” the servant asked, eyeing him curiously.

“Yes,” Crow answered curtly and folded his arms over his chest. “Now who are [i]you[/i]?” A small part of him felt a little guilty for being so short tempered with the boy, but he was tired from his long trip and in no mood to converse.

“Oh,” the boy stood up a little straighter and then dipped forward in a bow that was surprisingly elegant for someone his age. “I’m your personal attendant. My name is Preston Bossard.”

Crow quirked a brow at that. He supposed he should have known that he would be getting a servant of his own when he’d taken the job of viceroy—every high-ranking noble he’d ever seen had been attended by numerous peasants—but for some reason, he had assumed that he wouldn’t receive the same special treatment. Apparently, his father had spared him no luxury. Still, something about the thought of being waited on by someone else didn’t sit well with the thief.

“Personal attendant, huh?” he mused and then shook his head. “I don’t need one. I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself, so you can tell the king that he can let you return to whatever other job he had you doing before.”

To his surprise, his comment didn’t seem to be taken as well as he’d thought it would.

Preston blanched and leaned over in a deeper bow. “O-Of course you don’t [i]need[/i] an attendant,” he spluttered, seeming frightened for some reason the thief couldn’t understand. “I’m just here to help make things easier for you. I’ll take care of any tasks you don’t want to do, like washing your clothes or grooming your horses.”

“I don’t have horses.”

“Regardless!” Preston looked up at him again with a nervous expression. “I’m honored to do this job. Please, don’t send me away.”

Crow blinked, confused by the boy’s reaction. He would have thought the servant would have been relieved to be taken away from such a dull job, but instead, he almost seemed afraid of returning to whatever work the king had assigned to him before. He must have had a terrible duty to have been excited by the prospect of waiting on a nobleman, hand and foot. “Alright, fine,” he shrugged after a moment, stepping over to sit down on the edge of his bed. “If it means that much to you, then you can stay.” He bent down to take off his boots, getting ready to take the nap he’d been wanting.

Preston fidgeted uncomfortably with the broom in his hands. “Um, wait,” he said hesitantly.

“What now?” Crow groaned. All he wanted was to sleep, and it was looking like the prospect of doing so was growing dimmer by the second.

“The king instructed me to bring you to his council room as soon as you returned,” Preston explained quickly. “He has something he wishes to say to you.”

“Can’t it wait until tomorrow?” Crow ran a hand through his hair. “I’m tired.”

“I don’t think so,” the boy shook his head. “He made it clear to me that I had to escort you tonight. It sounded pressing.”

Crow drummed his fingers on his knee, toying with the idea of telling the servant that his father would just have to wait until tomorrow, because he wasn’t leaving. However, he didn’t want to get his new attendant in trouble on his first day on the job. He didn’t know his father well enough to assume that the man wouldn’t punish him harshly. “Fine,” he stood up from the bed again with some effort, stretching lazily before he turned to Preston with a wave of his hand. “He’d better make it quick though, because I want to sleep.”