Crow bit his tongue to stifle a victorious grin as he walked out of the Great Hall with Penelope. Even though they wouldn’t have much more time together than they normally did, he was grateful for whatever they could get. [i]I just wish we could be alone,[/i] he added silently to himself with a sideways glance at Preston, who had trotted up to join them. As long as the attendant followed him around everywhere, it was going to be hard for them to ever find time to themselves.

He turned to Penelope as she told him that she had been assigned to the third floor for the next three days. “That’ll be nice,” he murmured back to her, casting the knight a subtle smile. With a quick glance at Preston to be sure the boy wasn’t paying attention, he added in a whisper: “I’ve missed being with you. Pretending we aren’t together every day is worse than when we were meeting every few days in the outer villages.” He brushed his hand against hers as they walked, casting her a wistful look.

Suddenly, he felt someone’s eyes on him, and he turned to see that the servant was looking his way now. He clicked his tongue, discreetly putting a bit more distance between himself and the knight. With the boy so close, they couldn’t say much without raising suspicion. “Why don’t you head off early?” he suggested with a friendly grin. “I’m sure I’ll be fine the rest of the way there.” He nudged the attendant good-naturedly. “You could use the extra time to figure out which of your drawings you want to show me.”

“Are you sure it’s okay?” Preston brightened.

“Yeah, why not?” Crow shrugged. He gestured to Penelope. “I’ve got a knight for company, and I don’t need anything else from you before my lesson.”

“Alright,” Preston bowed eagerly. “Thank you.” He turned around to go back down to the servants’ quarters of the castle.

Once he was gone, Crow turned back to Penelope with a smirk, “Looks like it’s just you and me now.”