Crow frowned as Penelope answered him with a stutter. It seemed that even though they were safe in the castle, she was just as nervous as when they had been in his run-down old house. He glanced toward the far end of the hallway as she shifted closer to him, making sure they were still alone. Even though he longed to comfort her, he didn’t want to make all their hard work to keep their relationship a secret go to waste.  If a knight or a servant walked through, they would be caught right away.

He turned back to Penelope as she went on to say—very unconvincingly—that she was fine.  Just looking at how much she was shaking, he knew that was a lie. He glanced down the hallway again and shifted his weight slightly. The smart idea probably would have been to go to his lesson with Udolf, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave the knight alone while she was so distraught. He let out his breath in a quiet exhale. The tutor was probably furious with him by now. He supposed he would just have to make up his absence some other time.

Having come to a decision, Crow took a quick look around the corridor they were standing in until his eyes fell on a nearby supply closet. It didn’t look very big, but it would be better than lingering in the open hall, where anyone could stuble upon them. He turned back to Penelope and took her hand in his. “This way,” he murmured, giving her a gentle tug as he stepped over to the small door.

As he opened it, he stood aside to allow her to enter first, once again searching the area to make sure no one else was coming by. After all, it would look quite strange for a viceroy to be sneaking into a closet with a knight in the middle of the day. “I don’t think it will matter if you leave your post for a little while,” he justified, turning to her with a smile as he gestured at the open doorway. “No criminal in his right mind would try to break into a castle in this weather.”