Crow rolled his eyes when John stated that his plan wouldn’t work. He didn’t see why it shouldn’t. As long as Penelope told the guards that he was the king, they would have no reason to accuse her of lying to them about it. Besides, he had heard his father speak enough times to mimic his voice if the knights tried to question him directly. The only thing that could really give him away was his face, which he could easily hide if he pretended to walk in the opposite direction as the nobles. He was certain he could pull it off.

As Penelope defended his idea, the viceroy gave her hand an appreciative squeeze. Even though he knew his plan was absurd, he was glad that she trusted him enough to go along with it. He laughed softly at her teasing look, recalling a few different times when he had dragged her along with his wild schemes. Looking back on it all, he was impressed she was still willing to go along with his ideas. They were often quite risky—one mistake was all it would take for them to get caught—and usually not fully developed until he was already undertaking them.

“That depends on whether your talking about tonight or indefinitely,” Crow shrugged nonchalantly at John’s warning. “In either case, I can’t make any promises.”

“I hope you know that if you get caught, you’re going back to prison,” the older knight said sternly.

“Then I won’t get caught,” the viceroy grinned confidently. “If all goes well, the guards are going to be so surprised by their ‘king’ showing up out of nowhere that they’ll be too flustered to question how I got there in the first place.”

“That’s quite a gamble to make,” John grumbled.

“Yes, but the odds are good,” Crow asserted. “I never gamble unless I feel confident I’m going to win.”

John held his gaze for a moment longer before looking away with a snort.

Taking his silence as reluctant acceptance, Crow stood up from the bed. “Well, if that’s everything, I’m going back to my room. I’ve got a few things to prepare for later.” He turned to Penelope with a smile. “I’ll see you there, love.”