“Try tying that end over here.”

Crow and Preston had finished making the cord fairly quickly and had moved on to figuring out the best place to attach it so that it could support the weight of a person. The viceroy stood by his bed and gestured to the bottom right post, while the attendant dragged one end of the linen over and knelt down to knot it. As he worked on that, Crow stepped back over to the door and closed his eyes, listening to find out if anyone was outside his room. The corridor remained silent.

Guessing that Penelope was going to be arriving at any second, he lifted his dagger from the handles and slid it back into his boot. Though he hoped he wouldn’t have to use it, he felt more comfortable with a weapon at his disposal, just in case the situation turned ugly. Once it was securely tucked away, he turned back to see how Preston was faring.

“Is it on tight?” he asked, crouching down to look over the servant’s work.

“As tight as I can make it with a blackwall hitch,” Preston nodded, giving the cord a sharp jerk to prove his point.

“Looks good,” Crow mused, impressed that the boy had tied it so well. He supposed knot-tying was one of the skills that some palace servants were required to learn. “Now we just need to—”

Suddenly, he flinched and turned to look up at the door as it swung open. At first, he worried that the guards had caught wind of his plan to sneak into the lower wing and had come to stop him. However, his fright was short lived when he realized it was just Penelope. His shoulders fell, and he let out his breath in a quiet sigh, standing up to greet her.

At her observation, he smirked teasingly, “Sorry, love. If you wanted to help, you should’ve come here sooner.” As she asked him if it was ready, he glanced back over his shoulder at Preston, who nodded. “Looks like it,” he confirmed, meeting her gaze again with an eager grin.

“What else do you need me to do?” Preston asked from behind him, standing up as well.

Crow turned to him and shrugged, “Actually, I think we can handle the rest. You should go and get some sleep. The fewer people are missing from their rooms, the better.”

Preston frowned, “Are you sure? I want to help if I can.”

“I’m sure,” Crow smiled at him confidently. “I’ll tell you how it went in the morning. Alright?”

“Okay,” the attendant exhaled, though from relief or disappointment, the viceroy couldn’t tell. He bowed courteously to the others before heading for the door. “May the gods keep you safe,” he murmured on his way out.

“Thanks,” Crow said appreciatively. Even though he wasn’t sure if the gods cared about his little endeavor to return the missing jewelry, it was nice to hear the blessing from his home culture.

As soon as Preston disappeared into the hallway, Crow turned to Penelope with a wink, “Ready to fool some knights and foil a baron’s plans?”