Crow laid on his side with his arms wrapped around Penelope, his chest rising and falling with a bit more effort than usual as he recovered from the effort of being intimate with the knight. A weary smile curved his lip, and he had to stifle a yawn. Though he had brought up the suggestion to keep from falling asleep, he had worn himself out much more than he’d intended, and he found it difficult to hold onto consciousness. Still, his lingering fear of facing his nightmare again kept him from dozing off completely.

As Penelope kissed him on the cheek and buried her head against his neck, he held her a little closer, tracing his right hand gently down the curve of her waist and hips. While he didn’t want to fall asleep, he enjoyed how comfortable he felt with her lying beside him. The warmth of her body and the softness of the blankets he’d pulled over them relaxed him, and he felt a faint burst of excitement as it reminded him that it wouldn’t be much longer before they would be able to go to bed like this every night.

His smile softened at the thought. The other nobles in the castle were slowly beginning to warm up to him—or at least grow tolerant of his presence—and Penelope had already gotten some letters of support to end the war. Hopefully that meant they could stop hiding their relationship soon. He couldn’t wait to start courting her for marriage. They had already been through so much together; it felt like the most natural next step for them to take.

[i]And I already know I want to spend the rest of my life with her,[/i] he added silently, feeling his cheeks grow warm as he imagined what their future would look like.

[color=fff79a][b]“I should get going soon.”[/b][/color]

Crow opened his eyes as Penelope’s tired voice drew him from his fantasizing and brought him back to reality. Suddenly, he remembered why he had pleaded with her to stay in the first place as another abrupt image of his dream appeared in his head. The awfulness of it made him wince, and he hid the expression by turning his face against the pillow they were laying on. It seemed that even though sleeping with the knight had helped him forget about it for a while, the nightmare was still tormenting him.

“You don’t have to,” he mumbled, holding her tightly in his reluctance to part. “You’ve already been here this long… Why don’t you just stay?”