For a second, Crow nearly thought Penelope was going to press him for more details. As she pursed her lips, he held his breath, waiting for her to challenge his claim. However, the brief tension cooled down when a servant came by to set her food down on the table. He fidgeted uncomfortably beneath the table, watching the girl from the corner of his eye and hoping the distraction she had caused would be enough to keep the knight from reading into his vague answer to her question.

When Penelope went on to tell him a little about her morning, he let himself relax for a moment, but quickly discovered that he’d dropped his guard too soon. As soon as the servant had left, he stiffened as the knight accused him of having the same dream again. He didn’t think he’d been that obvious, but apparently, she had gotten better at seeing through him than he’d thought. Well, either that, or she had taken a shot in the dark and he’d given himself away by cringing. Whatever the case, there was no way to get out of it now.

“Fine, yes,” Crow admitted under his breath, glancing off to the side to make sure no one else was listening in on their conversation. His eyes flicked back to her face as he continued with some reluctance, “It came back last night, and I’m fairly confident it’s back for good—at least, for a while... However long it takes me to get past it again.”