Crow shook his head faintly when Penelope responded. He’d almost forgotten just how stubborn she could be when she cared about something. He just wished he wasn’t at the center of her concern right now. Even if she spoke with other knights who may have had nightmares too, he would have been shocked if anyone had actually found a way to get rid of the dreams. It seemed impossible to him that a man could control the inner workings of his mind when he was unconscious.

[i]Maybe she’ll let it go when she finds that out for herself,[/i] he mused, taking a small bite of rye bread.

“Progress is progress,” Crow shrugged when she told him she’d already sent letters out and was in the middle of waiting for replies. Glancing up from his plate, he casted her a confident smile. “Hopefully they’ll get back to you soon with good news.”

As she announced that she had to go, he nodded and then winced when she wished him luck with his lesson. Her words reminded him that he was going to be training with John today instead of Udolf. “I may need luck this time,” he sighed. “Your father is supposed to be teaching me this afternoon.”

“You won’t need luck if you pay attention and follow directions.”

Crow jumped at the sound of a voice behind him, inwardly cursing himself for neglecting to pay attention to his surroundings. Just because his nightmare had thrown him off didn’t mean he should have been letting his guard down this much. He turned around to see John standing behind him. The knight must have arrived to take him to the training grounds, as Udolf had said.

“You’d be surprised how difficult that is for me,” the viceroy muttered under his breath, still disgruntled by the older man’s sudden appearance.

“What was that?” John raised a brow.

Crow just waved his hand and shoveled one more bite of food into his mouth. He chased it with a quick gulp of water before standing from the table. “I guess I need to be going too,” he said to Penelope with a lopsided smile. “I’ll see you later, love.”