Crow glanced over his shoulder when Penelope confirmed that she had caught his attention because she had something to talk about. After taking a moment to make sure they were far enough away from the other nobles in the Great Hall to speak freely, he turned back to listen as she began to explain herself. He raised a brow at her words. With everything else that had been going on that day, he’d nearly forgotten that she had been planning to ask around about his nightmares. He wondered if she had pulled him aside because she had actually found something to help. His heart skipped at the thought, but he maintained a bit of wariness despite his blooming hope. It still seemed impossible that anyone in the castle could do something to change the inner workings of his mind.

[i]She probably just wants to update me on the progress of her search,[/i] he reasoned, letting the burst of hope simmer back down as he continued to listen to her go on.

Penelope spoke about her meeting with the court physician, and Crow felt more confident that his guess had been correct. He wrinkled his nose at the mention of a medicine that would make him hallucinate. After enduring Hazel’s draught for his pain, he didn’t want to try anything like that ever again. Plus, he couldn’t see how a remedy like that would cure his nightmares. If anything, it sounded like it would only make them more vivid. An image of the slaughter passed through his mind, and he shuddered. No, he definitely didn’t want to risk making the memories any more realistic than they already were.

The viceroy opened his mouth to tell her that he wasn’t going to try Eldon’s solutions, but found that he didn’t need to as she said that she already knew he wasn’t going to like them. He nodded in agreement when she brought up the fact that he had quite a few enemies in and around the castle. It had been bad enough when he’d been under the influence of Hazel’s medicine in the middle of the knights’ camp before. Now, he had much more to lose if someone took advantage of his loose tongue. He had to be careful so he wouldn’t lose his title as his father’s ambassador.

As Penelope went on to say that she might have found something useful, Crow met her gaze in surprise. He had been expecting her to come back with nothing, so even though he was still doubtful that there was a remedy for his nightmares, he listened to her explanation with newfound interest.

“We’ll see,” he shrugged once she finished telling him about her findings and then casted her a fond smile. “Either way, I’m impressed you covered so much ground in just one day. You’re pretty quick, love.”