Crow laughed softly at Penelope’s comment, casting her a fond look. Even though he doubted she was going to learn anything useful during her search for a cure for his nightmares, he appreciated that she cared enough about him to keep looking. He just hoped she wouldn’t be too stubborn when she came up without an answer. The last thing he wanted was for her to waste all her time on this little project when she could be making better use of it by convincing his father to end the war. In his mind, that was the biggest priority. Sure, his dreams were frustrating, but he was sure he could handle them on his own, and they were nowhere near as important as Toreus’s warning to the knight.

When Penelope announced that she had to go back to her room for the night, Crow sighed. He wished they could have more time together, but they couldn’t risk lingering around each other for much longer without raising suspicion. Besides that, his exhaustion from the long day was catching up to him fast. He lightly bit the tip of his tongue as he stifled a weary yawn. As much as he wanted to keep talking to the knight, the thought of laying down in a soft bed was growing more appealing by the second. He just hoped this night would be better than the last.

“Alright,” Crow nodded at her with a tired smile. “Good luck tomorrow, love. I’ll see you at supper.” Since they were still in a public hallway, he dipped his head to her in a formal goodbye rather than gathering her in his arms as he longed to do. With nothing left to say, he headed toward the stairs that would take him up to his bed chamber in the upper level of the castle, finally letting loose the yawn he had been suppressing before.

When he got there, he stretched lethargically and made his way over to the bed. However, instead of laying down right away, he wavered by the edge, suddenly hesitant to go to sleep. Another image of his nightmare flashed through his mind, and he grimaced. Despite his bold words, he didn’t want to face it again. He turned away from the bed.

Fighting against his exhaustion, the viceroy paced anxiously along the edge of his room, hoping the motion would help him to stay awake. The trick worked for a while, but eventually he grew too tired to keep it up. He yawned again and casted the bed a leery glance, swaying slightly on his feet from weariness. As much as he wished he could stay up all night, he knew he should at least try to get a little sleep before the sun came up. After all, he was going to have another tutoring session tomorrow, and he couldn’t show up to it half asleep.

So, swallowing nervously, he finally folded to his tiredness and made his way over to the bed, passing out almost as soon as he laid his head on the pillow.