Crow nodded when Penelope said that she planned to sleep after her overnight guard shift. He wished he could do the same. After four nights of poor sleep in a row, he was starting to feel perpetually exhausted and longed to get some rest. Unfortunately, as long as each of his days was being packed full of tutoring and activities, he doubted he was going to get a chance to nap anytime soon. Well, unless Albin kept his word and gave him a day off in reward for his hard work. Though the king had no way of knowing, he felt like he really deserved a break after putting so much effort into his studies while he was half asleep.

As she went on to mention the party and Cedric spoke up, the viceroy bristled slightly. He disliked how openly the other man spoke about being invited to the event. How did he know he would be welcome anyway? [i]Unless he knows other nobles that will be able to help Penelope,[/i] he fought the urge to wrinkle his nose at the thought. If Cedric could be useful in their efforts to convince his father to end the war, then there was no way he [i]wouldn’t[/i] be invited. Though he didn’t like it, Penelope was going to need all the aid she could get if she was going to change the king’s mind.

At Penelope’s guess that the party would take a week or two to prepare, Crow nodded again. He hoped it wouldn’t take longer as well. If the event was postponed for too long, he would already be on his way to Gorm by the time the other people in the castle rallied to call for peace. The idea of missing their window just because of a few formalities made him swallow nervously, especially since it seemed like this was their only chance to stop the war. After all, once Gorm agreed to an alliance, there was no way Albin would accept any other option to end the feuding with Younis.

Crow looked up when Cedric spoke to him, a bit confused by the smirk on the other man’s face. Unsure why he looked pleased, the viceroy merely brushed it off. “We will,” he answered, turning to Penelope with a grin. He still didn’t like talking to the male knight much, but he felt pleased with being able to talk about his involvement in her plans. “She’s asked us to help put this whole thing together. Of course, I won’t be able to do much, since I have no idea how nobles put on events like this, but I think we’ll figure it out between the three of us.”