Crow closed his eyes again as he continued to lean against Penelope, finding her touch especially comforting after the stressful way he’d woken up that morning. Part of him was tempted to fall asleep where he was, since he felt like he’d been up all night again. Though he was still nervous about facing his nightmare again, he felt much more secure with the knight by his side than he had when he’d been alone. Plus, now that she’d proven that she could help him calm down when he panicked, he wasn’t quite as worried about dealing with the anxiety in the first place. He relaxed his hold on her slightly as the temptation to drift off grew stronger.

In his weariness, he didn’t notice Penelope’s unease, and was nearly half asleep by the time she spoke up again. The viceroy blinked his eyes open and stretched, nodding tiredly when she said she hoped the other solutions would work too. “That would be nice,” he mused, wrapping her up in a tighter embrace now that he was feeling slightly more awake than before. “But even if they don’t, this is better than nothing. In fact, it’s the first method that’s ever worked for me before, so I think I’d call that a success.”

He leaned up to touch a tender kiss to her lips, and then froze when he heard someone clear their throat off to the side. Turning away from Penelope, he saw Preston glancing between them and the door. The servant seemed uncomfortable about something, but he wasn’t sure what had set him off. Deciding it was unimportant, the viceroy casted the thought aside.

“Yes?” he said dryly, mildly annoyed by the interruption.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Preston frowned. “But you might not want to do that.”

“Why not?” Crow rolled his eyes. “It’s just the three of us here. There’s no harm.” He turned back to Penelope, ready to ignore the attendant’s protest, but stopped again when the boy spoke up once more.

“Right now it’s just us,” Preston shuffled his feet in an antsy manner. “But Eldon insisted on seeing you this morning to check up on your cough. He’ll be here any time now.”

Crow groaned and leaned his head against Penelope’s chest again. “Can’t you just tell him to come back later?”

“He’s got a busy schedule,” Preston shook his head. “If he doesn’t see you this morning, he’s going to be upset.”

“Fine,” the viceroy muttered. He pressed a little closer to the knight, reluctant to let her go, and sighed in frustration, “Gods, we never get any time to ourselves around here, do we?”