“I hope so too,” Crow nodded in agreement. Once his training was over—or at least slowed down, since his father had been rushing him the last two weeks—he planned to spend much more time with the knight. Preferably courting. Even though the formalities of noble relationships would take some getting used to, it had to be better than pretending to be uninterested in her. Either way, he wouldn’t have to watch his back every time he moved to hold her hand. That by itself was worth the extra trouble.

When she leaned up to kiss him, he met her halfway, closing his eyes as he sank into her soft lips. He wished they could keep walking together, but if he returned to the castle with a female knight at his side, it would definitely start some unwanted rumors. After all, most of the people in the castle still believed he’d slept with Elizabeth. They would probably assume he was just trying to bed any woman he found attractive if they saw him with Penelope the very next day. The thought nearly made him wrinkle his nose. There had been a time in his life when that would have been true, but now that he’d fallen head over heels for the knight, he didn’t even want to think about being with any other girl, whether she was beautiful or not.

“I love you too,” he sighed when she stepped away from him to head back first. “See you at supper.” He waited for her to pass out of sight before turning around to sit by the river’s edge. With nothing else to do, he passed the time by attempting to skip a few rocks on the surface of the water before his eyelids threatened to droop shut from weariness.

Shaking his head to clear it, he got up again and walked back to the castle, deciding that Penelope should have put enough distance between them by now that their separate arrivals would look normal.

Fortunately, his guess was right. He passed through the streets of the citadel with no trouble and even made it past the guards at the gate with nothing more than a few dirty looks. He supposed the knights preferred to keep him inside the palace walls where the rest of their comrades could keep a close eye on him anyway. Regardless, he was glad they didn’t try to stop him. As tired as he was, he didn’t have the patience to put up with their pettiness until after he’d gotten some decent sleep.

With that thought in mind, he made a beeline for his bedchamber, climbing the stairs and heading down the corridor that led to his door. There wasn’t much time left before supper, and he wasn’t going to sacrifice a meal for a little extra rest, so he didn’t have long to nap. Instead, he wanted to take advantage of every second he had left before it was time to eat.

Closing the door behind him, he ambled over to his bed with another broad yawn and shrugged the heavy travel cloak from his shoulders. It fell to the wood plank floor with a thump, and he collapsed onto the mattress front-first, lying on his stomach. After walking around all day and running through the city with Penelope during their competition, he was ready to pass out. He didn’t even bother taking his boots off before he his eyes closed and he drifted off into a sound slumber.