“I like it,” Crow grinned when Penelope suggested her bedchamber. He remembered where it was, so he was sure he could find it on his own while she stayed at the party to tie up loose ends with the other nobles. Getting past a couple guards would be child’s play for him too. All he needed was a simple distraction to coax them to abandon their posts, which he was sure wouldn’t take much, since palace guards were always bored out of their minds in his experience. Even better, it would look completely normal for her to walk back, since they were meeting in her room. Only one of them would need a distraction at all.

“I’ll see you there, love,” he winked at her playfully before dipping back into the crowd. He was sure Cedric would swoop in now that she was alone, but he trusted that Penelope would shut down any further physical advances from her former suitor. Plus, his excitement about spending some time alone with her drowned out the lingering frustrations he felt toward the male knight. Cedric might fit in a few more words with her, but the former thief was going to have her all to himself soon enough. He couldn’t wait.

To prevent their plans from becoming too obvious, he chatted briefly with a few of the other men and women he’d invited to the party before he discreetly slipped out the door. As he’d expected, the castle was eerily quiet outside the ballroom. Almost every noble in the building was crammed into the decorated room or had already retired to their bedchambers. The only people still out were the few night guards who had been posted to keep watch during the festivities.

The viceroy made a show of yawning as he walked away down the nearly empty hallway, so the knights would just think he had left early because he was tired. However, as soon as he was out of their sight, he hastened his pace, eager to get to Penelope’s room before anyone else decided to turn in for the night.

He made it to the corridor that led to the castle guards’ quarters and found that there were, in fact, two guards stationed around the corner. Both had half-closed eyelids and slouched shoulders that made him wonder if they’d notice if he just walked right in front of their noses. Deciding not to play with that fire, he knocked a pebble loose from the tread of his boot and tossed it down the adjoining hall. The knights perked up slightly at the sound and drew their swords as they wandered off to investigate the source of the noise.

With the passage clear, Crow slipped through silently and ducked into the corridor that would take him the rest of the way to Penelope’s bedchamber.