Unlike Penelope, Crow was outwardly unresponsive as John confirmed that he was, in fact, going to give him his blessing to court Penelope. To say he was shocked would have been an understatement. Even though the female knight had been assuring him that she believed her father would come around, he hadn’t been nearly as hopeful as she had. The stoic man was hard to read, and he was quicker to give criticism than compliments. They had been getting along better lately, but the cordiality had felt like it was dependent on his good behavior. He had been worried that if he slipped up everything would come undone, and it had seemed that way when John had caught them together that morning. To find out that the older man still approved of him—not because of what he had been doing, but because of who he was—made him feel a knot of emotions he couldn’t even begin to straighten out.

While Penelope hugged her father and expressed her gratitude, he sat where he was on the bed, still reeling from the revelation that another man had considered him good enough to marry his daughter. As hard as he had been fighting for it, a part of him had always believed it would never happen. After all, who would give a blessing that should only be given once in a child’s life to a thief? Knowing that John thought he was worthy of such a priceless gift left the sharp tongued former peasant speechless.

He only came back to himself when the older knight suddenly addressed him. “Yes,” the word slipped from his lips without a thought about the consequences. In the back of his head, he knew it would be difficult to abstain from sneaking around to sleep with Penelope before they were married, especially since they had already been together on a number of occasions before. However, he wanted to prove to John that he hadn’t made a mistake by choosing him to court her. If that meant stifling his desire to be with her for a while, then that’s what he would do.

Suddenly realizing that he shouldn’t be sitting for such an important announcement, Crow got up from the bed and bent at the waist in the most respectful gesture he could think of in the moment. “I promise you won’t regret this,” he vowed with a slight tremor in his voice as he was overwhelmed by the weight of what had just happened. Straightening his posture again, he reached to take Penelope’s hand in his, looking at her fondly as he professed, “I love your daughter more than my own life, and I’m going to do my best to give her everything she deserves.”