“Oh, right,” Crow mused. He’d forgotten that Tybalt reported directly to the king. There had been a few occasions when his father had stepped away during one of his lessons to speak with the captain of the royal guard. Uninvolved in matters of castle security, the viceroy hadn’t paid any attention to what they said. If Albin did know that Penelope was planning to leave at the same time, he hoped he wouldn’t do anything to hurry them along before she could join them. It was hard to tell how the monarch felt about their courtship, since he’d given his approval without any strong emotions one way or the other. He wouldn’t have been surprised if his father thought the lieutenant would just be a distraction to him and forbade them from traveling together.

Deciding not to focus on something that neither of them could know would happen for sure, he pushed the worrisome thought aside for now and rested his cheek on top of her head. As she went on to tease him, he rolled his eyes. “I don’t know about that,” he said with mock contemplativeness. “Now that I’ve been living at the castle for a month, I might have actually started developing discipline.” He shuddered exaggeratedly, as if the thought was unsettling. “In fact, I bet I’ll beat you to the courtyard tomorrow morning, sleepyhead.” He squeezed her playfully against his side before letting go to down the rest of his unfinished drink.

Once the cup was empty, he set it down again and stood up from the table. Like the knight, he was tired from the long day and looked forward to settling down underneath the warm blankets on his bed. It would be the last time he could spoil himself with imported silk and goose feather pillows for the next two weeks, so he planned to make the most of it while he still could. As proud as he was of his hardiness from growing up in the outer villages, he couldn’t deny that there were some luxuries he was going to miss when he went back to the land that used to be his home. A comfortable bed and expertly seasoned food were at the top of the list.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, love,” he leaned down to press a kiss to her lips and winked at her competitively as he added sotto voce: “From atop my horse, waiting for your tired ass to join me.” With that, he righted his posture and turned to retire to his bedchamber for the night.