As Penelope explained that she had been thinking about their last mission in Younis, Crow frowned. He supposed she had a few good points about the similarities between the two assignments, but he wasn’t convinced that the trip they were going on now would be completely the same. Whoever had hired the mercenaries had succeeded in taking the staff last time, and the war had happened. What more could they want? As hard as he tried, he couldn’t think of any reason why anyone would keep meddling in the affairs between Brerra and Younis. The group of noble rebels would have made some sense to him, since they had wanted to start a war to spread the defenses thin at the castle; but they had all been imprisoned or executed by his father after they had assassinated the last king in an attempt to usurp the throne. If they had been the ones behind the attacks, they were gone now.

However, Penelope seemed to think there was something else going on. The viceroy contemplated her theory that someone else was trying to stop them from succeeding in making peace with Younis. It was hard for him to wrap his head around the idea that there was an unknown player in the game, but it did make sense, given the prophesies they had heard from both Aeklora and Toreus. He felt a chill creep up his spine as he suddenly recalled the mercenary he thought he had seen at the marketplace in Bellmare. After everything that had happened since then, he’d almost forgotten about the man whom he could have sworn was watching him. He had also forgotten about his resolution to tell someone else about it instead of keep it to himself.

Biting his lip, he glanced up at Penelope. She was already nervous enough about the mission as it was. Telling her would just make it worse, but what if she was right? If whoever had attacked them the first time hadn’t given up, there was no more staff to loot. There was only the man who had been sent to parley with the Younisian king. “I understand,” he murmured, keeping his voice down so that the knights around them wouldn’t overhear. “But you’re not going to lose me.” He offered her a reassuring smile. “When we were attacked, there were only two of us—well, three when William was there too. This time, I have four guards, and I know enough about fighting to defend myself. I’ll be fine.”

He fell quiet for a moment, his green eyes flicking toward the knights at the front of the group. Part of him pondered if it would be a good idea to tell them about the mercenary in Bellmare, but he didn’t want to speak with anyone but Penelope first. He also didn’t want to confide in her until they could be sure they wouldn’t be overheard.

“There’s… something else I should tell you,” he whispered, turning back to her with an uneasy look. “But not here. I’d rather wait until we can be alone.”