As he and Penelope walked away from the group, Crow smiled to himself, pleased that he could have a few minutes to be alone with her without any interruptions. His reservations about admitting he might have seen a mercenary in the inner kingdom still left him somewhat tense, but his anxiousness was eased by the warmth of her hand in his. “It is backwards, isn’t it?” he mused with a short laugh when she pointed out the irony in their excuse to get away. He hadn’t thought about it, but she was right. Usually, they were scrambling for a reason to be alone because of their relationship rather than the other way around.

Feeling the knight come to a stop at his side, he turned to face her just as she leaned in to press a kiss to his lips. He hadn’t expected her to use the time to steal an intimate moment with him, but regardless, he didn’t skip a beat. Wrapping his arms around her back, he closed his eyes and deepened the kiss, his heart fluttering with excitement at her spontaneity.

When she pulled back again, he grinned at her breathlessly. “Don’t be,” he said in response to her apology. In his opinion, there was rarely a time when apologetic words were in order for something like that. They might not have had more than a few minutes to themselves, but the other members of their party thought they had escaped to be alone for this very purpose anyway. There was no harm in indulging themselves a little.

At her following question his smile faded, and he averted his gaze, letting his arms drop from around her. “Right,” he started slowly, contemplating his choice of words. After hearing the worry in her voice when they had discussed the dangers of the mission earlier, he didn’t want to frighten her by making it sound like he thought he was being stalked or anything like that. However, there was no good way to say it without being dishonest, so he let out his breath.

“With all the work we’ve been doing to end the war, I forgot all about this,” he said quietly, turning back to her to meet her eyes. “But… when we were in the marketplace in Bellmare, I… I might have seen a mercenary.” He reached up to rub the back of his neck. “It was when we parted so you could buy your dress. I was looking at a different stand, and I had a feeling someone was watching me. When I looked up, I saw a man in the crowd who had similar features as the mercenaries who attacked us in Younis.

“I’m not completely certain about this,” he added quickly. “I mean, he could have just been a tall man running his own errands who happened to recognize me. I’ve always been stared at a lot because of my reputation. I just… There was something about him that made me think he wasn’t there for innocent purposes.” He grimaced. “But then Preston told me about a knight in the castle who’s had nightmares like I have. He thought one of the castle guards was an enemy and tried to kill him, and now I don’t know what to think. I’d like to believe I’m not seeing things, but I’m not sure if I can trust myself.”

He bit his lip, uncomfortable with opening up so much even though he knew he could trust Penelope with the information. “It sounds crazy, doesn’t it? A mercenary in the inner kingdom? And if he was really at the market, there’s no reason why he should have singled me out, right? This was before my father changed his mind about negotiating with Gorm.” A faint tremor in his voice belied his fear that he was losing his mind. “I don’t know. I just thought that if there’s even a sliver of a chance that what I saw was real, I should say something.”