“Don’t pretend like it’s always an inconvenience,” Crow teased Penelope with a wink as he passed the bread off to her. “If I didn’t annoy people, you wouldn’t have anything to eat right now… or any of the other times I pestered you to stop for food on our past trips.” He wasn’t always good at taking care of himself, but his stomach was the exception to that rule. As long as he wasn’t hungry, he didn’t mind putting up with almost any other difficult situation. In this case, that meant embarking on a journey to another kingdom to end a war whilst risking life and limb at the hands of mercenaries who may have been sent to stop him. They still had bread left, so the rest was inconsequential.

“Of course not,” he glanced at the knight again when she went on. “I hope you’d know by now that for as much as I love to eat, I love you more. I wouldn’t make you go hungry, especially when you’re barely sitting upright on your horse.” He smirked as he revealed that he’d noticed her exhaustion. Glancing at the knights riding ahead of them to make sure they weren’t paying attention, he leaned sideways in his saddle to add in a low tone, “You might want to consider taking Naida up on her offer to share a bed this time.”

As Penelope’s demeanor changed, Crow watched her with a curious look. Her question gave him pause, and his green eyes wandered over the surrounding trees as he considered an answer. It was hard to say what the best decision would be. If he told the others about the mercenary he had seen in Bellmare, it was likely that they wouldn’t believe him or even that they would assume the man had nothing to do with their current mission. However, if he kept the information to himself, then they wouldn’t even have the option to be prepared if there were people who didn’t want them to get to the king of Younis. Even though he wasn’t fond of the idea, the latter consequence was objectively worse than the former.

“I am,” he sighed, turning back to her with a frown. “I still don’t know exactly how or when I’ll do it, but they need to know. My father told them to come on this trip to guard me, but I don’t think anyone really believes that we’re going to be attacked by a third party. They’re only on guard for retaliation from the Younisians, so it would be best for all of us if they were aware that we might be followed.” Popping the last bite of bread into his mouth, he brushed his hands against his trousers to get rid of the crumbs and reached across the gap between their horses to take her hand. “Don’t worry, alright? I’ll be fine. Once they know about the risk, we’ll be ready for anything.”