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Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow glanced at Penelope when she objected to Naida’s plan. He was a bit surprised to hear her continue to argue, especially after the last comment the princess had made. Considering everything that had happened at breakfast that morning, he would have thought she’d jump at the chance to ensure that Elizabeth wouldn’t be able to confront him alone. Her new resolve made him second guess himself though. Perhaps there was another reason she was upset after all? He drummed his fingers against his leg contemplatively. He was so used to being the one to cause her to be upset lately that he might have made the assumption too quickly.

Naida’s response confused him as well. He looked up at her with a frown as she reminded the knight that she “owed her.” Having missed most of their conversation earlier, he wasn’t quite sure what his sister was talking about, but Penelope seemed to understand it. He exchanged a brief look with her as she reluctantly got up from the table but, too tired to question what had just happened, followed her lead without a word.

As they walked with the princess to her bedchamber, Crow had to bite his tongue to stifle a yawn. Though he’d agreed to the idea for Penelope’s sake, he still wished he could have just gone back to his own room to try and get some sleep. It was unlikely that he would actually feel well rested in the morning, but at the moment, he was too exhausted to think about it logically. All he wanted was to give in to the impulse to pass out so he would stop feeling so tired, if only for a few hours.

“Here we are,” Naida turned to them with a broad smile when they arrived at the door to her bedchamber. The princess reached out to grab the handle, letting the Crow and Penelope in first before she followed.

As soon as he was inside the room, Crow’s eyes wandered to the large bed that sat in the center. The thought of abandoning the dance lesson and laying down to sleep instead was tempting, but he knew he couldn’t do it. For one thing, this wasn’t his bedchamber. For another, he didn’t want the others to know just how tired he really was. He was sure Penelope would just worry, and he didn’t want Naida to know what was going on at all. So, pushing back against the impulse, he stepped over to lean against the footboard instead, crossing his arms over his chest in an attempt to wake up a little more.

“So,” he mused, absently letting his eyes wander over the rest of the room. “What do I need to learn?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow's starting to regret his past with other women a little bit xD
He's also figuring out Penelope's feelings, but not enough to be sure yet

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Having come to read Penelope pretty well, Crow noticed right away that she seemed upset about something. He watched her quietly for a moment, noting the way it took her some time to answer his question. It was hard to tell what had made her unhappy—perhaps something else had happened to her that day that she just wasn’t telling them about—but without any additional information, he could only assume it had been Liz. He looked away uncomfortably, wishing again that the noblewoman hadn’t approached him while she was there. Whenever her ex suitors were around, he always got upset. She had to have been feeling similarly after running into someone he’d been with in the past.

Again, he added to himself with a wince. With a small circle of friends and a history of sleeping with any woman he found attractive, he knew he had a bit of a habit of keeping certain women he’d been intimate with close to him. While Liz definitely wasn’t on that list, she was the third former lover Penelope had been introduced to now. The realization made him cringe faintly. At this rate, she’s going to think I’ve got a past with every pretty face in the kingdom.

“He did say that.”

Crow turned back to the knight with a frown, surprised by how noncommittal her response was. Even though they were trying to hide their relationship from Naida, he had expected her to be a little more supportive than that. He glanced briefly at his sister when she spoke up before studying Penelope again. She was definitely upset about what had happened with Elizabeth, he felt sure of that now. What caught him off guard was the fact that it nearly seemed like she didn’t trust him either. He dropped his gaze, fighting the urge to be hurt by the assumption. After all, he didn’t really know if she felt that way. If he was wrong, he didn’t want to let his own feelings cause another rift between them.

Fortunately, Naida provided a welcomed distraction. As the princess announced that they both did have plans with her, Crow looked up at her quizzically. “A dance lesson?” he echoed bemusedly when she explained her idea.

“Exactly!” Naida grinned. She pointed at the viceroy and the knight in turn. “It’s perfect! You still need to learn to dance, and you can help him, since we’re related so it would be weird if I taught him.”

“I don’t know,” Crow said uneasily. “I think I’d prefer to go back to my bedchamber and just hope she doesn’t spot me on my way.”

“No, no,” his sister shook her head. “You said you’ve got plans with me, and now you do. Besides, if this Liz is really as persistent as you said she is, I wouldn’t be surprised if she showed up to your room looking for you. You have to come with me now.”

Crow shrank slightly in his seat, casting a furtive glance at Penelope. While he doubted Elizabeth was brazen enough to locate his bedchamber just to steal some time alone with him, he also didn’t want to leave the knight worrying that something had happened all night. He sighed, “Fine, you win. We can go with you.”

“Great!” Naida giggled. She stood up excitedly from the table and gestured for them to follow. “Come on then, let’s go to my room.”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Definitely xD
Crow still has no idea how Penelope feels about the whole Liz situation

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Try as he might, Crow found it difficult to keep up with Penelope and Naida’s conversation as the two began to speak. He wanted to find out how her meeting with the Lenz’s had gone as well, but between his fatigue and the three glasses of wine he’d been drinking—despite his earlier claim, the alcohol was beginning to hit him a little harder than he’d anticipated—he felt ready to pass out for the night. His eyelids drooped slightly as he leaned more heavily into the table. Perhaps he could take a nap for a little while. If it was short enough, the others wouldn’t notice, right?

It seemed like a good idea to him, but before he got the chance to lay his head down, Penelope drew his attention with a question. Turning back to her, he paused to think before answering, “My day was fine. I had my first lesson in Gorman with father in the afternoon. Not much else happened though.”

“That’s not true,” Naida rolled her eyes. “You forgot to tell her about that woman you mentioned earlier: The one you called an ‘old flame.’”

“That’s because she was there when it happened,” Crow waved his hand.

“Seriously?” Naida’s eyes widened. “So this woman walked up to you while you were with another woman? That’s bold.”

“Liz has always been like that,” the viceroy sighed. “She’s determined to get what she wants and won’t let anyone stand in her way.”

“But you turned her down, right?” his sister pressed.

“Well… not exactly,” Crow averted his gaze, fidgeting uncomfortably. “Like I said before, I wasn’t in the mood to have that conversation so early, so I didn’t answer her one way or the other.” He quickly held up his hands as the princess opened her mouth to chide him. “I did turn her down when she said she wanted to catch up tonight though.”

“Tonight?” Naida practically squeaked. “Who on earth suggests meeting in the dark to catch up? She was obviously planning to—”

“I know, I know,” Crow interrupted her with a shake of his head. “But there’s nothing to worry about. I told her I had made plans with you already, so I couldn’t see her. Nothing’s going to happen, isn’t that right?” He casted Penelope a subtle, pleading look, hoping she would vouch for him so his sister would let the subject go.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Makes sense, haha
Crow and Naida might have been drinking a little cx

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Halfway through his conversation with Naida, Crow could tell he was running out of energy. It grew harder for him to focus on what his sister was saying, and at times he missed entire portions of the discussion by zoning out. He leaned heavily on the edge of the table, absently swirling the remains of the glass of wine he’d been working on as he wondered if he had the strength left to keep waiting for Penelope. The longer he sat in the Great Hall, the more tempted he was to go back to his bedchamber and try to sleep.

It’s not like it would matter anyway, he reminded himself dully. Even if he tried to sleep, he knew he would wake up tomorrow feeling just as exhausted as he did today. The nightmares that appeared to him every night prevented him from getting anything more restful than that. He eyed the nearly empty glass in his hand. It was his second drink that supper, and he was starting to contemplate if he should have one or two more. Penelope had told him that Eldon had his patients drink to get rid of the dreams before. Though he wasn’t fond of the idea, he couldn’t help but feel a little drawn to trying it, if only to get one night of good sleep.

“Collin.”

Crow startled and looked up to see that Naida was watching him with a frown. “Sorry,” he muttered, taking a quick sip of his wine and setting the glass down again. “I didn’t hear the last thing you said.”

“Yeah, I noticed,” the princess crossed her arms. “You’ve barely been listening to a word I’ve said. Are you feeling alright?”

Crow shook his head, “I’m just tired.”

“Mhm,” his sister cracked a knowing smirk. “Lightweight?”

“Hardly,” the viceroy scoffed, finishing off the rest of his drink to prove his point. “I can barely feel it.”

“Then why are you so tired?” she tipped her head slightly, as if trying to examine him to find an answer.

“It’s just been a long day,” Crow lied, covering his mouth as a broad yawn escaped his lips.

“I thought you said you just had another lesson though.”

“I did,” he shifted slightly as he wracked his weary brain to think of an excuse. “It was the morning that was long.”

“Why?” Naida leaned forward, seeming interested in getting a story out of him.

Crow rolled his eyes, “I just ran into someone I didn’t want to see. That’s all.”

“Gods, it’s like pulling teeth to get you to tell me anything,” the princess groaned. “Details, Collin. Details.”

“Such a rumormonger,” he laughed, glancing up to give a curt nod of gratitude to Preston, who had appeared to refill his empty glass. “But fine. If you really must know, she was an old flame of mine from my youth. She approached me with interest to pick up where we left off, and I didn’t want to have an unpleasant conversation so early in the day.”

“Not another one,” Naida ran a hand through her dark hair in exasperation. “You should just be with Penelope already. Those harlots will leave you alone if they see that you’re taken.”

Crow snorted, biting his lip to keep from laughing aloud at her surprisingly vicious comment. “I think you’ve had too much wine,” he remarked, lifting his own drink to his lips.

“Maybe, but they deserve it,” she muttered sourly before breaking out in a giggle. In the next moment, she sat up a bit straighter and peered over Crow’s shoulder, grinning excitedly. “Look who it is.”

Crow craned his neck to see that Penelope had finally arrived in the Great Hall and was heading to their table. He smiled to himself, happy to see that he would have some time with her after all. “Hey,” he greeted her in return when she sat down next to him.

“Took you long enough,” Naida smirked at her friend teasingly. “Where have you been all evening?”

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Cedric is probably playing smarter xD
Liz's attempts are more frustrating to Crow than anything else, but she also thinks she knows him even though she knew him seven years ago, when flirting was the way she would have gotten his attention back then

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Crow spent the entirety of his lesson memorizing Gorman characters and writing them in conjunction with the special symbols that changed their meanings. Like Udolf, Albin was a patient teacher who didn’t get short with him whenever he mixed up the characters. He found that he appreciated being taught by someone who had held the same position he was training for now. His father knew just the right way to explain everything about Gorman to him so that it all made sense. He supposed he shouldn’t have expected anything less though. After all, the king used to have an apprentice two years ago. He had probably already taught Abraxas everything he was introducing to his son now.

The lesson itself went better than Crow had hoped, but he didn’t enjoy every aspect of being in his father’s bedchamber. The queen also remained in the room for the entirety of the afternoon. Her presence unsettled him, partly because he didn’t know much about her but also because he caught her staring in his direction more often than he felt comfortable with. It was hard to say why she was so interested in him—perhaps she had noticed he looked quite a bit like her husband—but whatever the case, he didn’t like the attention.

By the time Preston came to get him for supper, the viceroy was eager to leave. He felt exhausted from the effort of learning another new language and couldn’t wait to get away from Albin’s staring wife. However, he didn’t get far from the table before his father stopped him.

“At the rate you’re progressing, I wonder if you’ll even need a whole month to prepare,” the king mused, eyeing over the paper his son had written on. “You’ve already covered quite a lot of ground for just one day.”

Crow stiffened. He’d been so caught up in the lesson that he’d completely forgotten what it was for. “I don’t know,” he shrugged, trying to discourage his father from accelerating his trip even more than he already had. “I might find this easy, but I still have a lot of other skills to develop before I can go anywhere. I can’t even ride a horse.”

“I suppose so,” Albin said thoughtfully, keeping his gaze fixed on the paper. He fell quiet for a moment longer before speaking up again, “Continue to plan for one month, but be prepared to leave sooner. If you’re ready to leave for the trip at any time before then, I’m going to send you north.”

Crow wavered. “Okay,” he nodded after a pause. It seemed he’d said enough to keep Albin from pushing the journey forward right away, but the king was still considering the possibility of doing so in the future. He hoped Penelope would be able to get her plan moving faster than his father could send him to Gorm, or else the war was going to end in quite a lot of bloodshed.

With nothing left to say, he dipped his head in a curt goodbye and headed to the Great Hall with Preston. When they arrived, he looked for Penelope as usual, but didn’t see her in the crowd. He frowned, hoping she would show up soon. Since their breakfast had been interrupted by Elizabeth, he wanted to spend some time with her at supper. His eyes wandered to an empty table as he considered waiting for her. However, in the next moment, he cringed as he imagined being spotted by Liz first. The woman had been unbearable enough with a third party around. He dreaded to think what she would do if she managed to catch him alone at a meal.

Looking over the room once more, Crow caught sight of Naida eating at a different table with a couple of knights he didn’t recognize. He chewed on the inside of his lip, disliking the idea of joining nobles he’d never met before but hating the thought of eating with Liz even more. With no better option, he made his way over to the knights’ table.

Naida saw him right away.

“Hey, Collin!” she greeted cheerily, gesturing for him to sit beside her on the bench. “Nice of you to join us.” Across the table, the other knights exchanged a nervous glance, and the princess rolled her eyes at them. “Oh, don’t. If you’d just talk to him instead of muttering behind his back, you’d see he’s a good person.”

Crow smiled faintly in amusement as he reclined at the table. It was oddly nice to have someone whose voice carried weight genuinely vouch for him. Her effort was certainly enough to get the two men on the other side of them to keep their mouths shut. He wondered if her support would be enough to get more of the nobles in the castle to start accepting him.

“So,” his sister went on, ignoring her comrades’ discomfort. “What have you been up to today?”

“More of the same,” the viceroy answered simply, looking up as Preston arrived with his supper. “What about you?”

“I had to guard the second floor today,” Naida made a face. “Day shifts are the worst around here. Nothing exciting ever happens.”

“Would you prefer to be attacked?” Crow shot her a teasing smirk.

“I don’t know,” she shrugged. “At least then I wouldn’t have to stand in a boring, empty hallway for hours.”

Suddenly, the siblings’ attention was drawn by movement as the other knights rose simultaneously from the table. Naida knitted her brow, “Where are you two going?”

The men exchanged another glance. “Audric beckoned us to join him at his table,” the one on the right said, casting her a helpless look.

“Yeah, we’ll catch up with you later, Naida,” the man on the left added uncomfortably before they hurried off to sit with the other knights.

The princess watched them go with a disappointed expression. “I don’t get it,” she sighed, resting her chin in her palm. “It’s not like you were wanted for murder or anything. Why is it so hard for them to be around you?”

“Well, I did steal from a lot of families in the inner kingdom,” Crow admitted, lifting a bite of food to his mouth. “They’re probably still angry about it.”

“I guess,” she exhaled again. “I just think it’s petty of them to hold your past over your head like this.”

“I don’t regret my past,” Crow casted her a lopsided smile and then nudged her arm. “Don’t worry about it, alright? They’ll get used to me eventually. I mean, they have to since I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.”

“If you say so,” Naida returned his smile.

With lifted spirits, the two continued to speak casually to one another, working slowly on their meals as they talked.

Let Me Steal Your Heart [BuzzingBee + Dagger]

Oof xD Crow has no idea