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.

[i]Again,[/i] 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. [i]At this rate, she’s going to think I’ve got a past with every pretty face in the kingdom.[/i]

[color=fff79a][b]“He did say that.”[/b][/color]

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 [i]Liz[/i] 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.”