Crow ground his teeth as Elizabeth insisted that they had slept together the night before. The thought of it was completely ridiculous to him. What was she even trying to do, get revenge on him after he’d made her leave his room without any clothes on? He couldn’t see what she had to gain by lying to everyone that they had been intimate with each other besides that. After all, she would have to be delusional to still be holding onto the hope that he would want to court her after everything she’d done to him and Penelope. He didn’t want anything more to do with her after she’d snuck into his bedchamber to seduce him.

He was just about to remind Elizabeth that the guards who’d seen her leave his bedchamber hadn’t seen them sleep together, but he didn’t get the chance before Cedric spoke up. The viceroy turned to the nobleman in unbridled surprise as he confirmed that rumors had indeed been spreading. Even though he’d heard that nobles liked to gossip, he hadn’t expected word to travel so quickly. Still, even if someone as dense as Cedric believed it, that didn’t mean everyone else did too… right? He closed his mouth, suddenly unsure what was going to happen now that the wildfire had begun.

To his further astonishment, Penelope even seemed to side with the other nobles. He turned to her in shock as she muttered a quiet “right” in support of what her former suitor had said. The simple word stung him quite a bit. Did she really believe he would have slept with Elizabeth while she was gone? He may not have had the best track record when it came to being honest about other things, but he’d been nothing less than faithful to her, even when Rikki—someone who had been much closer to him than Liz—had tried to bed him. He thought he’d earned more of her trust than this, so to hear her fall for the other woman’s lies so easily wrenched his stomach.

The viceroy dropped his gaze to his lap as Penelope announced that she had to go, too overwhelmed to even think about chasing after her. Part of him was desperate to reconcile the situation by explaining that nothing had actually happened between him and Elizabeth, but another part of him was hurt that she had believed the gossip in the first place. So, he stayed where he was, torn in two, while she hurried out of the Great Hall.

As soon as she was gone, Liz settled down in the now-empty seat at Crow’s side. “Wow,” she mused, glancing over her shoulder at the door. “I’ve never seen anyone so excited to [i]write letters[/i] in my entire life. She really doesn’t know how to stop working, does she?”

“She’s just dedicated,” Cedric spoke up in the knight’s defense. “Without people like her, nothing would ever get done around here.”

[i]You’re both wrong,[/i] Crow thought dismally to himself, lifting a bite of chicken to his mouth. The meat was tasteless to him as his stomach continued to turn with a tangle of negative emotions. Penelope hadn’t left because she was eager to write; she had run because she hadn’t trusted him enough to keep his hands off other women when she wasn’t around. The thought sent a knife through his heart, and he fought the urge to grimace outwardly, not wanting the others to pick up on how upset he was over the knight’s disappearance.

Elizabeth and Cedric continued to speak casually for a little while longer while Crow ate in silence. It took him longer than usual to finish his food, but once his plate had been cleared, he stood up from the table. “I’m going to bed,” he muttered, hoping the other nobles would mistake the faint irritation in his voice for weariness.

“I’ll walk you to your room,” Liz offered with a smile, standing up as well.

“Don’t,” Crow shot her a warning look. “I want to be alone.”

The noblewoman wavered for a moment before she sank back down in her seat. She’d seen the harsh side of his temper enough now to know that she didn’t want to see it again. “Alright,” she shrugged. “I’ll see you later then. Goodnight, Collin.”

Still mad at her for encouraging the lie that they’d slept together, the viceroy didn’t bother responding as he turned around to head back to his bedchamber.

When he stepped into the hallway, he stopped for a moment, glancing in the direction that led toward the knights’ quarters in the castle. He shifted his weight, debating if he should look for Penelope to clear things up with her now. However, he brushed the thought aside and continued walking to the stairs. Even if he managed to find her, he wasn’t sure what he would say. He was hurt that she would be so quick to believe that he would betray her trust, and he didn’t know if she would believe the truth if he told it to her. If she continued to think he was lying to save face, he didn’t know if he could handle it.

So, with a heavy heart, he trudged up to his room, deciding there was nothing more that he could do to fix the mess he’d landed in that night.