Crow kept his gaze fixed straight ahead as he walked, still rattled by what he’d learned from Preston. He felt like he was losing it. Why would a mercenary show up at a random city marketplace just to watch him? It wasn’t like the bald man had been there to kill someone else. His piercing gaze had been focused on [i]him[/i]. The viceroy was certain of that. If the murderer really had been there, he had been the target, but he couldn’t fathom a reason why the man would have then let him leave Bellmare alive. He shook his head, conflicted. He wasn’t sure which was worse: actually being stalked by a killer or just imagining the whole thing.

“Let me guess,” Preston spoke up suddenly, interrupting his master’s spiraling thoughts. “You’re not going to tell me what’s wrong this time either, are you?”

Crow glanced at him uncomfortably and then averted his gaze, “I’d rather work through it on my own.”

The attendant sighed, “I don’t understand why you’re so afraid of letting anyone else in.” He looked up at the viceroy with a frown. “If you change your mind, you know you can trust me.”

Crow nodded wordlessly. He did know Preston was trustworthy. It was just hard to break the habits he had used to survive for most of his life. In fact, the only person he had let his guard down completely with was Penelope, and even that had taken a lot of time and plenty of mistakes along the way. He grimaced as he thought back to how poorly he’d handled the situation with Jaxon. If he had been willing to open up to her sooner, they might have avoided the pain that had accompanied it all. He exhaled. At least he had learned his lesson. He would never keep a secret like that from her ever again.

[i]But I’m still doing it with the littler things,[/i] he realized suddenly. Even though his own problems didn’t have such lofty consequences, he was still keeping them from everyone else—including the knight. She’d practically had to drag it out of him that he had been having nightmares, and even when he’d confessed, he hadn’t told her how severe the effects had been. He hadn’t told another soul about the mercenary he thought he’d seen at the marketplace either.

As much as he squirmed at the thought, maybe it would be a good idea to trust the people who had given him every reason to open up to them. Just not right now. He glanced up at the wide open doors of the Great Hall ahead of them. If he was going to start being more honest, it wasn’t going to happen in a room where he could be overheard by someone he didn’t trust at all. He would keep it to himself until he and Penelope—or even Preston, he decided—could be alone.

Inside the massive dining hall, Crow caught sight of Penelope and Naida right away. His sister had her hand in the air, waving at him as she always did when she wanted him to sit with her. He wasted no time heading over to their table, eager to see both of them again. Naturally, he was more interested in spending time with the knight, but it had been a while since he’d last seen the princess, so he wanted to catch up with her too.

“Hey,” he greeted them both as he sat down at the table next to Naida. She hadn’t pulled her usual trick to make him sit by Penelope this time, but he was too preoccupied with other thoughts to find her behavior strange at the moment. “I haven’t seen you in a while,” he mused, turning to his sister with a friendly smile. “What have you been up to?”