While Naida continued to beg Penelope to play another round of their game, Crow idly swirled the remains of his mead in his mug. His attempt to stop his sister from pressuring the knight had gotten him nowhere, so he was resigned to wait and see if Penelope would cave to her friend’s pestering on her own. Either way, not much would change for him unless she forgot about their secret and tried to be more physical in front of the princess. Although, if he was honest, he was the one between the two of them who would have been more likely to throw boundaries aside if he was drunk. She wasn’t as sloppy as he was.

Eventually, Penelope folded to the other nobles, and Crow subtly turned his hand over on her lap to lace his fingers with hers. Kane might have been trying to get close to her by sliding onto the bench with them, but now that the three of them were somewhat crammed together on one side of the table, he had an excuse to hold her hand without getting caught. He sipped at his drink to hide the sly smile that formed on his lips. As much as he wished they could come forward with their relationship, he also found some pleasure in getting away with a few casual touches in public. The secretiveness of it was thrilling.

As the others downed their next round of drinks, the viceroy looked down at his own glass. He had been drinking at a fairly steady pace, but his mug was still almost half full. Meanwhile, Penelope and her friends were already at least two pints deep. He turned back to the knight, wondering if she knew what she was getting herself into.

“Done!” Kane’s voice caught Crow’s attention as the nobleman set his empty cup down first.

Shortly after, a second slam followed. “Damn it,” Naida groaned. “I really tried that time too.” A hiccup punctuated her last sentence, and she lifted a hand to her mouth in embarrassment.

“Why do you even challenge people to drinking games if you’re not good at them?” Crow snickered.

“Shut up,” his sister shot him a scowl, though he couldn’t take her seriously as she hiccupped again. “I am good! I think Kane’s cheating.” She turned her glare on the nobleman, who seemed taken aback by her accusation.

Crow laughed and turned back to Penelope to see how she was doing after polishing off another large mug of cider.