Kane’s tension didn’t slip past Crow’s watchful gaze for a second. The viceroy eyed him discreetly when Naida carelessly announced that he and Penelope had kissed during the nobleman’s absence. His frustration wasn’t unexpected though. Crow had already guessed that Papert had competing with him for the knight’s affections since he’d shown up at their table. The other man probably thought that he’d just lost out on a chance to be the one to kiss her instead.

[i]Too bad,[/i] he thought scathingly, lifting his mug to his lips to finish off the rest of his drink. It would be a relief when he and Penelope could finally come forward about their relationship and stop pretending like they were nothing more than friends. He was reaching the end of his rope with all the nobles who had been trying to court both of them. Hopefully once everyone knew they were together, the flirting strangers would come to an end. And even if they didn’t, at least he would have a pass to do something about it instead of sit back and pretend like it didn’t bother him when other men flattered his woman.

In the next instant, Crow was torn from his musings when Kane signaled to a group of knights to approach their table. The former thief felt his heart beat faster with adrenaline, his eyes locked on the armored men that now strode toward him and the others. He had been prepared to handle his drunken companions get back to the castle, but if they were ambushed now, he couldn’t fight them all off by himself. He was still an amateur combatant at best, and he’d stopped carrying his daggers ever since Preston had told him about the nobleman who had snapped and killed a guard. Not trusting any of the people who were surrounding them now, he turned on Kane with an unbridled glare.

“It’s unnecessary,” he growled, warily keeping the knights in the corner of his eye as he hurried to come up with an escape plan. If they were here to pick a fight, he would either go down swinging or do everything in his power to get himself and the two inebriated noblewomen to safety.

“It’s no trouble at all,” Kane kept up his polite attitude, although the lighthearted tone didn’t match the unfriendly look on his face.

“I don’t care,” Crow said stubbornly. “I don’t know them; I don’t trust them. We’ll be just fine on our own, so you can call off your dogs.”