Crow glanced fleetingly at Penelope when she tried to offer her support before his eyes fixed on Kane again. He didn’t know what the nobleman was up to, but he knew he didn’t like it. Outnumbered four to three—or really, four to one, since both of the women were drunk—he fell instantly into old habits, pinpointing his exits and keeping his potential enemies in sight at all times. That he was sober meant he had a slight edge over the group of knights, but it wasn’t enough to make him feel very confident about his odds. The men might have been drunk, but they wore armor and had weapons at their belts. In close quarters, the lone viceroy was highly disadvantaged if a fight broke out.

He had to wonder what they thought they were doing though. Even if they had personal grudges against him, he had still been chosen by their king and given the title of ambassador. He despised the thought of running to Albin to solve his problems for him, but if his father found out that some of his own knights had attacked him, well… He’d already heard the threat of his adversaries being drawn and quartered once before.

As Kane suggested he could leave separately, Crow bristled. If the nobleman was just trying to pull him away from Penelope, he was going to excessive measures to do so. There had been no need for him to get his bodyguards involved. It was a cowardly trick, in the former thief’s opinion. Even past rivals like Gavin and Cedric hadn’t resorted to anything this low. He was tempted to challenge the blonde to fight him one-on-one if he was so eager to assert his power. However, he had enough of a rein on his temper to quell his tongue.

“This is ridiculous,” he muttered under his breath while Naida and Penelope expressed their hesitation with the plan as well. As much as he disliked the thought of being “escorted” by so many knights, he would never leave the lieutenant alone with a man like Kane. Whatever his reason was for trying to separate them, it couldn’t have been good.

Then, the drunken knight spoke up. Crow’s last thread of composure threatened to snap as the man ridiculed him about the night Elizabeth had tried to seduce him in his bedchamber. “What’s that supposed to mean?” he snarled, rising to his full height from the bench and stepping toward the other man. At his approach, the guard tensed and rested a hand on the hilt of his sword.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” the viceroy went on, incensed by the accusation. He turned his cold eyes on Kane. “These two are close friends of mine, and I’m going to walk them back [i]alone[/i], like we originally planned. If you don’t like it, then you can take it up with someone who cares.”