Crow bristled when William turned his harsh words back on Penelope. She’d never once betrayed her kingdom, and it irritated him to hear the older knight say that she had. He wanted to remind their former comrade that they had been the ones to carry out the mission in Younis, and that she was the one who had saved him from a brutal execution. Since then, the lieutenant had also fought valiantly in the war, slayed the bandit who had threatened the triumph of her battalion, and even successfully convinced the king to instigate a peace treaty with their enemies. She had done more for Brerra in a few months than the bitter man had probably done in his entire career as a knight. However, he didn’t need to say so as Penelope defended herself against William’s asinine accusations.

Beneath the table, the viceroy placed a hand supportively on her leg. If he ever had any hope that the older knight would change, it was gone now. He had done everything right, even giving up his life as a wanted thief to be with her, but William could only see him as a criminal who was just playing some sort of angle to benefit himself. It was clear that nothing they could say or do would change his mind, so he did the next best thing, turning away from the knight to keep eating his supper. The lukewarm food was better company than the man who would heckle them in front of the whole kingdom if he ever had the chance.

Fortunately, William didn’t pester them for much longer, and Crow felt the tension ebb from his shoulders as the knight stormed away from their table. “I think it would certainly be quieter around here if you had,” he sighed, wrapping an arm around Penelope’s side as he felt her lean into him. Despite their disagreements, he was reluctantly happy that they hadn’t abandoned their former comrade in Younis though. There was already far too much killing in their kingdom over trivial things, and he truly didn’t believe the older man deserved to die for clinging to his beliefs. He just hoped William would give up on trying to dissolve their courtship soon. He might not have wanted to kill him, but he didn’t know how much longer he could go without throwing a punch if the knight kept harassing them.

“At least this is the last we’ll see of him for a while,” he pointed out with a smile. “He can’t follow us out of the citadel when we leave.” That was another perk of traveling together, he realized. Once they were on the road, it would just be them, Preston, Naida, Percy, and the two knights Albin assigned as his other guards. His attendant and his sister were openly supportive of their relationship, and Percival didn’t seem to have an opinion one way or the other—at least, if he did have one, he did a good job of hiding it. Even if the other guards disapproved, he doubted they would say anything because they were close to the king. They wouldn’t risk falling out of his father’s good graces just to object to their courtship. It would be nice to get away from all the judging faces in the palace until everyone cooled down.