Candice's POV
Greta scoffed. "She is the victim, Markus," she said. "Stop treating her like she is on trial."
"Are you," the king said. He did not look at Greta when he said it. He was still looking at Candice with that heavy and patient gaze. "Are you the victim here, Lady Candice."
Candice felt her hands go cold and damp in her lap. She pressed them flat against her dress and tried to think of something to say that was honest enough to hold up and careful enough not to make things worse.
Nothing arrived.
The king shifted his gaze to Greta at last. "From where I am standing," he said quietly, "Sairis attended that dinner with Lady Candice's full acceptance and consent. He would not have done otherwise. That is not the kind of man he is."
He paused. "Which means this was not a crime committed against the crown. It was a decision made by two people, together, for reasons that I suspect were not entirely without cause."
