At first, Cas decided not to contribute to the conversation his father was having with Iris. He could explain all he wanted that he wasn’t going to get anything out of her even if she was a threat, but he knew the king was too stubborn to listen. It was better to just let him go through with his interrogation and let him figure it out for himself. He absentmindedly twined strands of angel hair around the prongs of his fork from the shrimp pasta that had been served alongside the lobster. He’d seen the look on her face when she had been trying to fill in the gaps about who she was. Not even the best actresses in the country could fake that kind of sorrow. He was certain she was just a normal girl who’d been in an unfortunate accident, just as he’d seen when he’d found her.

Although he knew his father would have to come to the same conclusion eventually, when the king suddenly asked what she had been doing in the woods, the prince looked up from his food with raised brows. It was an accusative question even if he’d bothered to ask it with a smile—which he hadn’t. He was surprised how quickly Atlas was revealing his distrust when she had been nothing less than pleasant since the minute they had met. It seemed a little unfair in his opinion.

Of course, Iris was unable to give the king any more information than she’d given him in the hospital, but the grimace that appeared on her face was enough to persuade Cas to step in. He swallowed the mouthful of pasta he’d been chewing on and turned to his father, [color=#b97703]“When she woke up, she remembered next to nothing, and not much has come back since then.”[/color] Playing along with the king’s feigned desire to get to know her, he added, [color=#b97703]“I know this must be disappointing to you, but you won’t be able to learn much more about her until things start to fall back into place.”[/color]

Atlas held his gaze for a drawn-out moment as if he was trying to decide if his son was interrupting his plans or not. “Well then, I hope they do quickly,” he said after a pause, taking a sip of the white wine that had been poured alongside their seafood dishes. “I’m curious to find out what motivation any [i]high born[/i] woman would have to leave the capital at such a peculiar hour.”

Cas nearly rolled his eyes at his father’s insinuation that Iris wasn’t high born. [color=#b97703]“She wasn’t [i]that[/i] far outside the city,”[/color] he pointed out. [color=#b97703]“I wouldn’t have found her if she was.”[/color]

“It’s still unusual, don’t you think?” the king insisted with an air of nonchalance that felt forced to the prince. “Especially with the unresolved situation with The Scourge. It’s dangerous for anyone to venture outside the capital while those terrorists are threatening our lives and livelihood.”

[color=#b97703]“Well, we’ll find out why she was there [i]after[/i] she gets her memories back,”[/color] he shrugged, overtly taking a long draught of wine. If his father was going to insist on probing Iris for details she couldn’t give, he was going to need something to take the edge off.

“Pace yourself, Caspian,” Atlas mumbled chidingly before returning his attention to his guest. “My intention is not to make you uncomfortable. However, we need to know more about you if we are going to decide where to send you.” Cas noticed he didn’t even promise she would be going home. The king continued: “The sooner we can do this, the better. Wouldn’t you agree?”