As a silence fell over the car, Caspian’s thoughts wandered to what he was going to do if his father didn’t come out of his stupor in time to handle the aftermath of the crisis. First and foremost, he knew he wanted to have Jacob assemble a task force to comb through the files they had on the Scourge. If a rebel hacker had infiltrated the system, they needed to remove the threat as quickly as possible. There was also the chance that they could trace the hacker’s source, although he wasn’t as confident about that. From what he knew about computers, it wasn’t hard for a tech savvy individual to throw their location as far away as another continent, so he planned to tell the security team to prioritize forcing them out rather than investing precious time into tracking them down.

He was drawn from his thoughts when Iris placed her hand over his. He’d been so caught up in everything that was going on that he’d forgotten that he had rested his hand on her leg. The realization that he’d left it there the whole time made him flush scarlet with embarrassment. [color=#b97703]“It’s fine,”[/color] he murmured, shaking his head. [color=#b97703]“There’s no way you could have known you get motion sick.”[/color] Her upset stomach was the least of his concerns. Leather seats could be cleaned if she became ill, but members of the rebellion could do quite a bit of damage if they were left unchecked for too long.

However, her following words made him feel even more chagrined. He knew she was just trying to empathize with him, but he hated how obvious his discomfort was to her. This was exactly why he wished he wasn’t the crown prince. Being next in line for the throne meant making hard decisions confidently and without faltering. If he couldn’t even send arrested terrorists to the interrogators without wincing, how was he supposed to handle the care of an entire country? He didn’t feel like he had what it took to step into his father’s shoes, and he wished the king was coherent, so he wouldn’t have to try.

[color=#b97703]“Thanks, but you shouldn’t have to do that,”[/color] he sighed, turning to Iris with a solemn frown. [color=#b97703]“It’s my duty to take care of these things. I’m sorry you even got wrapped up in it.”[/color]

“We’re landing now, Your Highness,” the pilot spoke up from the front seat.

Cas glanced at him and then fixed his gaze on the window again as the force of gravity shifted on the hover car with their descent. He could feel the change in the pit of his stomach, and the buildings outside seemed to grow larger as they neared the ground. The vehicle touched down gently behind the mansion—the royal family employed the best pilots in the nation—and everyone began unbuckling their seatbelts.

Once his was off, the prince climbed out of the car and circled around to help Iris, but Harry beat him to it. The bodyguard assisted her with her crutches, and he turned away from them both as two more security members approached the newly arrived group from the house. One of them was Jacob.

“Your Highness,” the guard bowed respectfully and righted himself again. “The other members of the council are gathering now to discuss the situation. The king will be unable to participate for another three hours, so they need you to attend as his proxy.”

[color=#b97703]“I’ll head over now,”[/color] Cas nodded to him and peered back at Iris with a helpless shrug. [color=#b97703]“Sorry, but I have to deal with this. If you’re still hungry for dinner, Harry can walk you to the dining room from the tarmac. I’ll meet up with you later.”[/color]