So, Iris had known who she was for a while. Cas tightened his jaw as the words cut through him like a knife. She had remembered the same evening that he had admitted he had feelings for her. Was everything just a lie then? If she had known she was a member of the Scourge—and a relative of its leader, no less—there had been no reason for her to have reciprocated his budding crush. She’d probably just played along so that he would trust her when the time eventually came for her to convince him to venture away from his guards. And it had worked. He hadn’t suspected for even a second that she was an enemy. Like a fool, he’d believed every kiss and compliment had been real, and he’d let himself get drawn in when he should have been listening to his father’s warnings from the start. He wasn’t sure if he was more upset with her for tricking him or with himself for being so gullible that he’d practically orchestrated his own kidnapping.

As she sat down, he refused to lift his gaze from the floor. He could hear the choke in her voice when she spoke, but he’d already learned his lesson. She was just trying to play his heart like she had before. None of it was real. He couldn’t let himself get caught in her web of lies again and fall into whatever other traps she had laid out. [color=#b97703][i]Don’t listen to it,[/i][/color] he told himself silently, curling his fingers into his palms to keep the blood from pooling. The ties on his wrists were tight. [color=#b97703][i]She’s a rebel. She always was a rebel. She’s not actually sorry. This is what she and the rest of them wanted all along, to weaken the crown.[/i][/color] He could almost hear each thought vocalized in Atlas’s firm voice. Even though he and his father hadn’t been getting along very well lately, the mental image helped. Atlas was a model king whose shoes he wanted to fill when he eventually became the next monarch, so he tried to focus on what his father would say and do if he had been put in this situation instead.

His meditation was interrupted by the sound of a loud voice that called out from somewhere in the distance. The harsh tone made him flinch, and he reprimanded himself in his head, hating how jumpy he was. He wanted to come off strong and unbreakable to convince the rebels that he wasn’t going to bow down to them just because they’d thrown him in a cell. Instead, he had a feeling anyone who saw him would know exactly how nervous he was on the inside. He had to try harder.

Taking a deep breath, he shifted to sit upright and pressed his back against the wall behind him for stability. Throughout the time he’d spent in the dark room, his eyes had been slowly adjusting to the low lighting. He could see a few shadowy features, like Iris, who was sitting on the other side of his cage, and the food and blanket she’d brought for him, but he wasn’t sure what anything else was yet. [color=#b97703]“You’re not gonna go?”[/color] he asked her dryly. He didn’t buy her apology, so he wasn’t going to acknowledge it. [color=#b97703]“It sounds like someone wants you.”[/color] He was also hoping to get a glimpse of something beyond his dark cell if she opened the door. With any luck, he’d be able to orient himself at least a little, so if he had a chance to escape, he would have an idea of where to run.

Despite his fledgling of a plan, he couldn’t keep his mouth shut. [color=#b97703]“You know you’re not going to get away with this, right?”[/color] he went on before he could stop himself, looking up at her with narrowed eyes. [color=#b97703]“I’m the crown prince, Iris. The military probably already knows I’m gone, and they’re going to overturn every rock in the country to bring me back. You and your rebel friends can’t keep this up for very long before they find you; and when they do, they’re going to execute everyone on site.”[/color]