“I don’t care if it’s an invasion of privacy, I want that security footage now!” Jacob barked into his headset. It had been about fifteen minutes since the security team had located the vehicle Caspian and the girl had taken the night before. As soon as it was confirmed that the car had been in park for almost twelve hours, he and three other men had peeled out in their own sedan to retrieve the missing royal. They had thought they’d find the pair camped out in the woods, hiding away from King Atlas in an attempt to avoid getting caught together. Instead, they’d stumbled upon an empty car and a discarded com device in the grass.

Jacob didn’t know what had happened yet, but it was clear that something had gone wrong. Caspian may have been acting recklessly lately, but he wasn’t stupid. He wouldn’t have willingly parted with the device when there were rebels in the city. It was more likely that he and the girl had stumbled upon the terrorists or even that she was to blame for his disappearance. He ground his teeth impatiently, his eyes flicking intermittently back toward a security camera across the street. If the prince had wandered deep into the forest, the tape wouldn’t have caught what had happened, but it was worth a shot to check it anyway. He just needed to get him back as quickly as possible or else Atlas would have him and everyone else who had dropped the ball last night executed.

“Curry.” Jacob turned back toward the trees as one of the other guards, Harry, called out his last name. The other man was walking over with a nervous expression, and he held something in his hands.

“What did you find, Calhoun?” he asked, stoic despite the rising sense of worry that twisted his gut. His associate wouldn’t have looked so pale if he was coming with good news.

“His cellphone,” Harry held up the device. “The battery is drained, so I think one of the apps must have been running after he dropped it. Maybe the flashlight?”

“We’ll charge it up to see if there’s anything useful,” Jacob folded his arms. “Maybe he got a photo of whoever did this. Anything else?”

Harry shifted his weight. “Yeah… I found this next to the phone.” He held up a large rock with a bloodstain on the edge.

“Shit,” Jacob blanched. “Call the police and tell them we need to have a blood sample analyzed. If that belongs to Caspian, we’re all fucked.”

“Yes, sir,” Harry nodded and jogged off to fulfill the order.

Jacob watched him go and gripped his biceps tensely. Despite his request, he already knew the blood was going to come back as a match for the prince. He must have been attacked before he could call for help, which explained why the team had never received a distress signal from him last night. If he wasn’t already dead, they needed to act fast—and he needed to tell the king that his son may have been kidnapped by the crown’s enemies. He pressed his tongue against the back of his teeth as he pulled his own phone from his trouser pocket to dial the number for the palace, already dreading the conversation. He just hoped Atlas wouldn’t have anyone killed before they had a chance to try and find the missing prince.

--

For a while, the room was quiet. Cas sat with his legs outstretched and his head lolling back against the wall. Although he’d passed out for what he guessed had been a few hours or more, he was still tired. The weariness probably had more to do with his emotional exhaustion than anything else though. He’d just been separated from everything that was familiar, robbed of any way to contact home, and thrown into a dingy cell with his hands and feet bound, not to mention he’d discovered that the woman he’d started to fall for had been the mastermind behind the whole thing. It was a lot to process.

Still protesting the resources Iris had left for him, he stayed far away from the food and water outside his cage. His stomach had started growling not too long ago, but he wasn’t going to fill it with anything she’d touched. There was a draft in the room too, but he endured the gooseflesh that rose on his arms in preference to accepting the blanket. He wasn’t sure how long he would be able to keep up his act, but that was a problem for later. Right now, he still had enough stamina to put on a tough face. He just had to keep hoping that the soldiers would find him quickly, so he could have a hot meal back in the comfort of the royal kitchen.

The thought of food prepared by his family’s in-house chefs made his mouth water, and he swallowed as he heard the sound of the door opening. Opening his eyes, the prince looked up just in time to see someone throw the door shut again. The loud crash made him stiffen, but he managed not to flinch this time. Being tired helped him appear more aloof, he supposed. However, as the soft sound of popping knuckles reached him, he felt a cold trickle of dread run down his spine. Had the rebels sent someone to rough him up this time?

He watched the shadowy figure of a man stride toward him, his heart pounding rapidly against his ribs. With his hands and feet tied up, he couldn’t do anything to defend himself if the stranger came into his cell to beat him to a pulp, but it seemed like that wasn’t why he’d appeared. Rather, the man stopped on the other side of the bars and leaned against the wall.

Cas relaxed. It was just a guard. No longer as worried about facing a one-sided fight, he took a moment to look the man over, only to raise his brows in surprise when he realized he was looking at Ethan Williams, one of the rebels who had escaped from the soldiers in the capital. He must have slipped out of the city and come back to… wherever this place was. [color=#b97703][i]Why am I so surprised?[/i][/color] He thought with a subtle shake of his head, the shocked expression melting from his face. [color=#b97703][i]He and that other guy were in cahoots with Iris the whole time. Of course they would have escaped with her. I gave them all the perfect opportunity.[/i][/color]

He could feel Ethan’s gaze on him in the darkness, but he ignored it. [color=#b97703][i]If he thinks he’s gonna intimidate me, he’s got another thing coming,[/i][/color] he thought stubbornly, picking at the rope that bound his hands. The coarse material was starting to rub uncomfortably against his skin, so he rolled his wrists, trying to wriggle the binding a little looser. Anything to keep his attention off the rebel who was glaring daggers at him outside the cell.