[color=#b97703][i]So, they really are planning to kill me,[/i][/color] Cas felt the icy hand of fear grip his heart. He would have loved to beat his chest and boldly declare that he wasn’t afraid of Ethan’s implied threats, but it just wasn’t true. He’d never been in any situation that could have prepared him for something like this. Life in the capital was mundane. Sometimes it had bored him, but now that he’d experienced what it was like to face adventure and danger, he wished he could go back to his ordinary existence, even if it was repetitive and unchanging. Anything was better than sitting in a cold, bare cell while being told that his days were numbered.

As Ethan brought up the king, the prince’s confidence wavered. It was true that his father was in bad shape, and the reminder only made him feel guilty. Atlas had been trying to get through to him for years, trying to tell him that his bleeding heart was going to be his downfall if he didn’t patch it. It turned out that the monarch had been right all along. A melancholic half smile tugged at his lip, and he hung his head to hide it. He should have listened before he’d landed himself in the enemy’s prison. Because of his desire to see the best in everyone, he was barely hanging onto his life by a thread, and he’d put the monarchy at risk of crumbling to a group that would joyfully destroy Aspiria the second they wrapped their filthy hands around the mantle. It was quite the legacy to leave as the last heir of the Maydestone family.

He didn’t bother looked up when Ethan kicked over the water. Iris had left it for him, so he wasn’t going to drink it anyway. He merely squinted slightly as he tried to look for the spilled water on the ground. His cell wasn’t very big, so it would be uncomfortable if the water trickled toward him and made his space damp. However, before he had much of a chance to search, his breath caught in his throat at his guard’s next words. There it was, the confirmation that [i]everything [/i]had been a lie. Iris had played him like a fiddle from the moment she’d said she had feelings for him to the last kiss they’d shared before they had snuck out of the mansion. The reveal didn’t hurt as much as he’d thought it would though. After everything else that had happened, his “bleeding heart” had grown calloused.

[color=#b97703]“I can’t say I’m surprised,”[/color] he sighed honestly. [color=#b97703]“But it was still a pretty dick move for you to tell me that when her plan already worked.”[/color] The longer Ethan prodded at him, the looser he became with his words. He was starting to get fed up with the rebel who only seemed to be here to get under his skin. If his guards were operating on shifts, he hoped their turns were short, because it was starting to look like this guy wasn’t going to give him a break.

As Ethan knelt down on the other side of the bars, Cas side-eyed him warily. Of course, he just had to pour salt on the wound by not letting him forget how stupid he’d been for falling for Iris’s tricks. He already knew that her games had worked because he was gullible, but he wasn’t going to give the rebel the satisfaction of admitting it. He pressed his lips together defiantly, but his eyes widened slightly at Ethan’s last words. Though he didn’t want to admit this either, the claim had hit home. He averted his gaze, trembling slightly with mixed emotions. [color=#b97703]“Tell me, are you being paid to be a jackass or are you always this unpleasant?”[/color] he spat, momentarily forgetting which of them had the upper hand as he let his temper get the best of him. [color=#b97703]“Because if it’s the latter, I can see why Iris thought she’d have more fun with [i]me [/i]when she was in the capital. She definitely didn’t kiss me like she had a boyfriend waiting for her back home, that’s for sure.”[/color]