Cas held Regis’s gaze stubbornly when the rebel leader said his relationship with his daughter was none of his business. Maybe it wasn’t, but he wasn’t just going to sit idly by and watch him abuse her so heartlessly. He would have done the same for anyone in her situation. The way Regis spoke and behaved around her wasn’t right.  Even if she was part of the rebellion, he couldn’t bring himself to pretend like he hadn’t been appalled by the way the two had interacted. He hoped that when the soldiers found him, the older man would be in the building, so they could arrest him for his crimes, and he couldn’t hit her anymore.

[color=#b97703]“I don’t see her that way at all,”[/color] he defended himself when Regis accused him of claiming Iris as his property. [color=#b97703]“And honestly, it seems to me like you do. You boss her around and hit her like she’s just a tool for you to use. What kind of father would do that to his own daughter? Do you even care about her?”[/color] He knew he was getting heated, but he couldn’t help himself. The rebel leader’s actions were sickening. As long as he was behind bars, where the angry man couldn’t get to him, he wasn’t afraid to say so either. Somebody had to do it, and even if Regis didn’t listen to him because he was a royal, he was going to try anyway.

When Iris’s father went on about the military, Cas didn’t say anything. He could have explained that the soldiers were trained to defend against large armies, not individual assassins, or that the military was a different beast when it was united under a common goal rather than casually guarding the capital. However, something told him that saying anything more about Aspiria’s armed forces was a bad idea. There was no telling what Regis would do with that kind of information nor what lengths he would go to uncover more if he revealed he knew useful intel that the rebellion could take advantage of. So, deciding he didn’t want to endure any torture before he was rescued, he kept his mouth shut on the subject.

In the next moment, Regis moved on to a different topic on his own, but the sudden change was far from relieving to Caspian. The prince tensed as the rebel leader’s voice grew dangerously quiet, holding his breath with instinctive apprehension. He could read the atmosphere well enough to know he wasn’t off the hook yet, but he hadn’t expected the older man to pull out a key. As Regis approached his cell and unlocked the door, Cas pressed his back against the wall, heart knocking against his ribs. He’d thought the rebels wouldn’t touch him until they decided to kill him, but now that he was trapped in a small space with a violent man leaning over him with a blade, he realized too late that he’d thought wrong.

With nowhere to go, he hurriedly turned his face to the side as the rice bowl flew at him. The dish made contact with his head, and he gasped. His vision swam from the blow, but he was still coherent enough to understand what Regis had just said. Three days. He had just three days until the Scourge killed him. It wasn’t very much time.

In spite of himself, he could feel his legs tremble as cold dread washed over him. The possibility that this dark room was the last place he would ever see was suddenly very real. He wouldn’t see his home or his father ever again. He wouldn’t have a chance to make up for this mistake. [color=#b97703][i]Stop it, stop it,[/i][/color] he bit down on his lip, trying to stop the despair from taking over. It wasn’t over yet. His odds may have been grim, but he still had three days to do everything in his power to get away. The first step was making sure he physically well enough to run.

Putting his safety before his pride, Cas slumped against the wall with his face still turned away from Regis. He wanted the rebel leader to think his spirit was breaking, so he hopefully wouldn’t be as inclined to keep throwing things at him or use the knife in his hand. If no one else touched him while he stayed in the Scourge’s custody, he still had a chance to escape.