[color=#b97703]“I missed you too,”[/color] Cas said in return, unable to stop smiling while he could still feel the ghost of Iris’s lips against his. He was still a little nervous about the pandora’s box they might have opened by choosing to be together when the future was so uncertain, but he was dedicated now to enduring whatever hardships they were going to have to face. If he stayed with her beyond the capital, they would probably have to live on the run for a while until the rebels no longer wanted to kill him. If they went back to the capital, he was going to have to figure out a way to smuggle her in with him and convince his father to stop planning to arrange his marriage to someone else. Both options had their pros and cons, so he wasn’t ready to make a decision either way yet.

When she suggested that they slow down their trip to the capital, he nodded without hesitation. [color=#b97703]“That’s a good compromise,”[/color] he agreed. Hopefully by taking their time instead of rushing, he would have enough time to make up his mind before they got there. It would also help him stall as he tried to figure out how to approach his father about their relationship if he decided that he did want to go home. When he had tried to date high born women in the past, Atlas hadn’t even considered the thought of letting him choose who he wanted to be with, so he was sure it was going to be an uphill battle trying to convince him that a common girl was a better match for him than someone who had an upstanding reputation and valuable connections. If the king found out she was Regis’s daughter, it would be even more difficult.

Although he wanted to keep kissing her in the grass, he knew he should give her a break to catch her breath since she still had a fever. Not wanting to overwhelm her, he removed himself from on top of her and laid on his side next to her, propping one arm underneath his head and draping the other over her middle. The bombing in Bel Bicis had been nothing short of terrifying, but in a way, he was glad it had happened. If he hadn’t faced a life-threatening crisis that had made him second guess all of his life decisions, he would have continued to keep Iris at arm’s length and gone back to the capital without ever finding out the truth about who was really on his side. He was glad he’d found out before they had parted rather than after.

[color=#b97703]“Are you still sure you won’t be able to sleep?”[/color] he asked, letting out a long exhale. [color=#b97703]“I’m starting to think I could use a nap, myself.”[/color] Thoroughly distracted from their close encounter with death, his exhaustion had hit him like a freight train. It was still far too early to go to bed, but he was physically and emotionally drained, and he was comfortable nestled with her against his chest, so the thought of dozing under the trees was tempting. The only thing keeping him awake was the fact that he knew they weren’t as safe out in the open as they had been in the apartment they’d broken into earlier. It would have been easy for a rebel to stumble upon them out here if they were searching for them in the forest.