“Ouch,” Miles rolled his eyes jokingly when Iris teased him. The way she took every conversation with him as banter made it difficult for him to read her, but at least she didn’t seem interested in Jay. She hadn’t fidgeted or blushed or done anything else when he’d mentioned the other high born’s name, so he assumed that meant he was in the clear. Neither Caspian nor Jay were competition, so he was free to keep trying in the hopes that he could win her over. At the thought, a pleased smile curved his lip, but it vanished almost as quickly as it had appeared.

“Yeah, I noticed that too,” he confirmed, glancing toward the bedroom door at the mention of the prince. “I don’t really know what’s going on with him, but I don’t think we should worry about it. I’ve known him for a few years now, and he sometimes gets into these weird moods. I love the guy, but he wears his heart on his sleeve, and sometimes he misdirects his feelings at the wrong people. My guess is that something happened during the lockdown that’s made him pissy, and he doesn’t realize he’s taking it out on us.” He shrugged once more and turned back to Iris, “It’s the only thing that makes sense to me, since neither of us have done anything to make him mad.”

When the subject was changed, he pondered over their options. He had no idea what was going to happen to her now that the soldiers had decided she was long gone. Of course, he wanted her to stay in the city since he was attracted to her, but was it really the best place for her to be? [i]It is,[/i] he concluded promptly. As long as she could keep staying with him, there was no reason for her to leave the capital. “First of all, I’ve offered you the bed every damn day, and you’re the one who keeps picking the sofa,” he reminded her with a smirk. “And second, you can do whatever you want. If you want to keep staying here with me, I’m happy to continue being your gracious host, providing you with food, blankets and my sister’s clothes. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like this place is a lot safer for you than the districts outside the capital too. Why leave when you don’t have to?”

Almost as soon as he finished speaking, the door opened, and Cas stepped back into the room. The prince closed it behind him and looked up, slightly discouraged to find that Miles and Iris were still exactly where he’d left them. Part of him had hoped that Iris would shrug off Miles’ attempts to get closer to her while he’d been gone, but apparently, she was either oblivious to the arm thrown carelessly behind her back or didn’t mind its presence. His earlier train of thought convinced him it was the latter.

[color=#b97703]“I found this,”[/color] he said, breaking the silence and doing his best to hide his initial reaction to them by presenting the bottle of champagne. He stepped over to set it down on the coffee table, label facing the sofa, and sat down in his empty chair again.

“Cristal Vinotheque. Nice,” Miles nodded approvingly and glanced at Iris. “Are you sure you don’t want any? This is a fifteen hundred credit bottle right here. I bet you’ve never had a champagne this good in your life.”