For the rest of the afternoon and evening, Cas enjoyed his time with his friends more than he had when he’d first arrived. Even though he and Iris had gotten interrupted, Jay and Miles made up for their inadvertent disruption by heading more games and conversations. He couldn’t hold it against them when they hadn’t even known that he and the former rebel were together. Besides that, he’d always had fun in their company. Miles had gotten too high to keep trying to flirt with Iris, which was a relief as well. With no competition—perceived or otherwise—for her attention, he was able to relax and forget about his troubles until the time came for him to return to the Maydestone estate.

As usual, he was reluctant to leave and wished he could just phone home to tell his father that he’d rather stay with his friends for the night, but he already knew how that discussion would go down. The king would assert that it was too dangerous after he had just been abducted by the rebellion a little over a week ago. He’d also tell him that “sleepovers” were for children and were unbefitting of a grown man, let alone one who was going to be the next king of Aspiria. There was no point in trying to convince him otherwise.

So, he said his goodbyes to the others around eleven and drove himself back to the mansion, checking in briefly with one of the security guards to let them know he was back before he went to bed alone.

The next morning, he was awoken early by a curt knock on his door. He yawned blearily and rubbed his eyes as he called out permission for the visitor to enter, wondering who needed something from him before noon. During the lockdown, the guards and staff and even his father had left him to rest and recover from his experience beyond the capital. He’d gotten used to having time in the mornings to sleep in. Unfortunately, though, it seemed like that time had passed.

“Your highness?” a maid projected as she stepped into the room and bowed to him politely. “I just stopped by to inform you that His Majesty has arranged a meeting for you with Dr. Foster today at nine. He’s asked that you be ready to see her when she arrives.”

Cas made a face. He’d nearly forgotten about the psychiatrist that his father insisted on treating him for his nonexistence Stockholm Syndrome. Apparently the king hadn’t let it go while the capital guards had been searching for Iris. [color=#b97703]“Fine,”[/color] he grumbled, turning his head into his pillow. [color=#b97703]“I’ll be up soon.”[/color] In the same way he couldn’t ask to stay overnight somewhere outside the mansion, he knew it was pointless to keep telling Atlas that he didn’t need therapy. His father had already proven that he didn’t trust him enough to make any decisions for himself.

The maid bowed again and exited the room, and he reluctantly sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. As he stretched to shake off his residual tiredness, he checked his phone out of habit, making sure he didn’t have any missed messages before he stood up. The blank lockscreen showed nothing of importance, so he ambled into the bathroom to take a shower and get ready for his appointment with Dr. Foster. He just hoped it would go by quickly, so he could try to go back to Miles’ place before his father came up with anything else for him to do.