Caspian felt terrible about abandoning Iris right after she had finally opened up to him about her trauma, but in that moment, getting back home was the most urgent matter. He couldn’t justify staying at the hotel with her any longer when he’d just found out that his father had passed away. There was too much to do. There was always a nation-wide funeral service whenever a member of the royal family died, so he would have to be there for that. He’d probably even have to make a speech. And then after that, there would be a coronation. [i]His[/i] coronation. His throat felt tight at the thought. He didn’t want to go through with it yet.

For one thing, he didn’t feel like he was ready to be the king of Aspiria, and the pressure of knowing that the fate of an entire country was about to be handed over to him was nothing short of terrifying. For another, he was still reeling from the news that he’d lost his father. He felt like he didn’t even have time to properly grasp the gravity of what that meant. There wasn’t enough time to really sit down and think about the fact that his father was gone, and that he would never see him again. It felt unfair that such a bomb had been dropped on him so suddenly, without any warning, and now he was expected to go back and take over in his place.

There wasn’t even time to wallow about that either, and he stood up from the couch, reluctantly removing himself from Iris’s touch. [color=#b97703]“I’ll be back as soon as I can… and I’ll call the hotel to make sure they keep charging this room to my card while I’m gone, so you can keep staying here,”[/color] he said as he moved quickly to locate his shoes. Finding them by the door, he fumbled to put them on, his hands shaking with the rush of shock and adrenaline that still pumped through his veins. The task was more difficult than it should have been, but he managed to get it done and then stepped back over to Iris, wrapping his arms around her in a tight embrace. He had some idea of what was going to happen from here, since he knew Aspiria’s protocol for the transition of one monarch to the next, but the timeline was still hazy enough that he couldn’t predict when he would see her again.

[color=#b97703]“I hate leaving you here like this…”[/color] he whispered, burying his head against her neck. [color=#b97703]“I love you so much, Iris. I swear, I’ll come back as soon as I can get away.”[/color] He wished he had some way to contact her in between though. He had to keep his cell phone with him to contact Jacob, and she didn’t have a phone of her own—Or did she?

Struck with an idea, Cas pulled back from her once more and jogged over to the suite’s phone, scouring the table until he found a pad of sticky notes and a pen. Luckily, the [i]Sunset Veil[/i] was like many other hotels in that it provided everything a guest needed to take down notes and memos. He scribbled down his own phone number on the top of the pad and peeled it off, pressing it down on the table next to the phone, and turned back to Iris, [color=#b97703]“I won’t be able to call you, but if you need anything, you can call me… Nights are probably best, any time after ten. I shouldn’t have anything going on by then even if my days are busy.”[/color]

With a line of communication established, he approached her one last time to meet her lips in a parting kiss, wrapping his arms around her back. [color=#b97703]“Stay safe, okay?”[/color] he breathed, meeting her gaze sincerely when he pulled away again.