[color=#b97703]“Oh, if you want to be more adventurous, I’ll be ordering you more than just plain cheese pizza,”[/color] Cas laughed. [color=#b97703]“I’ll let you know what we’ll be watching tomorrow too. That part will be the surprise.”[/color] He just hoped there would be something good on TV, so they wouldn’t be stuck watching a re-run of a bad Rom Com. After a long day of learning how to lead the country, the last thing he wanted to do was sit through two hours of cringey, fake love stories and awful jokes.

When Iris said she would try to get some sleep, he nodded. It wasn’t too late yet, but knowing how little rest she’d gotten recently, he didn’t want to keep her awake much longer. As much as he would have liked to keep their conversation going, it was better for him to let her go, so she could at least attempt to get some shut eye before the sun came up. [color=#b97703]“I hope you do,”[/color] he smiled softly as he looked up at the ceiling. [color=#b97703]“And on that note, I should do the same thing. I’ve got a feeling that tomorrow is gonna be a long day… I’ll talk to at the end of it, Iris. I love you.”[/color]

After they said their goodbyes, the prince hung up the phone and did his best to recover from the busy day. Unfortunately, his mind was still racing, and his anxiety about what was yet to come didn’t allow him to get much sleep that night. He tossed and turned in his father’s oversized bed until light seeped in through the window the next morning, and he had to drag himself to his feet to find out what his new life was going to look like as the king of Aspiria.

And no amount of grooming could have prepared him for the sheer weight of the expectations that had suddenly been thrust upon his shoulders.

For the rest of that day and the two weeks following, Caspian found himself up to his neck in meetings with the heads of every department he’d known existed in the kingdom—and a few that he’d never heard of in his life. Everyone seemed to have an agenda to fill him in on the latest news and reports and discoveries, pick apart his opinions, and teach him to take over the roles that his father had carried when he’d still been alive. The influx of information was overwhelming, and at the end of every evening, he felt like his head was pounding as his brain struggled to absorb it all.

His over-the-phone talks with Iris were the only solace from the workload, but even though he loved hearing her voice, it was becoming harder for him to keep his eyes open by the time she called him during the nights. Once after the first week, he dozed off while he was still on the line with her, and one time after that, he passed out in his bed before he could even pick up the phone. He desperately missed her, but with so many people competing for his attention, he didn’t find the time to speak with the security team about removing the bounty his father had placed on her head.

Though he tried to ignore it, he could feel that they were drifting apart. It was impossible for the distance not to affect them when they only had, at most, an hour or two to catch up every day and never had the time to see each other in person. His new responsibilities were also taking over his every waking thought until he found himself thinking about her far less than he used to. By the end of his second week as king, he felt disconcerted enough about the change—and about the fact that he’d slept through her last phone call—that he swiped a canned coffee from the kitchen before he retired to his room for the night, hoping the caffeine boost would propel him through to the end of their conversation.

With a plan set and ready, the former prince changed out of his day clothes and settled into his bed, sipping idly at the drink while he returned a few texts with Jay and Miles, both of whom had also been put on the backburner while he adjusted to the monarchy. He still had a little time left before the clock would strike ten, so he wanted to check in with his friends before Iris called him and he talked with her until he was too tired to keep his eyes open anymore.