The next morning, Cas shoveled down a quick breakfast and wasted no time heading to the garage, determined to get to Iris as quickly as he could to resolve the conflict between them. A few guards tried to offer their protection along the way, insisting that it was safer for him to travel with at least one other person who would be keeping an eye out for danger, but he turned them down. Jacob had already given him permission to leave alone, and he told the security team that he trusted the capital’s military to keep the city secure, so there was no need for any bodyguards. The men were clearly reluctant to let him go, but they couldn’t argue with their king, so they didn’t push him to change his mind.

He managed to make it to his car with little resistance and took off before the head of security could change his mind, heading down the long, private road away from the palace. Right from the start, the wheels of his mind were already turning as he raced to think of a way to make up for the fact that he hadn’t been taking their conversations seriously. He hoped she would understand the hoops he was already jumping through in order to meet with her in person, but he didn’t expect that that would be enough of an apology on its own.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t make any stops to buy anything without getting recognized, so he would just have to be the best doting boyfriend he could be while he was visiting her. With that plan in mind, he pulled into the [i]Sunset Veil’s[/i] underground parking lot and headed up the elevator to the top floor, his heart fluttering anxiously as he got closer to Iris’s suite. It was a necessary fight, but that didn’t make it any easier to have, and he didn’t look forward to it as he stepped up to her door and knocked.

--

Meanwhile, back at the palace, Jacob sit at his office desk with his chin in his hand and the tracking for the young king’s car pulled up on the screen of his computer. Ever since their conversation the night before, he’d felt like something was wrong, and now he knew his intuition had been right. Watching the blinking dot stop at a hotel on the edge of the city, he narrowed his eyes. Caspian wasn’t just going for a drive after all.

“What are you doing, Your Highness?” he murmured under his breath, digging for a pen in his drawer to take down the address. The monarch had lied for some reason, and he was determined to find out what it was.