“Affirmative. It’s nonsense. Continue looking out for those missing rebels and find out how they got inside the perimeter.” Jacob spoke softly into his comm device as the king and his men loaded into the escape vehicle. His voice was certain and unwavering, but as he responded to his subordinate, his brows pinched in concern. How in the hell had Iris’s name come up again when he’d kept her hidden away in his condo for over a month? The last the Scourge had seen of her, she’d looked like she had bled out in Ethan’s attic. He didn’t understand how they could have known she was still alive or why they would think she was being held against her will in the capital. At the moment, he didn’t have time to piece it together either. With the threat of terrorists on their heels, his top priority was relocating the last successor of the Aspirian royal line to safety. So, as soon as everyone was inside the armored van, he climbed into the front with the driver and eyed the shadows around them as they took off for the connecting hovercar further from the palace. Meanwhile, in the back, Caspian was watching the closed rear door tensely, as if he expected rebels to rip it off its hinges and spring through at any second with guns blazing. At this point, he couldn’t put anything past them. They had already taken so much from him, and they seemed to have no interest in stopping until he was dead. Anxiously, he wrung his hands between his knees, sitting on the edge of his seat until the sudden touch of a hand on his wrist nearly made him jump out of his skin. “Sorry,” Raine managed a half-smile at his side. “I didn’t mean to startle you.” [color=#b97703]“It’s okay,”[/color] Cas sighed, leaning back against the side of the van and closing his eyes. His heartbeat was still drumming in his ears, and he knew he needed to calm down. Even if the rebels did find them before they made it to the safe house, he’d learned from his experience in the outer districts that he needed to keep a level head if he wanted to survive. Of course, that was easier said than done, but the least he could do was keep from openly panicking. For a moment, the only sound was the gravel turning beneath the van’s wheels and the hum of the engine, but Raine wasn’t finished speaking yet. “These people…” she went on quietly. “You made it sound like you’ve dealt with them before. Are they also the group behind the civil war in your country?” Cas nodded without opening his eyes. [color=#b97703]“They’ve been fighting with us since my dad was still in power, and now that he’s gone, it just feels like they’re trying even harder to get rid of me… Since I’m an only child, there’s no one else in line for the throne right now.”[/color] “Oh.” The Suphate princess frowned. “That is precarious.” [color=#b97703]“Mhm,”[/color] he finally turned his head slightly to glance at her from the side. Though they had been getting along earlier, and this conversation felt like as good of an invitation as any, he didn’t make any moves toward her. She was fun and beautiful and he liked her company, but with everything that had just happened, his thoughts were fixated on Iris again. Facing the people who had killed her tore open afresh all the wounds he thought he’d healed, and suddenly, reaching out to another woman felt treacherous to her memory. Raine was bold enough without his assertion though. The hand she’d rested on his arm slid downward to lace her fingers with his, and she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. He reciprocated halfheartedly and allowed her to stay there until they made it to the hovercar on the edge of the property, where the guards funneled them from the armored van into the aircraft that would carry them the rest of the distance to the southern safe house.