The safe house was awash with confusion as everyone waited for the local guards to deliver their captive to the king. Cas could feel the guards’ questioning eyes on his back, though none of them dared to voice the inquiry that was undoubtedly on all of their minds: Who was Iris, and why was he summoning her to himself when the protocol was to take all rebels to be formally interrogated at the prison? Even Raine, who had been watching the scene from a distance, had fallen quiet as she hovered behind him now, though she didn’t seem to know what to say either.

Rather than explaining the situation to any of them, Caspian just stared at the computer monitor with bated breath, where he could see the entire process as the guards hauled Iris to her feet and dragged her along with them. He was still shaken that she was [i]alive[/i]. He’d thought he had watched her die with his own two eyes, and he had no idea how he was seeing her in the capital again after Ethan had taken her away from him. It didn’t make any sense, and his head felt like it was spinning.

[color=#b97703]“Tell them to be gentler with her,”[/color] he frowned at Jacob, also unappreciative of the way the guards were handling Iris on the screen.

The guard pressed his lips together. “Your Majesty, if she’s going to struggle, they need to use force to—”

[color=#b97703]“I don’t care,”[/color] Cas snapped.

Jacob held his insistent gaze for a few silent beats before his eyes flickered to the front door, where everyone in the safe house had turned as they heard the knocking from the guard. “They’re already here,” he said softly, then turned to one of his other men with a tilt of his head at the door. “Let them in.”

“Yes, sir,” the guard nodded

Caspian’s eyes flicked toward the motion briefly before returning to the security head with a scowl. He was starting to notice that when it came to Iris, Jacob wasn’t the quickest at following orders. The other man had practically ignored him just now, openly in front of his subordinates. He wasn’t sure what to think about that. However, he didn’t have time to work it through when the doorknob rattled open, and his breath caught in his throat as he looked up again to see Iris stumble into the room.

She really was alive. His heart felt like it stopped as their eyes met. He couldn’t believe it. For over a month, he’d been slowly relearning how to go on without her, moving on with his new life as king until he could make it through the days without breaking down over her loss. He’d thought he would never see her again, yet here she was in the capital, still breathing.

Thoroughly shocked, it was the sound of her voice that brought Cas back out of his stupor. When she said his name, he took in the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding and took a half step forward, feeling the hot sting of tears welling in his eyes. [color=#b97703]“Iris,”[/color] he whispered hers back, almost as if he was afraid the spell would break if he said it too loudly. As soon as the word left his lips, though, he couldn’t help himself any longer. While she was still in the middle of her apology, he broke from his place beside his guards and swept across the room to pull her into a tight embrace.

[color=#b97703]“I thought I lost you,”[/color] he murmured into her neck, his voice breaking without any mind to the other people in the safe house with them. Right now, as far as he was concerned they were the only two people in the world, and he didn’t hold back from tangling one hand into her long hair as he held her against himself. Every part of him was trembling with emotion, and a couple tears rolled freely as he whispered weakly: [color=#b97703]“I thought you were dead.”[/color]