Iris’s reverent bow should have put her at least somewhat at ease, but instead, it only served to remind Raine of the fact that Caspian was prepared to terminate their courtship over a [i]commoner[/i]. Her unreadable eyes remained on the woman before her, her feelings masked with careful practice even as her mind was filled to the brim with offense and confusion. She couldn’t help but wonder where this person had come from or how the Aspirian king knew her. From everything she understood about her country’s sister kingdom, they maintained just as strict segregation between social classes as her own people did. By all reason, Iris should never have crossed paths with Aspiria’s new young ruler. Yet here she was in his bunker.

“Publicly, you may refer to me as Princess Auclair or Your Royal Highness,” she answered easily, choosing to view the common woman’s question as an opportunity to educate. After all, since she was low born, there was every chance Iris had never been informed of proper etiquette around royal titles. She wouldn’t have needed to know. “But here,” she went on, “feel free to simply call me princess Raine.”

She had plenty of questions of her own, but for now, she chose to shelve them in favor of asking Caspian later. She wanted to hear from [i]him[/i] what was going on between him and this girl—and whether or not their engagement still stood. So, rather than interrogating her supposed fiancé’s returned lover, she turned off the TV and stepped around the sofa with a soft, “Excuse me for a moment.” as she made her way down the hall to the restroom for a minute alone.

On her way past Cas’s room, she shuffled to the side just as the door opened, and Jacob stepped out, stalling at the unexpected sight of the princess in his path. He blinked and bowed with a murmured apology before continuing on his way to the the common room, his gaze slightly distant. At first, his eyes were fixed on the ground, but he lifted them to meet Iris’s when he felt her gaze on him from across the room. Even from where he stood, he could see the shame there before she turned away, and he exhaled quietly. In truth, he didn’t think it was completely undeserved. Both she and Caspian continued to make poor choices because they couldn’t let each other go. However, the part of him that had grown soft toward the district girl compelled him to offer her the same comfort he’d already begun repeating silently to himself. Stepping over to walk by her on his way to the kitchen, he murmured softly in passing: “Give him time.”

They both knew how emotionally charged the king could be, but with enough time, he would calm down. Personally, he hoped Caspian would make the best decision for Aspiria when that happened, but, knowing it wasn’t his place to affect that choice, he would respect the younger man’s boundary and keep a professional distance.

—.—

[color=#b97703]“[i]Fuck[/i].”[/color]

Cas ground his teeth, squeezing his eyes shut as he took a shuddered breath. As soon as Jacob had left the room, he’d shut the door behind the guard and sat down on the bed, dropping his head into his hands. Everything about what had just happened felt overwhelming. Iris was alive, and one of his closest friends had kept the secret from him for more than a month. And he wasn’t even sorry about it. He curled his fingers into tight fists against his hair.

He lost track of time as he sat in the room alone, but after a while of stewing in the pit of his betrayal, he forced himself to get up again with a steeling exhale. Iris was still in the other room with Raine and the rest of the security team. It wouldn’t be right to leave her alone with so many people she barely knew or didn’t know at all—and of course, he itched to keep her close after believing he’d lost her once.

Stepping over to the door, he paused just long enough to compose himself before pulling it open and traipsing back to the main room, his tired eyes sweeping the bunker in search of Iris.