As Maisie helped Iris to her feet, Cas took over the sofa, kicking his feet up and spreading out the blanket she’d brought out for him to use for the night. He was still a little unsettled by Iris’s concerning frame of mind, but he doubted that was going to have any effect on how well he slept. He was going to be a comatose lump on the couch as soon as he passed out. It was a good thing they were staying with Maisie for now, because he was about ninety percent sure he wouldn’t wake up if Iris needed anything before morning.

Smoothing out the blanket over his legs, he looked up as he felt a hand on his shoulder. “You too,” he said, returning Iris’s smile. He could tell she was just putting on a tough face to hide her inner turmoil, but if she didn’t want to talk to him anymore, there was nothing he could do to change that. He just hoped she would have someone to confide in after they parted ways at the capital, so she wouldn’t drive herself crazy with all the self-blame. Whether it was Maisie or someone else, she needed someone to tell her that she shouldn’t carry all the weight of everything that had happened. It wasn’t fair of her to do that to herself.

With another yawn, he settled down on his back and slipped the pillow underneath his head. It wasn’t quite the same as having a bed to himself, but couch surfing was still more comfortable than he’d expected. The furniture was long enough that he only had to bend his knees a little to fit on it horizontally, and it was much softer than anything else he’d slept on in the last few days. It was even better than the mattress in the bomb shelter, since it didn’t have any loose springs to dig into his skin. He closed his eyes contentedly, [color=#b97703][i]This definitely isn’t the worst place to spend the night.[/i][/color]

[color=#b97703]“I might not wake up for a month if I get any more tired than I already am,”[/color] he looked up amusedly when Maisie asked if he wanted any tea. [color=#b97703]“But what the hell. I’ll have a cup if you don’t mind making one for me.”[/color] Knowing that he wasn’t going to be sleeping at that very second now that he had a warm drink on the way, he propped himself up a little higher with his shoulders leaning against the armrest.

While he waited for the tea, he contemplated her other question. He didn’t really need anything else at that moment, but there was one thing he could think of that he wanted to do. In hindsight, he was embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of it sooner. [color=#b97703]“Also, Maisie?”[/color] he called to get her attention without getting up. [color=#b97703]“Would you happen to have a phone I could borrow?”[/color] He assumed that she and Iris had to have been keeping in touch with each other somehow. If the other girl had a cellphone, he could try to call his father or Jacob or [i]someone [/i]inside the capital who could tell him why no one had come to get him after all this time. It was concerning to him that after more than half a week, he still hadn’t come across any soldiers looking to bring him home. At the very least, he wanted to hear an explanation as for why it seemed like he’d been forgotten.

[color=#b97703][i]The crown prince goes missing, and the world keeps on turning as if nothing changed,[/i][/color] he thought with a pang of annoyance. Although he wished it wasn’t true, Regis’s words had stuck with him more than they should have. The dark parts of his thoughts had begun sewing threads of doubt that the rebel leader was right, and that his life didn’t matter to anyone else. He needed to make the phone call for his own peace of mind.