[color=#b97703][i]She should be a politician,[/i][/color] Cas thought as Iris flashed another fake smile at him. Since it looked like they really were going to be leaving Maisie’s apartment, he gathered up the blanket he’d borrowed for the night and folded it into a small square. He had never spent the night anywhere outside of his house before—with the exception of a few overnight stays at the hospital when his father’s health declined—so he didn’t know what their hostess wanted him to do with it. Doing his best to help out, he set the folded blanket on top of the pillow she had given him and placed both on the table, so she could do with them what she pleased.

The gesture was small, but he still felt proud of himself for contributing to cleaning up after he’d stayed for the night. Back home, he always had servants to do everything for him. When he left his bedroom each day, the hired staff always cleaned the room and made his bed for him, so everything was pristine by the time he came back to sleep the next evening. He liked that the servants took care of menial tasks, so he didn’t have to think about them, but there was something rewarding about doing some of the tasks for himself, even if that meant just folding a blanket and tidying up the sofa he’d slept on.

Hearing Maisie return, he looked up to find that she had packed Iris’s backpack full of all the things they might need. It was reassuring to know that she’d given them money too. He was probably going to have to keep changing out the bandages on his arm at least once a day until the wound healed enough that he could stop covering it. Since they didn’t have any more medical supplies, that meant they’d have to stop by a pharmacy to buy more if he didn’t make it back to the capital by the evening. He was still hoping to get home before nightfall, but even Iris had said that their success depended on not encountering any problems along the way. His experience outside the capital so far had consisted of nothing but problems, so he was trying not to get his hopes up too high.

As Iris walked off to get the hoodies that her friend had set out for them, Cas got up from the sofa again to put his shoes back on. He was just wondering what he should do with his old, bloodstained clothes when Maisie’s voice caught his attention. At her words, he shifted his weight. He really wanted to keep his promises to her, but since the last evening, he’d started to notice a few details here and there that were making him question if he would be able to. The soldier on the phone hadn’t listened to him at all, so he was starting to worry that he didn’t have as much authority as he’d had before he had been abducted. If he didn’t, he couldn’t protect Iris.

Similarly, the longer he spent time with Iris, the harder it was getting for him to keep his distance from her. When he’d been locked up in a cell, all he could think about was the fact that she was the one who had put him there. Now though, he was seeing her sweet side again and continued to be reminded of the woman who had won him over in the capital. Could he really promise her that he would be able to keep acting like there was nothing between them anymore?

[color=#b97703][i]Of course I can,[/i][/color] he asserted to himself. [color=#b97703][i]I’m not going to lead her on when there’s no chance that we’ll be together later, and I can still tell the border security not to touch her when we get to the capital. The guard on the phone just didn’t recognize my voice. That’s all.[/i][/color] More confident with his decision, he rolled his shoulders back and nodded at Maisie. [color=#b97703]“I won’t,”[/color] he told her again. [color=#b97703]“I’ll do everything in my power to make sure she doesn’t suffer for helping me.”[/color]