As he watched Iris, Jacob noticed the way she was staring back at him like she’d seen a ghost. Her skin looked pale and the vital signs monitor beside her bed had grown louder and more urgent with the spike in her heartrate. He could tell she was bothered by him, but he didn’t move from his seat. Rather, he made himself comfortable, propping his elbow on the armrest and resting his chin on top of his fist. He wasn’t here for her sake, so he didn’t care if she was happy to see him or unnerved by his presence. Though she wasn’t aware of it, he was staying to make sure Matthew didn’t try to move her while no one was around to stop him. He was still frustrated with the interrogator for blatantly disregarding his orders and didn’t trust him to behave after just one warning. Until he was able to go to Atlas, himself, he’d decided to be a human barrier between the penitentiary workers and their prisoner.

While he observed, he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly as Iris fought back against the doctor. He had half a mind to tell her to sit still and let the man do his job, but the physician took care of it without his intervention. He stayed quiet while the doctor bandaged her bruised throat, wondering to himself about her relationship with Caspian. He didn’t know her very well at all, having only seen her once before when she had been in the prince’s company in the historic district, so all he really knew about her was that she was part of the rebellion. Well, that, and that she was supposedly in love with the crown’s heir.

Naturally distrusting, he was hesitant to believe that a woman from outside the capital had genuine feelings for the prince, but unlike his king, he kept his skepticism to himself. He preferred to study and observe rather than jump to any conclusions without proof. So, for now, he just followed his orders to guard her without using lethal force and silently worked on determining if she was really just a girl who was infatuated with Caspian or someone whom he should deem a threat to the monarchy.

When the doctor finished his work and addressed him, Jacob nodded wordlessly, pulling his phone from his pocket to do just that. He’d committed to bringing the prince back to the palace soon, so he would need to find someone to replace him as her guard in his absence. Already having the perfect candidate in mind for the job, he sent a text to one of the other members of the security team. The rest of the men weren’t quite as high ranking as himself, since he was the head of security, but their voices still carried enough weight that the hospital staff would be reluctant to go against their wishes if Matthew tried to pull anything while he was gone.

With that done, he sat back in his chair and crossed his arms, stretching out his legs in front of him to wait for a reply. To his surprise, the device pinged with an incoming message scarcely a minute later. He glanced down at it to see that the guard had responded:

[center][b]I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.[/b][/center]
[i]Reliable as always,[/i] he mused with a faint smile, pocketing the cell phone again and reclining comfortably in his seat. Not one to make small talk with prisoners, he didn’t feel the need to break the silence between himself and Iris as he waited for his replacement to get to the hospital so he could return to Caspian.