As soon as he recognized Jacob’s tall figure exit the pharmacy, Caspian narrowed his eyes. He couldn’t believe the guard had gone behind his back and allowed the soldiers to torture Iris after he’d told him that she wasn’t an enemy. Since Jacob had obviously known it was her who was in the hospital, the prince was certain he’d also been involved in her interrogation as well as the methods that had been employed to question her. He wondered if his father had told the guard not to say anything to him. Though he hoped not, he wouldn’t have been surprised if the king was behind this mess too. Just thinking about the possibility, he curled his good hand into a fist, frustrated that they didn’t trust him enough to take his word or even keep him in the loop.

The car door opened, and Jacob slipped inside, picking up his cell phone and settling down in the driver’s seat. Not looking at the prince’s face yet, he hadn’t caught the vexed look in his eye. “I bought you a bag of trail mix,” he said, handing off the paper bag the contained the prescriptions and snack. “Just in case you wanted to try stomaching something solid—”

[color=#b97703]“Why didn’t you tell me Iris was in the hospital?”[/color] Cas interrupted coldly, causing the guard to tense in surprise. Jacob looked up at him with confusion etched into his features, and the prince explained, [color=#b97703]“Warden Walker called while you were inside. He mistook me for you and told me everything.”[/color] He paused, waiting to see if the guard would reply, but he didn’t, so he continued in a slightly raised voice, [color=#b97703]“What the hell, Jacob? You let them use Aproveset on her? When I told you not to let them kill her, I also meant don’t let them torture her. Now look what happened! An innocent girl has been [i]hospitalized[/i] because the soldiers were too harsh on her.”[/color]

Jacob groaned inwardly. He’d been planning to tell Caspian about Iris on his own time, but apparently that wasn’t going to happen. The Warden just [i]had[/i] to call during the ten minutes he’d been in the pharmacy, didn’t he? Nevertheless, he felt like he’d made the right decision when it came to handling the prisoner. She wasn’t cooperating with the interrogators, so they’d needed to use excessive force to convince her to tell them vital details about the Scourge. No one could have foreseen that the truth serum would cause her to have a seizure.

“With all due respect, Your Highness, I was only following protocol,” he defended himself, hoping the prince wouldn’t overreact and jail him for a night for speaking out. “You’re too close to the situation, and the standard procedure is to question her without outside interference. We couldn’t properly vet her if you were standing there with a biased opinion. It was more efficient to run the interrogation yesterday to determine if she’s dangerous or not.”

[color=#b97703]“I’m not biased,”[/color] Cas retorted. [color=#b97703]“I spent the entire week getting to know her. Every minute of every day. I think my opinion of her is reliable enough for you to have trusted me.”[/color]

“A week isn’t a very long time,” Jacob pointed out with a frown. “I was just trying to make sure that you and your father are safe. The Scourge has already come too close to dismantling the monarchy once. I can’t risk letting that happen again.”

[color=#b97703]“You’re wasting your efforts on the wrong person,”[/color] Cas growled. [color=#b97703]“Iris [i]isn’t[/i] an enemy.”[/color] He turned his head toward the window on his side of the vehicle, leaving the paper bag untouched in his lap. [color=#b97703]“Turn back for the hospital. I want to see her now.”[/color]

Jacob shifted his weight, “I think it would be best if you go to the palace first—”

[color=#b97703]“I’m not in the mood to discuss this,”[/color] Cas cut him off with a hostile sideways glance. [color=#b97703]“I made up my mind, Jacob. Take me back to the hospital. That’s an order.”[/color]

The guard hesitated briefly before he gave a reluctant nod. “…Yes, Your Highness.” Backing the car out of the parking space, he drove back toward the highway, silently taken aback by the prince’s demanding attitude. As long as he’d known Caspian, he hadn’t ever seen the young royal take charge of anything the way he did now. There was a new authoritativeness to his voice that had replaced the insecurity and uncertainty that had colored his behavior before. He just hoped the change wasn’t for the worse, since the prince had been among rebels for an entire week.