[color=#b97703]“Iris, don’t lie to me,”[/color] Cas chided her in a murmur when she tried to tell him that nothing had happened. He knew that was complete and utter bullshit. Jacob had filled him in on everything regarding the arrest, the interrogations, and even her seizure, so there was no way she could convince him that she was fine. He was a little stung that she even tried to mislead him. Didn’t she trust him to be there for her? He wanted her to see him as someone she could rely on during hard times, but it seemed like she was still reluctant to confide in him. That she was quicker to deceive him about her condition than she was to accept his sympathy and allow him to comfort her was proof that she either didn’t think he could do anything to help or thought he wasn’t strong enough to handle it.

Tangling his fingers in her thick, blonde hair, he let out a soft sigh, wishing she would stop pushing him away. He loved all of her, so he wanted to be there for her through everything—the good and the bad; the beautiful and the ugly. He’d fallen for the woman behind the walls she put up to make herself appear strong. When she showed him vulnerability, he wasn’t disappointed or disgusted that she couldn’t handle everything life threw at her. To him, those moments were just glimpses into the other shades of who she really was, and they made his affection for her grow deeper. He didn’t understand why she seemed to feel like she always had to put on a tough face for him and hide her messes as if they would cause him to think she was too much of a burden to tolerate.

So, when she suddenly cracked and wrapped her arms around him, he blinked in surprise before he began gently running his hand down and up her back. Seeing her openly weep drove a knife through his heart, but he didn’t say anything. There wasn’t much he [i]could[/i] say after all she’d endured, so the best he could offer was his shoulder for her to cry on. If it was possible, he wouldn’t have hesitated to promise her that he would make things right. He would have had everyone who’d tormented her fired on the spot for their gross misconduct, and he would have brought her back into his home to be treated as a royal guest. However, he still had his father to contend with, so it wouldn’t be that simple.

He was still planning to get her away from the soldiers, of course, but if Atlas wasn’t willing to compromise with him, he had a feeling he was going to have to sneak her out outside the law. Now that he was back in the public eye, it was going to be difficult for him to do anything without getting caught too. He had no idea how he was going to pull it off, but he knew he had to do it in order to make sure she would be safe. [color=#b97703][i]Even if that means helping her escape from the capital and never seeing her again,[/i][/color] he thought, his throat tightening at the prospect of losing touch with her forever. As much as he wanted to keep her close, he was willing to let her go back to the other districts if it was what he had to do to keep her from being executed.

Clinging to her tightly, he pressed his lips to her neck as she sobbed on his shoulder, showering her with kisses from her collar up to her cheek. [color=#b97703]“I’m going to do whatever I can to make sure this never happens again,”[/color] he assured her in a whisper, lifting his hand to her face to brush away the tears that streaked her cheeks. [color=#b97703]“You mean too much to me. I’m not going to let anyone hurt you anymore.”[/color]