When Iris made a teasing remark before he left the room, the color in Caspian’s cheeks deepened slightly. It hadn’t been the first time that he’d heard someone compare him to the fairytale princess—he’d even made some jokes about their obvious similarity, himself—but hearing that she had caught on made him feel a little chagrined. He wanted to make a witty comment in return, but his muddled, drunken brain wasn’t quick enough to comply, and he headed out to the garage with Jay and Miles without time to come up with a response.

Fortunately, the last phase of their plan went as well as any of them could have hoped. After they changed back into their original clothes in the car, Jay drove Cas and Miles back to the club, parking at the rear entrance near the employees’ vehicles. They got out and snuck inside—Jay keeping an eye on the prince to make sure he didn’t get lost or say something he shouldn’t while he was inebriated. Once they felt sure they had gotten away with their reappearance, the three headed over to the bar counter, where Miles closed out his open tab as if they had been there the entire time. Of course, the receipt only showed that they had purchased a couple drinks in total, but Miles tossed the paper in the bin on their way out. Since there was no reason for the military or the police to suspect that they were involved, they weren’t concerned about any investigators questioning the bartender about exactly how many drinks they’d had while they were there. Just the fact that they had been seen at the beginning and end of the night would be enough.

From there, they headed back to Jay’s Oracle and climbed inside, talking and laughing brashly for the cameras in the parking lot for good measure. He drove them back to the palace and pulled up to the front entrance, where Cas said his goodbyes and got out. By that point, he still hadn’t sobered up in the slightest, so it was apparent to the security guards at the door that he was drunk. They jogged down the steps to escort him into the building, ensuring that he didn’t stumble and injure himself on his way through the halls and up the stairs to his room.

As soon as he got there in one piece, he was left alone and closed the door behind him, letting out his breath in a heavy exhale. Somewhat impressively, he had managed to survive the whole trip without losing his dinner, but that streak ended the moment he had a second to wind down from the eventful night. Feeling the forewarning flex of his abdomen and build-up of saliva in his mouth, he sprinted for the toilet and dropped to his knees as his stomach purged itself of its contents.

Meanwhile, Jay drove Miles back to his manor and dropped him off. Their plan was to go back to the alley to get the other car in the early morning, before most people would be out of their homes. Having finished everything they needed to do for the night, they parted ways, and Miles returned to his bedroom to check on Iris and get ready for bed. He was still tipsy from the five shots of vodka he’d had, so he wanted to get as much sleep as possible before he had to wake up at the crack of dawn and leave again with the other high born.

When he got to his room, he knocked somewhat quietly on the door a couple times to announce his presence before he stepped inside. “Iris? You still doing okay?” he asked, closing the panel and wandering further into the space. As his eyes landed on her petite figure on the sofa, he found it difficult not to stare. When he and the others had discussed hiding places for her, he’d been more than happy to volunteer his home as her refuge from the military, but that had been before he’d seen how shockingly attractive she was. He marveled that Caspian hadn’t ever taken interest in someone as pretty as her. It also didn’t help that he liked the way she looked wearing his clothes.

Not wanting to make her uncomfortable—they barely knew each other, and she was on the run, after all—he coughed into the crook of his elbow and gestured to his bed, “You can sleep up here if you want… I’m sorry I don’t have anything more private. The maids clean up all the other rooms, so this is the safest place.” Suddenly, he blinked as he realized how his offer might have come across. “Um, I didn’t mean you could sleep on the bed [i]with me[/i]. I’ll take the sofa,” he clarified, holding up his hands innocently. “I promise I won’t do anything. I really only offered to let you hide here because I wanted to help. You can trust me.”