A smile tugged at Caspian’s lip when Iris reveal that she understood some of the hardships that he was going to have to face when he became king. Of course, it was impossible for her to grasp the full weight of it all, since she had never needed to make decisions that could affect an entire country before. He supposed she had some idea though, since she was the daughter of a former leader of the rebellion. He would have been surprised if her father hadn’t had high expectations of her as well. He studied her discreetly, wondering what she could have gone through before they had met. Did [i]she[/i] even know, when so many of her memories were still locked away?

Unable to ask while Miles was in the room with them, he busied himself by looking over the menu while his friend backtracked hurriedly from his last comment. “Sorry, I guess you wouldn’t have known about the rules we have about not going in there,” he apologized, remembering belatedly that she wasn’t from the capital. High borns were well aware of the risks and heeded the warning signs posted around the perimeter of the woods. There were some parts that were safe, while other parts were known to be used by hobbyist hunters. Either way, though, no one was supposed to venture into the trees after dark. Someone who had come from beyond the city wouldn’t have been able to tell which areas were safe and which were dangerous.

Listening to the conversation, Cas glanced up from his phone briefly as Iris stepped over to look over his shoulder. Although she had done nothing but walk closer to him, he still felt his heartbeat quicken with irrational excitement at her proximity, and he had to try hard to keep the emotion from bleeding into his face. [color=#b97703]“Good luck with that,”[/color] he wished her sarcastically when she insisted on paying him back. Aside from the fact that he knew she didn’t have money, he wouldn’t have accepted reimbursement for the food no matter if she was rich or poor. She didn’t stand a chance against his determination to treat her to lunch.

[color=#b97703]“I was thinking of getting this one,”[/color] he said pointing out one of the restaurant’s specials. [color=#b97703]“It’s got a few high-quality white cheeses with salmon, dill and red onions. I’ve had it before, and it’s really good.”[/color]

“Ooh, yeah,” Miles pitched in. “Let’s get one of those and the one with bacon, pesto and onions. I know Jay likes it, so he won’t complain about the options when he gets here.”

[color=#b97703]“Okay,”[/color] Cas nodded, making the selections on his phone. [color=#b97703]“We can get garlic bread too.”[/color]

“Great,” Miles grinned. “You’ll love the pizza from this place, Iris. It’s some of the best you can get in all of Aspiria. The chefs were professionally trained in Italy.”