Any flicker of hope inside of Cas that Iris wasn’t upset with him died when she opened the door. The shock on her face wasn’t what he’d wanted to see, and his heart sank a little as he felt like her expression just confirmed that she hadn’t wanted to see him at all. Still, it was a good thing he’d shown up at the hotel. If they were in a fight, he would have rather hashed it out with her in person than continue to stew in long distance silence. He wanted to go back to what they had before—or at least, what was left of it.

[color=#b97703]“Hey, Iris,”[/color] he managed a half-smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, shifting his weight uncomfortably in the hall. Even though he’d had a long car ride to think through all the things he wanted to say to her, the planned out words evaporated from his mind now that they were actually face-to-face. Half of him wanted to push the door open and sweep her into his arms, apologize for being an idiot and tell her that he loved her more than anything while the other half of him was glued to the floor, afraid to cross the barrier she had erected between them. At that moment, the latter felt safer, so he didn’t move to force his way into the suite.

Instead, he cleared his throat and slipped his hands into his pockets to stop himself from fidgeting. [color=#b97703]“I managed to move some things around so I could come here and see you,”[/color] he explained. [color=#b97703]“I know you’re upset with me, and I didn’t want to leave things bitter between us, so… can we please talk about it?”[/color] He held his breath, hoping she wouldn’t turn him away. He’d pulled quite a few strings just to make a short visit to the hotel that morning, and he doubted he could get away with it again anytime soon. The royal guard wouldn’t let him go out at night, and his days were always fully booked with work and meetings. This was the one shot he had to make things right.

[color=#b97703]“I’ve only got an hour. Maybe less… Can I come in?”[/color] he asked her tentatively and glanced over his shoulder. [color=#b97703]“I’d rather not do this in the hall where someone could see us.”[/color] The executive suite was somewhat removed from the other rooms on the top floor of the [i]Sunset Veil[/i], but that didn’t mean there was no one else around to eavesdrop on them. Other wealthy guests could have still been in their rooms that morning, so if someone raised their voice, they could be overheard. Hotel staff could have been cleaning nearby too. The last thing he needed was to get recognized and find himself in the middle of another scandal right after he’d been crowned king. He couldn’t do that to all the people who were looking to him to set a good reputation for Aspiria.