Caspian shook his head. None of this was Iris’s fault as far as he was concerned. Jacob had been the one to lie to him and let him think she’d been dead this entire time, which had also been the reason why he’d let himself try to humor the idea of courting someone else. He wouldn’t have even considered marrying Raine if he’d known the love of his life was alive and hidden in the capital. They’d been so close to each other for weeks, and he’d never known. Now that he did, he was going to make things right.

[color=#b97703]“I’m just glad you’re here,”[/color] he repeated again, his voice quiet. With so many prying eyes and ears just one room over, he wanted to keep as much of their conversation private as he could. Like Jacob, it was no one’s business who he chose to be with, and he didn’t want any more gossip or slander to be spread about the person he actually wanted to keep by his side. Of course, realistically, he couldn’t control all of that, but right now, after everything else that had just happened, he was too exhausted to deal with any more fires. He just wanted to turn his brain off and sit with Iris.

Closing his eyes, he let a little more of his weight lean against her shoulder, taking comfort in her warmth against his side. If there hadn’t been an audience, he would have pressed his head against hers too, but unfortunately, the tension in the bunker was still thick enough that getting [i]too[/i] close with Iris was probably a bad idea. As happy as he was to be with her again, he couldn’t just forget about the fact that he’d been courting Raine until a half an hour ago. He didn’t want to be completely irreverent of his former fiancée’s feelings.

For a few beats, he rested in the silence, until Iris spoke again, and he looked up to seek her solemn gaze. [color=#b97703]“It’s not your fault,”[/color] he assured her again, giving her hand a squeeze. [color=#b97703]“I have some things I need to tie up, but I’ll take care of all of it. I promise. Right now, let’s just take it easy and leave the problems for another day, okay?”[/color]