Caspian bit the inside of his cheek at the tone of Iris’s voice when she said his name. He didn’t understand why she was so reluctant to just table their problems and focus on the fact that they were back together again. He’d thought she’d been dead for so long. Why was it so difficult to take [i]one day[/i] just to celebrate that she was alive? That was all he wanted right now.

Even as the belligerent thoughts circulated in his mind, he could feel his stomach knotting though—could feel the furtive eyes on the back of his head and sense the unspoken questions hanging heavy in the air. As desperate as he was to blind himself to the wrench Iris’s return had thrown into the course of his life, a part of him knew deep down that things weren’t going to be that simple. He couldn’t be just a young person in love when he had the weight of an entire country riding on his shoulders. His life had ceased to belong solely to himself when he’d accepted the crown of Aspiria.

So, even though Iris’s insistence that he needed to talk to Raine just reminded him that he couldn’t even let the dust settle before responsibilities started nipping at his heels again, he nodded wordlessly. She was right. Frustrating as it was, he was the one who had to table his desire when he knew Iris’s return affected more people than just himself. The princess he’d been courting wasn’t just anyone either. More than perhaps anyone else in the capital, she deserved that conversation.

[color=#b97703]“You’re right,”[/color] he admitted, glancing up from his lap to meet Iris’s gaze. Pressing his lips together, he gave her hand a squeeze and then reluctantly let it go as he pulled himself to his feet with a sigh. He had a feeling it wasn’t going to be an easy chat, and he was already exhausted from hashing things out with Jacob, but waiting would only make things worse in the long run. [color=#b97703]“I’ll look for her,”[/color] he decided quietly, his gaze lingering on Iris. [color=#b97703]“Will you be alright without me for a bit? I’ll try not to be gone too long, but… I think I do owe it to her to give her as long as she needs.”[/color]