[color=#b97703]“I know,”[/color] Caspian murmured. But just because it was the right thing to do didn’t make it feel any less painful. It had never been his intention to hurt Raine. The only reason he’d even taken steps to court someone else had been because he’d thought Iris had been dead. He did like the Suphate princess too. She’d been his friend for a long time. If his first love hadn’t suddenly reappeared in his life, he would have genuinely tried to make things work with her, to get married and lead Aspiria as partners even if love never showed up along the way. Truly, she was the best person he could think of to be his queen out of all the options he’d considered—if Iris hadn’t returned and resurrected all the feelings he’d thought he would never experience again.

Letting out his breath, he shook his head. [color=#b97703]“Actually… now that you’re here, you’re kind of stuck with us,”[/color] he confessed with a sympathetic frown. [color=#b97703]“This safe house is in a confidential location, so security won’t let anyone come and go until the threat outside is cleared. I’m sorry.”[/color] It had been a point of frustration for him and the others too. All he wanted was to go back to the palace, and it probably wouldn’t be much longer before the building was deemed safe for him to return, but in the meantime, everyone in the bunker had to stay put while the military wrapped up their work above ground.

[color=#b97703]“I’ll be back soon,”[/color] he promised one more time before he finally turned and headed down the hall. He hadn’t seen exactly where Raine had gone, but it wasn’t hard to take a guess. After all, the safe house wasn’t very big. There were only so many rooms she could hide away in for privacy away from the others. Knocking gently on the doors he passed, he kept going until he was eventually met with a quiet “Yes?” behind the door that led to the bathroom. There, he stopped and took a steeling breath.

[color=#b97703]“Raine?”[/color] he probed softly, leaning nearly close to the painted wood for his cheek to brush against its cool surface. [color=#b97703]“Can we talk?”[/color]

For a long pause, there was silence, then the door handle clicked open, and Cas edged back a half-step as the princess’s familiar face appeared in the narrow gap. She nodded wordlessly and pulled the door aside for him to step through. “Yeah,” she muttered, turning away as she stepped back from the entrance. “I think we need to.”

He winced slightly at her cold tone, his eyes flickering back toward the living room. This was going to be uncomfortable. He knew he couldn’t put it off any longer than he already had though. Not in a space this confined. So, after only a beat of hesitation, he slipped inside the bathroom, closing the door behind him until it locked with an audible snap.