“Look at that. The prince lives.”
Making his way down the stairs, Caspian smirked amusedly as Jay flashed him a teasing grin and leaned forward in an exaggerated bow. After a week of madness, his friend’s antics were a welcomed greeting back to some sense of normalcy. He hadn’t realized just how much he’d missed both him and Miles until he saw them standing just inside the main door. He also appreciated that they were treating him the same way they always had instead of fawning over him or pitying him because of the abduction. Although he didn’t mind the latter, it only served to remind him of the hardship that he didn’t want to think about at the moment. Right now, Iris came first. He could deal with his own trauma after he knew she was safe.
“Hey, guys,” he returned Jay’s grin as he stepped over to them. “It’s good to see you again. Why don’t we head to the bar to have some drinks while we catch up?” And discuss their plans to free Iris from the soldiers, but he couldn’t say that in front of the guard who had let the two into the building.
“I can’t turn down free drinks,” Jay agreed without hesitation, catching on to the ploy. He and Miles followed Cas’s lead and headed further into the mansion, leaving the security guard behind.
“I still can’t believe you were taken by the Scourge and survived,” Miles shook his head as they walked. “I thought I’d gotten a little too high when I read that article, so I didn’t believe it was real until Jay told me you called him. Ghosts can’t do that.”
“It was pretty rough,” Cas admitted. “I couldn’t do it alone either… which is why you two are here.” He added the second part under his breath, just in case there were and guards or servants nearby. The mansion was always buzzing with activity, and he couldn’t afford to let anyone eavesdrop on their conversation.
“Does it have anything to do with that limp you’re sporting?” Miles asked, phrasing the question just vaguely enough to sound innocent.
“Yeah,” Cas confirmed. “I’ll tell you more after we get to the bar.”
Taking a hint, the other two men changed the subject by telling him a little bit about what they had been doing during the past week. Apparently Jay had finally decided to follow his dream of becoming an autobody technician against his parents’ wishes—they had wanted him to take over their family business in pharmaceuticals—and was looking for a mentor to show him the ropes. Meanwhile, Miles hadn’t really done anything new. He reported that he was still bouncing between parties that the other high borns put on, living off his inheritance rather than working. Both of them were doing well and seemed happy though, which was all Cas cared about. He was glad to hear that they were making the most of their lives in their own individual ways.
When they got to the bar, they all sat down at the booth in the far back corner of the room, away from the counter where Martin was setting up to make their drinks. The bartender hurried over to take their requests, and all three asked for lagers. Once they’d been given the dark, glass bottles, Jay proposed a toast to the fact that the prince had made it back to the capital alive, and they shared a celebratory drink. To Cas, it was just a cover-up though. He couldn’t sincerely celebrate anything while Iris’s life was still in danger, so while he put on a fake smile for show, he was inwardly tense, focused on coming up with a plan to get her out of the hospital.
As they set their drinks back down on the table, Miles peered over his shoulder to call to Martin, “Hey, I haven’t seen this rerun yet.” He gestured to one of the nearby flat screens broadcasting a recent basketball game. “Mind turning up the volume? All of us want to watch it.”
“Of course, sir,” the bartender nodded and adjusted the sound controls, so the TV played more loudly.
Cas shot his friend a subtle nod of appreciation, glad that he’d thought of such an easy way to conceal the conversation they were about to have from the servant. He might have been able to pay Martin off to keep his interest in a woman a secret, but he couldn’t be certain that he could offer any amount of money to stop the bartender from telling his father that they were about to commit treason.
As soon as they were comfortably isolated in the corner of the room, Jay asked, “So, did you come up with a plan since the last time we talked?”
“No,” Cas shook his head. “I pretty much conked out after I hung up the phone. The medication I’m on makes me really tired.”
“What are you taking it for?” Miles asked. “Broken wrist?” He indicated the silicon brace on the prince’s forearm.
“Among other things,” Cas replied. “Broken wrist, two fractured ribs, stab wound to my arm, and a gunshot wound in my leg. Plus a lot of cuts and bruises. If I wasn’t on a strong painkiller right now, I’d be miserable.”
Jay and Miles stared at him, dumbfounded by the list of afflictions, until the former broke the silence. “Damn, dude,” he shook his head. “I can’t even imagine what you must have gone through out there.”
“Yeah,” Miles agreed. “But… what was it like to get shot? Or even stabbed? Both of those wounds sound awful.”
“They were,” Cas shuddered, absentmindedly touching the bandages underneath his shirt sleeve. “Getting stabbed felt kind of like being punched really hard and then setting the entire spot on fire. It happened in the middle of a fight, so it didn’t really hurt like hell until a few minutes later because of the adrenaline rush. Being shot with a gun from five feet away made me want to kill myself though.” He grimaced as he remembered how Ethan had stood over him and pulled the trigger so mercilessly. He hoped he never had to see that man again. “I don’t really know how to describe it except for sheer blinding pain.”
“Christ,” Jay breathed, lifting his beer to his lips and downing a large swig. “Sounds like everyone wasn’t too far off in assuming you were dead, huh?”
“I would have been dead if Iris hadn’t been there to help me escape,” Cas reminded him, following suit with a smaller sip from his drink.
“Right,” Miles frowned. “And why did she help you? Are you guys an item or something?”
The prince paused before responding to the question, debating the best answer to give. Although he trusted his friends and wanted to tell them that he and Iris were romantically involved, he was hesitant to leave a trail that his father might use against him later on. Deciding that he would have plenty of time to tell them the truth later on, he picked the safer option: “No, the other rebels just manipulated her into helping them. She’s not actually on their side, and she didn’t want to let them kill me in cold blood, so she turned traitor by helping me get away.”
“And now you’re returning the favor,” Jay nodded in understanding.
“Exactly,” Cas lied through his teeth, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt beneath the table. “I can’t let her die after she saved my life. She doesn’t deserve that.”
“Then let’s get her out of that hospital,” Miles grinned ferally, placing his hands on the table and leaning toward the others with an eager glint in his eyes. “Alright, boys, let’s get started on Operation: Badass in Distress.”