Rogue Sloth

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Jacob chuckled as Iris shook his hand, “Have a good life, Iris, and stay safe out there.” He waited for her to exit the car and then watched her walk away from a few seconds more before he put the vehicle in drive and turned it around to head back to the capital. Fortunately, he had just enough fuel left to make it back without stopping at any of the pumps along the highway—which he was sure were being watched by opportunistic thieves who would try to jump him the minute he stepped out to top off the gasoline—and he returned to the border without any incidents.

From there, it was a straight shot back to the palace, where he found Caspian between meetings. With his sedan back in the garage and a check-in done with the other guards, Jacob stepped into the king’s executive office, where the new monarch was flipping through what looked like a report on the growth of a few pharmaceutical companies that were essential to Aspiria’s production of drugs and healthcare equipment. The moment he entered the room, Cas looked up and set the stack of papers down in front of him.

“Any chance you could read these for me?” he asked the security guard with a tired half-smile. After his meeting with the warden, he’d had a second session with a representative of the company he was looking over now who was asking for financing from the crown to support a new business endeavor. The man had told him that the company didn’t have enough funding to expand their research and had left him with a sea of diagrams and figures to ‘confirm’ his conclusion. Cas had assured him that he would review the stats thoroughly and get back to him with an answer before the end of the week, but the reading was already starting to make his head hurt.

He wasn’t completely demoralized though. Despite the amount of work that had been dumped on him that afternoon, he was still riding the high of his success with the warden. He had arranged to drop Iris’s charges and had signed written proof that the crown no longer viewed her as a threat. All that was left was to spread the word among the soldiers who were still looking for her, so she could leave the Sunset Veil without fear of arrest. He couldn’t wait to tell her the news.

“Legally, no,” Jacob replied, striding over to the long, polished desk in the back of the room. “However, if it’s the same group that was pestering your father over the last few months, chances are good that they’re just looking for another handout to increase the pay of their top CEOs. I wouldn’t take their word at face value, Your Majesty.”

“Hm,” Cas grunted, glancing at the papers again with a frown and then pushing them aside. “It’s still hard for me to tell when someone is just trying to take advantage of me.”

“You’re a new ruler,” Jacob lifted his shoulders. “They’re testing their boundaries with you. My advice is don’t be afraid to say ‘no’ often and repeatedly. You’re going to need it until the dust settles, and you establish yourself as our leader.”

“I just wish I was better at it,” Cas shook his head, pulling his arms over his head in a long stretch. “Anyway, I’m glad you stopped by, Jacob. I wanted to ask you for a favor.”

“A favor?” the guard arched a brow.

“Yeah, I’ve… kind of been working on something between all the meetings. Something I didn’t tell you about,” he admitted, shuffling his feet underneath the desk. “I’ve actually been staying in touch with Iris since she went missing… I put her up at a resort on the outskirts of the city to hide her from the guards, and we’ve been talking on the phone almost every night. I still love her, and I want to be with her, so… I had her charges dropped today, so she can move into the palace with me.” The words tumbled out quickly, and he eyed Jacob’s reaction for any sign of shock or disapproval as he went on, “I wanted to know if you could fly me out to pick her up tonight at the Sunset Veil. Taking one of the hover cars will be faster than driving, so we can get back earlier, and she’ll have time to settle in. Do you think you could do that for me?”

Jacob took a measured breath. He had prepared for this to happen, and he could already tell things were going to deteriorate even faster than he’d expected. As soon as Caspian discovered Iris was gone, he was going to crumble. However, he couldn’t give the king any hints that he already knew she’d fled the city, so he simply bowed his head and replied in a cool, courteous voice: “I’d be happy to, Your Majesty.”

Just like he would be there for the monarch when he broke.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Content as he was with the silence, Jacob didn’t think anything of it as he drove along the pockmarked road on the other side of the border wall. The city buildings beyond the capital were in noticeably worse condition than their luxurious counterparts on the inside. Years ago, the area they were driving through had been called Celeste, and it had been another wealthy housing district for upper middle class workers in the country. Now, it was a wasteland like the rest of the regions that had been abandoned by the richest citizens in favor of living near the royal family in the center of the kingdom—a reminder of the distinct division between the haves and the have nots in Aspiria.

Jacob had seen it before, since he’d been part of the military before he joined the royal security team. The first time had been shocking, since no one in the capital spoke about the condition of the country outside of their shining city. He and the rest of the soldiers hadn’t realized how much worse off the non-highborn citizens really were. He’d since grown numb to the sight of the dilapidated buildings, rusted vehicles and overgrown plants that marked Aspiria’s poorest residential areas though. It was his job to protect the monarchy from the common people who tried to rebel, not to stand up for those who had made themselves into enemies of the crown.

Iris’s voice pulled him from his thoughts, and he glanced at her briefly before returning his gaze to the street. “He will,” he answered her curtly. Of course, he knew that Caspian was going to be devastated when he found out she was gone, but it was all for the best. The king would grieve and heal and move on with his life, just like every other man before him who had been through a break up. He would do what he could to make the process easier as well, since he knew it was the first semi-serious relationship the young monarch had ever experienced. Caspian didn’t yet have the tools in his belt to cope with heartbreak, so the guard would teach him how to get past it if he wanted the help.

“You’re doing the right thing,” he assured Iris once again. “Ending it now will be less painful for him than it would have been if you waited longer.”

Having said his piece, Jacob lapsed into silence again as he steered them further into the districts that surrounded the capital. He remembered where her father’s house had been, so he brought her to a nearby area before finally, after a little over two hours, he slowed his car to a stop once more. “This is as far as I’ll go,” he said as he turned to her in his seat. “You’ll have to cover the rest of the distance by yourself. The house isn’t too much further though. You should be able to reach it before the end of the day.” After a pause, he extended a hand to her. “Good luck, Iris. Maybe we’ll cross paths again someday.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Jacob took Iris’s silence as compliance. Without asking her again to verify it, he pulled his car forward with the slowly moving line until they reached the uniformed guards at the edge of the city. Each one was dressed in the army colors of Aspiria and toted heavy weaponry that was usually more for intimidation than actual use. The rebellion had been quiet for weeks, so the soldiers hadn’t been required to do much more than stand at their posts and keep a lookout for signs of anything changing.

He brought his car to an easy stop at the gate and rolled his window down as one of the men strode over to look inside the cab. Fortunately, it was someone he knew, and he greeted him with a nod of acknowledgement when they made eye contact. “Garret, it’s been a while,” he mused.

“Good to see you again, Jacob,” the guard smiled, though his brows were quirked with slight bemusement. “What’re you doing all the way out here? No one told me you were gonna be passing through today.”

“Escort assignment,” Jacob lifted his shoulders as he gave the vague answer and gestured at Iris in the passenger seat. “I can’t give you too many details, but I won’t be out of the capital for long. I have some other work to do at the palace when I get back.”

Garret bowed his head to get a look at the girl sitting next to him through the window. Jacob held his breath while the other man studied her face, hoping to himself that he wouldn’t recognize her from the wanted posters around the city. After a moment, the other man simply nodded and took a step back again, and Jacob let out a silent sigh as the guard signaled to another soldier to open the gate.

“Well, it was good to see you even though it was brief,” Garret shot him a grin. “We should get drinks and catch up sometime, man.”

“I’ll let you know when I have some time off,” Jacob promised, although he didn’t know when that would be. As the head of security for the royal family, he worked seven days a week and was always on call, even during his off hours. It was an all-consuming job that demanded the utmost sacrifice from the person who accepted the duties that came with it, which was why he rarely ever went out on dates or with old friends anymore.

He’d accepted the good and the bad of his work long ago though. Letting the reminder of his busyness roll off his shoulders, he put his car in drive again and continued on through the open gate to bring Iris back to her home.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Walking down the hallway, Jacob only noticed that Iris had stopped following him when he neared the corner that would take them to the elevator. He turned around with an impatient frown, prepared to tell her to keep moving if she was having second thoughts. Now that he’d found her, she had no other option anyway. It was his duty to make sure that her involvement with the king came to an end, and he was going to do that one of two ways: either by returning her to the districts or by dragging her off to a prison cell. The choice was hers, but he did hope she would choose the former, if only because he didn’t think she deserved to go through more questioning and torture.

Fortunately, he didn’t need to say anything before she kept walking, and they made their way to the elevator lobby. He didn’t bother responding to her apology either. Knowing that it was difficult for her to leave Caspian, he didn’t feel entitled to any of her specific thoughts on the matter. As long as she went with him, that was all he cared about. She could open up to him if she wished, and he would listen and perhaps hare a word of advice, but he wouldn’t probe her to start that conversation.

Being the middle of the day, most of the other people staying in the hotel were already busy exploring the recreational activities on the other floors, so they didn’t run into anyone on their way down to the ground level. Jacob preferred it that way as he led Iris out into the parking lot and to his waiting car. The less people around to question who he was with or what he was doing with a criminal, the better.

He unlocked the doors and made sure she climbed inside first before he sat down behind the wheel and put the car in drive. The silence between them continued to drag on as he headed out toward the highway that would take them to the border. Unlike Caspian who always listened to music on the road, the guard left his stereo off in order to pay full attention to his surroundings. It was easier that way for him to drive safely as well as listen for alerts on his phone, in case anyone at the palace tried to reach him while he was out. He was still the head of security, after all, so his job was his priority even above the favor he was doing for Iris.

As they neared the wall that curtained the capital off from the rest of the kingdom, he began to slow his speed. “Let me doing the talking when we pull up to the checkpoint,” he told Iris without looking away from the back of the car in front of him. He had brought them to a crawl as they joined a short line of other vehicles that were on their way out of the city. Most of the others were military transportation and delivery trucks that were going to be picking up goods and supplies that were produced in factories in the districts.

Animal Pictures

@LadyAnnaLee They are great. She does the tongue thing all the time 😂 And gets along really well with our other dog:

Animal Pictures

I have this one handy of my *majestic* pittie (in the middle) at her doggie day camp a few days ago:

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Maybe it was a mistake. Iris had been a member of the Scourge and the daughter of its late leader, no less. Returning her to the districts beyond the capital was a gamble, but after speaking with her again, Jacob didn’t feel like she was a large enough threat to the kingdom to deserve another prison sentence. Her attachment to the king helped as well. While he couldn’t support them as a couple, he wasn’t concerned about her turning on Caspian and trying to kill him again. Even if she rejoined the rebellion—and even that felt like a big ‘if’—he didn’t expect her to do anything to target the monarchy this time.

“It is. And I would prefer to leave now,” he replied casually when she asked if his offer was serious. Taciturn by nature, he didn’t elaborate or share his reasoning for coming to the decision that he had. She didn’t need to know more than he’d already told her: that he was going to drive her past border patrol and let her go back to her home. If she had questions, they could discuss the matter further after they were on the road. He didn’t want to be out longer than he had to anyway, since his presence would be missed at the palace if he dawdled much more than he already had.

When Iris gave him her condition for leaving, the guard listened silently and then nodded once. “I won’t tell him a thing,” he assured her. He’d never had any intention of telling Caspian that he’d helped her slip out of the capital. It was better if the young king believed she had left of her own volition, because she was right. In his current state, it was very likely that he would spend every spare minute he had trying to bring her back. It would have been even worse if he left to look for her, himself. Abdicating the throne would leave Aspiria in a perilous position, so they had to make it look like she had broken up with him and didn’t want him to come after her. It was the only way they could make sure he didn’t do anything reckless.

He knew Caspian wasn’t going to take it well, but it was for his own good. His and Iris’s. With that thought in mind, Jacob offered her his own pair of sunglasses as a simple disguise and stepped over to the door to lead the way out. “Follow me and keep your head down,” he said curtly. “It’s a fifteen minute drive to the border.” He only glanced over his shoulder once to make sure she complied before he headed out of the suite, leading her down to his car that waited in the parking lot in front of the resort.

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

When he was finished speaking, Jacob sat quietly and watched as Iris hung her head in her hands. It wasn’t that he didn’t think she knew he was telling her the truth, but even if she was aware of it, neither she nor Caspian were doing anything about it. They were still meeting in secret, and he was sure the new king was plotting to change their situation so they would be able to make the relationship more official. On their current path, they were headed for ruin—not just of themselves, but of the kingdom as a whole.

He was concerned about the way the Aspirian people would react and how foreign leaders would view their monarch if he came forward about being with a former member of the rebellion that plagued their country. For one thing, it wasn’t proper for a member of royalty to casually date like other highborns did. His eventual marriage was supposed to be with either a woman from a powerful family or a princess of another kingdom who could unite Aspiria with another nation and make both lands stronger. Atlas had tried to get it through his son’s head that choosing someone out of love wasn’t an option for him, but it seemed like that lesson hadn’t stuck.

Additionally, if the other highborns learned that their new king had chosen to be with a criminal, it could chip away at their faith that Caspian was a mature and grounded ruler. They didn’t need another revolt to deal with on top of the one that was already ongoing beyond the walls of the central city. That included an external attack by a foreign military that thought the current king was too weak to be in charge. No matter which way he looked at it, Cas’s infatuation with Iris was going to make things more complicated and dangerous than they needed to be.

So, when Iris informed him that she was aware of where she stood and revealed that she’d planned to leave the capital, the security guard arched his brows slightly with intrigue. Maybe they were on a more similar page than he’d first thought. He glanced at the piece of paper in her hands and skimmed the words, considering the new information he’d just been given. That she’d had the note already written told him that she was being honest about her intention to go back to her home. Perhaps he didn’t need to rip her away from Caspian after all.

“I understand that this is difficult, but you’re right,” he told her, looking up again to meet her eyes. “Without any distractions, Caspian has the potential to be a great king. Even more so than his father, so…” He stood up from the sofa and checked his watch to assess the time. “If you are serious about leaving the city quietly, I’ll give you a ride past border patrol.” Putting the device away again, he turned back to her and folded his arms. “We’ve increased security measures since Caspian returned, so you won’t make it past the infrared or the guards without help, and since there is still a warrant out for your arrest, you’ll be returned to a prison cell the second someone catches you. If you want to get out and promise that you’ll cut all communication with the king, I will make sure you’re returned to the nearest district without any trouble.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

“Apparently I don’t,” Jacob growled in agreement. He was more frustrated with Caspian than he was with Iris for that reason, because he never would have imagined Atlas’s son would do something so reckless. The new king had butted heads with his father over plenty of things before and had a weakness for the night life in the capital, but he’d never done anything that had the potential to damage the crown’s reputation. He was responsible. If he drank to excess, he walked with an escort instead of driving; if the young women in the city flirted with him, he wouldn’t take advantage of their interest; if the previous ruler had needed his help, he always stepped up to do the job. For a young man in his early twenties, he’d matured beyond his years, so it was dumbfounding to the security guard that he would have thought up such a shortsighted plan.

As Iris went on about Caspian’s original intentions to run away, Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers. The more he uncovered, the worse it seemed to get. The former prince had known that his father was on his deathbed, that there were no other successors in line for the throne, and yet he had still come so close to abandoning his people. Flightiness wasn’t a good quality in a king. Now that he knew it had almost happened once, he was going to keep a closer eye on the fledgling monarch in case he was ever overwhelmed enough to try it again. Until Caspian named someone else as his successor or had children of his own, the monarchy was precariously close to collapsing.

He remained quiet while the rebel girl seemed to give up before his eyes. She had fought him hard in the beginning, but it looked like she didn’t have enough resolve left to keep going. His eyes flicked once more to the filthy kitchen contemplatively before returning to her face. “Sit down,” he said, gesturing to the couch behind her. His words were still firm, but the initial anger had melted from his voice. Now that she had answered his questions and had lost her willpower, he didn’t feel the need to keep fighting with her.

Taking his own advice, the guard sat on the opposite end of the sofa and leaned back with his arms crossed. He was still alert enough to stop her if she made any sudden movements, but there wasn’t an immediate threat that required him to stay on his feet. “You say I’ve been kept in the dark about the king recently, but I do know him, Iris. Better than you do,” he told her bluntly. Someone needed to tell her the truth, and right now, he was the only one who was in a position to do so. For Caspian’s sake, he was going to be candid.

“You two only met a few months ago. I promise you that isn’t enough time to learn every detail about a person, no matter how much you care about each other, and I can tell you right now that the Caspian you know isn’t the same Caspian who was prepared to be the leader this country needs.” Leaning forward, he rested his elbows on his knees as he held Iris’s gaze seriously. “I’m sorry if this is difficult to hear, but this relationship the two of you have is a detriment to him. Now that he’s been crowned king, Caspian has committed every facet of himself to Aspiria. I’m not yet sure if he grasps the full depth of what that means, especially after discovering this,” he gestured vaguely at the suite, “but running around in secret to be with someone who isn’t even a highborn, let alone a person who could strengthen the monarchy politically… These aren’t actions befitting of a king, and I can no longer stand idly by and watch him revert into an impulsive teenager. That means these meetings are going to stop.”

Amnesia [Suki & Summer]

Of course Jacob already knew why Caspian had been hiding Iris away in the hotel. The Aspirian king was smitten with the girl he’d rescued from the woods. However, that didn’t mean that was all there was to it. He was too cautious to assume Iris shared the same motive and that the two were just young and in love. She didn’t strike him as a conniving criminal who was sidling up to the ruler in order to whisper lies into his ear, and she hadn’t given him a reason to believe she wasn’t telling the truth, but it was always safer to rule out the possibility, no matter how slim it was. Startling and threatening her, while cruel, was an effective way of getting her to slip up if something deeper was going on.

He knew he was being harsh though, so when she said that he was hurting her, he reluctantly loosened his grip on her arm. Admittedly, part of the reason why he had reacted the way he had was because he hadn’t expected to see her on the other side of the door. For the last two or more weeks, he hadn’t heard Caspian mention anything about Iris, so he had assumed that she had actually escaped back to the districts. In retrospect, he should have known better. He had seen how much the young king had grown to care about her, so he shouldn’t have been surprised to discover that he was still holding onto her.

Truth be told, even though he had agreed to keep their involvement a secret for the sake of not aggravating Atlas nearly a month ago, he wasn’t fond of the fact that Caspian was so absorbed with someone who had been involved in the rebellion. He had been hoping that the issue would resolve itself, but clearly that wasn’t the case. Whether Iris was using him or they were genuinely only interested in each other as romantic partners, she could only bring the fledgling king trouble. Now that he knew they were still meeting in secret, he wasn’t sure what to do, so he had reacted more aggressively than he probably should have.

As Iris went on about losing track of the days and not wanting to cause any trouble, Jacob had to admit that she wasn’t acting like a person who had been caught in the middle of something devious. She looked beaten down and afraid of being sent back to the prison. He studied her in tense silence before following her gaze to the kitchen, where there were piles of uneaten food. The room looked more like a cage for a hostage than the secret meeting place for two people in love.

Calming from the initial outburst, the guard relinquished his hold on Iris’s arm, though he continued to stand between her and the door. “If you don’t want to be here anymore, then why did you and the king come up with such an elaborate plan to allow you to stay in the capital?” he interrogated her with a skeptical expression. “I was under the impression that you two claim to be in love. Have you changed your mind about him?”