Caspian knew what Jael meant when he asked what he wanted to do, but he still clung to the last bit of hope.
Hope that, Asher was just stressed out from everything going on, and they could find a way to resolve things so that they wouldn’t have to revert to the first days he got here.
Another sneeze interrupted his thoughts and he instinctively wrapped his cold arms around himself.
Right, he needed to take a shower.
And then when Asher returned, they would talk about this again.
Because the Alpha had included himself in the list of people he wanted to keep Caspian safe from.
The entire thing was so ridiculous, that it had him swinging from emotion to emotion.
One moment he was pissed, and then the next he was frustrated.
He would need Asher to walk him through his entire thought process.
Caspian took a hot shower and wore a cozy sweater to stave off the chill. He didn’t bother trying to leave the room because he would rather not prove Asher’s claims of placing guards by the door.
He sat on the bed and eyed the windows, he couldn’t believe that he was back to thinking of them as an escape route.
He doubted it would be that easy though, he wouldn’t be surprised if Asher had stationed men right outside the window.
"This is so fucking ridiculous." He found himself muttering out loud in disbelief.
Caspian sat resolutely in the room all day, making no move to order lunch although it was well past the time for him to eat.
By late afternoon, there was a knock on the door, a maid pushing in a food tray.
"We were worried that you hadn’t eaten yet," She said nervously, looking over her shoulder at someone out of Caspian’s line of sight.
"I don’t have an appetite, you shouldn’t have bothered." He steadily told her off.
The maid seemed to be at a loss, and Caspian felt a little guilty.
But he wasn’t budging so she eventually had to take the tray away.
There was a repeat of the scenario at dinner time... Asher hadn’t even tried to make an effort to show up for dinner.
It barely took an hour before the bedroom door was getting slammed open.
Caspian was unfazed, propped up on the bed laying on a sea of pillows. "You’re late for dinner." He flatly greeted.
"You didn’t eat," Asher noted, closing the door behind him.
"I wasn’t hungry." Caspian crossed his arms.
He hated having to argue with Asher but that was what their conversations were reduced to.
"You haven’t eaten all day-"
"Are you really going to pretend like nothing is wrong?" Caspian blurted out in disbelief.
"Are you still upset?" The Alpha had the nerve to ask, like it was the popcorn machine they were talking about.
"I can’t fucking believe you!" Caspian turned to the side, done with the conversation.
He heard Asher sigh and slowly walk over, "So what else would you have me do?"
Caspian looked up at him, "Not this," He pointed out the obvious.
"Keeping you safe?" Asher asked with a genuine expression.
Caspian’s expression turned bitter, "Not trusting me you mean."
Asher’s expression turned unyielding. "That has nothing to do with this."
Caspian just gave up on trying to talk to him, Asher came off as reasonable but the Alpha was completely pig-headed and stubborn.
"I’m not hungry, Asher," He went back to their previous conversation. "Shouldn’t you be busy?"
"Don’t be difficult-"
"Oh, I’m difficult," Caspian jabbed a finger at himself. "If I wanted to be difficult, I would have tried to leave the moment you turned your back but no... I’m the difficult one here."
Asher paused like he wanted to say something, only to change his mind and start for the door instead.
"Asher?" He called out tentatively, his voice soft.
The Alpha halted to a stop, his expression tortured.
"If you’re going to keep me locked in here," Caspian spoke softly, his tone wistful, "Then you might as well rip my throat out."
Asher whipped around at that, his pupils shrinking like an island drowning in a sea of lava.
"Is it so bad that I want to keep you safe?" He choked out, his hands clenched into fists.
"No," Caspian said tiredly, regretting his words as soon as they were said. "It’s bad that you don’t see me as my own person."
Asher didn’t stay after that, and Caspian didn’t stop him, completely drained by their argument.
If he had been paying attention, he might have noticed that Asher had stumbled out, a bit dazed.
But he didn’t, laying down on the bed, and keeping his eyes closed to the well of tears behind his eyelids.
It should be so simple, such a straightforward conversation but they couldn’t even see eye to eye.
He had tried to fix things but he just unraveled it further, because now he was even further from getting Asher to agree for them to figure out a solution.
He was just going to stay in the mansion, like a fixture. Asher had no plans of fixing their relationship, and he wasn’t going to let him go either.
There were only two options and the Alpha decided to do neither.
If it wasn’t such a dire situation, which made him feel like his rib cage was underneath a hydraulic press, he would find it humorous.
Caspian sat up again, grabbing a pillow and throwing it across the room.
He couldn’t believe Asher had called him difficult when he had been the one to lock him up without giving him a choice.
He sat on the bed for a few moments before getting to his feet to pick up the pillow.
Bursts of emotions were unlike him, so it said a lot about how stressed out he was about this entire situation.
He flopped on the bed and just tried to focus on his breathing to bring his emotions under control.
Caspian just needed to sleep, hopefully, he would be able to see things in a better light after a good night’s sleep.