Ignis had returned to the doorway when he grew tired of watching the riots in the Citadel drive. And, when he grew tired of listening to Noct, Prompto, and Gladio needle at each other, he withdrew to the library. Their voices faded into an indistinct murmur, occasionally broken by laughter, and Ignis had the comfort of knowing he would hear if he was called for but had no obligation to partake in their childish bickering. Or hear any more suppositions about himself and Princess Reina.
The library was a small room: a private library for growing children and a king who enjoyed books but had no time. The walls were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. A leather-upholstered sofa, two matching wingback armchairs, and an ebony coffee table formed a comfortable sitting arrangement in the back corner; a chess table—with accompanying chess set and chairs sat in the center of the room.
Ignis walked to the hall door and back a dozen times before the elevator down the hall chimed.
The only people who had access to this floor were a scant few Crownsguards, His Majesty's personal attendant—Ignis' uncle—and the royal family themselves. The king was doubtless still in the throne room along with Ignis' uncle, but Reina or any of the guards might well have come to check on Noct's whereabouts.
He pulled the hall door mostly closed and retreated toward the balcony.
"I don't mean to cause alarm, but someone else has just arrived on this level."
Noct straightened, turning around to look at him. "Who?"
"I did not see," Ignis admitted. "But I might head them off and either distract them long enough for you to get where you are meant to be, or convince them that you already are."
"Do that last one." Noct turned back around.
Ignis sighed. Gods forbid Noctis go to his room for even a few minutes. Nothing had really changed in twelve years, had it?
He slipped out of the library and circled toward Noct's room the long way around so that he could appear to have come from there. He passed the door without encountering anyone else.
By a scant second.
Reina rounded the corner in front of him. "Ignis." She smiled, preoccupied, but not unfriendly. "Is Noct behaving himself?"
He could neither lie to her nor tell her that Noct had disregarded her instructions entirely. Almost entirely. He settled for a vague half-truth.
"Is he ever?"
"Very rarely." Reina was still moving closer. Ignis stopped in front of Noct's door, trying to appear at ease while simultaneously praying that she wouldn't ask to see him.
Either he succeeded in appearing casual or she expected him to look tense—did he always look tense around her? Gods. What did she even think of him?
"Thank you for watching over him." She strode past him, reaching out as if to touch his hand, then stopped herself.
Ignis' heart caught in his throat. It still seemed impossible that she had Dreamed a relationship between them. A hundred thousand questions swam through his mind, but each one stuck in his throat. She had a great many things on her plate. He would not put himself first.
"Of course, Your Highness." The catch in his voice was hardly noticeable. Barely even present at all.
She cast Ignis an indecipherable look over her shoulder before she disappeared into her room, leaving him wishing he had thought of something suave to say. Or anything at all, really, so long as it did not include stumbling over casual non-conversation.
He sighed.
And he returned to Noct and the others.