Striking (Red Lips & White Lies Book 7)

“Why are we at a hospital, Rhys?”

I look up at the building in front of us and take my wife’s hand in mine as we exit the car. This hospital may have started out as a place I visited once because that’s what my mother had done before she died, but it quickly became more. “It’s not just any hospital, love. It’s a children’s hospital that I’m a patron of. I thought maybe you’d like a quiet moment before the storm. And this place always provides me that moment.”

“A children’s hospital?” I pull her black wool coat closed and tug her closer. “You find quiet moments in a children’s hospital?”

“It’s one of the few things I’m able to do without any press or fanfare. The staff has let me sneak in for years without alerting the media or any photos or quotes getting out. These kids are the ones who should need hope, but they’re the ones giving hope to me.”

Bellamy links her arm through mine and kisses my cheek with a beautifully soft smile pulling at her lips, like I just gave her the world. “And you want to share that with me?”

“I’d love to.” I drop a kiss on the top of her head and guide her through the back door my security just entered. Doing something quietly as crown prince was tricky. As king, it’s going to be close to impossible.

“Your Highness,” nurse Amily Jones curtsies and smiles, her sharp brown eyes quickly tracking Bellamy’s arm in mine, and if I’m not mistaken, the rings on her finger, but she doesn’t say a word. “It’s good to see you again. The kids missed you last week. But those X-Boxes you had delivered were a huge hit.”

“Thank you, Amily. I had hoped to get here at some point, but⁠—”

“You’re here now.” Amily looks at the tablet in her hands. “And if you don’t mind me suggesting it, I think Linus could really benefit from seeing you.”

“Linus? I thought he was going home.” I know he was supposed to be going home. Fuck.

Amily forces a fake as fuck smile. “He’s hanging in, but I think a pop-in from you could brighten his day.”

“I can wait here . . .” Bellamy offers as she steps back, but I refuse to let go of her arm.

“No, love. I want you to meet him.” With a quick nod to Amily, Bellamy and I head to the fourth floor where Linus has been in and out of care for two years

“The Gwendoline Windsor Pediatric Cancer Wing,” Bellamy reads aloud as we push through the swinging doors.

I shrug, a move Mum would have hated. “It seemed like the right thing to do. It was the first official act of the foundation.”

“I didn’t know her, but I have a feeling she would have loved knowing the first thing you did was help the kids.” My wife tucks herself into my side, and together, we walk through Linus’s open door.

“Rhys,” Linus laughs as Bellamy and I walk through the door. “I thought maybe now that you’re wearing the crown, your head might be too big to fit through the door.”

“Don’t be a little shit just because I have a pretty girl with me.” I step aside and enjoy the pretty flush on Bellamy’s cheeks as she stands in front of me.

“Hi, Linus.”

Linus sits up straighter, like any fifteen-year-old boy would if he saw someone as beautiful as my wife in his room. He looks at her, then smiles at me. “Did you get a girl, Rhys?”

Very few people in the world feel comfortable enough to call me Rhys, but when this kid does, I fucking love it.

Before I can answer, Bellamy giggles and sits on the edge of Linus’s bed. “He kind of did get a girl . . .”

“Look, I know he’s a king and all, but his boring ass is just a little too old for you. Now me, on the other hand . . . I’m young and hot, and one day I’m going to get out of this hospital.”

Little fucker.

But she laughs again, so I’ll let it slide.

And when she slides her hand into mine, I might actually feel like a real king.noveldrama

“You know . . .” She smiles sweetly at Linus. “I was stuck in a hospital a lot like this one when I was close to your age.”

Linus’s entire posture changes. As if the oxygen in the room just disappeared. “What were you in for?”

He asks the question like she did time in prison, but Bellamy’s smile never falters. “Acute lymphoblastic leukemia . . . You?”

“Hodgkin lymphoma. And lucky me, my kidneys haven’t reacted well to any of the treatments, so now I’m on a donor list too.”

“You know.” She leans in and whispers, like the two of them are in cahoots. “You and I . . . we’re the same.”

Linus chuckles and looks at me. “She knows she’s a girl, right?”

I shrug and move closer to my wife.

“We’re survivors, Linus. I got through this, and you will too. And if you’ll let me, I’d love to be here for you while you’re going through hell.”

All the bravado he’s put on drops in that moment, and Linus’s shoulders slump in front of us. “Were you scared?”

She nods softly. “I still am. But you’re not just fighting for you. You’re fighting for everyone who loves you. And I promise you it’s worth it.”

My fucking heart cracks like the goddamned Grand Canyon.

“Thank you for sharing that with me, Rhys.” Bellamy lays her head on my shoulder as we head back to Lilihill house. “You really mean something to those kids.”

“Those kids mean something to me.” I wrap an arm around her and pull my ringing phone from my pocket.

“Shit.”

“Is everything okay?” Bellamy glances quickly down at my phone, and I watch as she nibbles her lip. “Are we moving?”

“We, huh?” My fingers run through her soft hair and tug. “I like the we.”

She looks toward the front of the car, like she’s worrying about being overheard. “Well, I’m pretty sure we are a we now, wouldn’t you say?”

“We are most definitely a we, love. And unfortunately, we’re expected to move into the palace . . . Fuck,” I groan. “I never wanted to move into Rosenhall. Knowing what’s expected and doing it are two very different things.”

“You’re the king. Can people really tell you what to do?”

“It’s a give and take. A balancing act, if you will.” Not that I’ve ever done well with being told what to do. But part of being a fucking adult is doing things you don’t want to do. “Some of the best advice I’ve ever received was when my mother told me that one day, I’d have to decide what battles were worth going to war over. This . . . this isn’t worth it.”

She looks up at me through those damn long lashes. The ones that can bring me to my knees. “What’s worth it?”

“Isn’t it obvious, little bee? You . . . you’re worth it.”

Bellamy

I flip my phone over and over in my hand as I watch Atticus, Silas, Joss, and Rhys planning out the rest of the week. They’re talking about moving and photo ops and possible interviews. I can’t decide how much of this shit show is because Rhys married me and how much would have been a mess no matter what.

My phone weighs a thousand pounds as I debate walking out of the room and biting the bullet. It’s what I should do. My mom would understand. She’d be shocked. But she’d be happy for me. At least, if we stick to the whole we’re madly in love story the rest of the world has to believe.

Have I mentioned I’m not a very good liar?

Shit . . . Am I seriously having a conversation with myself?

And answering myself?

Either way, Mom will be the easy one. Cross and Ares . . . There’s no way they’re going to buy that story.

“Does that sound good to you, bee?” Rhys asks from the other side of the room, and my head snaps up, and my phone falls to the floor.

“Sorry. Was I supposed to be following the conversation? I assumed since no one was actually talking to me, you didn’t really care what I thought.” Oh damn. I’m not even sure where that came from.

Rhys bends down and picks up my phone. “I’m sorry, love. I just want to make sure you’re protected.”

“Listen up, queen bee . . .” Atticus moves in front of us. “If you want to be involved in a conversation, get involved. If you want to sit by and let everything be decided for you, keep sitting quietly on the side of the room, and that’s what we’ll do. You’re a queen now, Bellamy. It’s time to start acting like it.”

My breath shutters in my chest, coming in sharp, ragged breaths, and I force myself up to my feet since everyone else is already standing. “Fine. You want me to get involved?” I look between my new husband and his brother, blowing right past Joss and Silas. “I’m involved. I don’t want to do a sit-down interview. I’m not a very good liar, and if I have to go on camera and try to do it . . . Let’s just say that won’t be good. So I’m more Team Written Statement. I promise to work on the face-to-face thing, but you’re all going to have to give me time.”

“What else?” Rhys pushes with a cocky grin like he just won an argument.

“I want time to talk to my family before we announce it to the world, so can we hold off for another day or two?” My mind spins when suddenly everything starts getting a little too real. How messed up is that? Sitting in a centuries old room telling a high council was less scary than the thought of telling my brothers I’m married.

“Done. We’ll put out a statement in two days. That gives us tomorrow to talk to your family and, unfortunately, my father.” A muscle ticks in Rhys’s jaw, and I make a mental note to find out what I need to know about my future father-in-law.

“That one’s going to be bad, by the way,” Atticus adds. “Really bad.”

“Oh yay,” I whisper as Joss laughs.

“Okay, no on-camera interview. You’ll both talk to your families tomorrow and the rest of the country the day after.” Joss whips out her phone and starts taking notes. “You’re also going to be moving tomorrow. But you won’t have to do anything for that. I can help show you around the palace while Rhys is in meetings.”

“Joss, seriously.” I take my phone from Rhys and open my own notes app, inspired by the force of nature standing across from me breaking this all down in a way I can handle. “I’m sure you can’t keep skipping work to help me. But I appreciate it.”

“You need to get your wife her own staff to help her out, Rhys,” she snaps, and I kind of love that Rhys has friends who aren’t afraid to call him on his shit, king or not.

Although I hadn’t even realized I needed a staff.

“You’re absolutely right, Joss. You’re hired.”

My head whips around to look at Rhys as Joss coughs. “I have a job, Rhys.”

“Ten hours a week spent shopping doesn’t count as a job, Josselyn,” Silas coughs, and Atticus laughs. “This is the perfect job for you, and it will get the parental units off your back. They can’t be disappointed with you if you’re the private secretary to the queen.”

Joss looks torn. “Would you even want to work with me, bee?”

“Yes, please,” I groan. “I don’t have a clue what I’m doing, what I’m supposed to wear, or who anybody is. You could be my Yoda.”

Joss scrunches up her nose. “What’s a Yoda? Is that like an American thing?”

“Don’t you have Star Wars in Mornea?” I look around the room, but the guys are all staring at Joss, equally shocked expressions on each of their faces. “Whatever. Just please help me.”

“Step one . . . Everyone else out.”