Chapter 1
War
“Rhys,” I gasp as my eyes open. It feels like all the oxygen in my lungs has been sucked out and then forced back in. Like a balloon that’s had a pin stuck to it.
The steady, constant beeping lets me know that I’m in a hospital again, but when I crack my eyes open and look around, it’s evident that I’m not.
I must be in some part of the castle made up like a hospital room.
The more places I find hidden away in the dark corners of these centuries’ old buildings, the less surprised I am.
This place is full of secrets and they’re all dark ones.
Rhys was right, I didn’t want to know but now that I do, there’s no going back.
“What happened?”
“You’re going to be all right, hen,” he says gently. “You were stung by a bee—” His soft-spoken words strike something in the dark recesses of my mind. Suddenly, it all comes back to me:
The lip gloss.
The bee venom.
The plans to kill me.
“No, I wasn’t,” I say urgently. I reach out to grab his arm for his attention, so that he knows I’m serious, that this is important, but I get tangled up in the lines of the IV as it snakes down the pole and into my arm.
“Aye, you were, you had another reaction,” he says.
“I had a reaction, but I wasn’t stung by a bee,” I tell him. “You have to listen to me. Please.”
“All right.” He leans forward in his seat next to my bed to face me.
“Lady Thomley and I overheard the earl tell the queen to get rid of me the other night,” I tell him. “She said I had to be quiet and not tell anyone what I’d heard because the earl is dangerous.”
“Aye, he is,” Rhys says, now more alert than ever. “And it’s Dowager Queen. She’s no’ in rule.”
“Yes, she protected me then and I thought she was a friend, but when I came out of the restroom stall, I couldn’t find my lipstick. It was missing.”
“What does all of this have to do with your allergy?” Rhys asks.
Frustration wells up inside me and threatens to boil over but I struggle to get the words out. My body is still betraying me. “She lent me her lip gloss but after I used it, my lips started to burn. When I asked her what was in it, she said it was a rare bee venom, and then she left me to die.”
Rhys watches me intently, holding deadly still as he does. For what, I don’t know, but when he decides something in his own mind, he moves again.
“I’m afraid I have bad news after all, hen,” he says, gripping my hand in his.
“What’s that?”
“This means war.”
“No!” I gasp and try to tear my hand out of his, but he won’t let me.
“Aye,” he says softly. “You have to listen to me, hen. We cannot let this attack go without consequences.”
“But it’s too dangerous,” I try to explain. “Why aren’t you listening to me?”
Hot tears roll down my cheeks as I plead with my new husband. Why is he so intent on taking my safety for granted? This is my life we’re talking about. These people won’t rest until I’m dead.
“I am listening to you,” he says. “I’ve always known that this situation was precarious—”
“Precarious, my ass,” I snap.
“Aye and what a lovely arse it is.”
“This is my life we’re talking about here, my safety, and you’re playing games that could get me hurt,” I plead.
“No,” he says. “I’d never let them.”
“These people won’t rest until I’m dead. Can’t you see that?”
“Aye, but I won’t let them.”
“And how will you do that?” I ask.
“They can’t kill you if I kill them first,” he says with deadly calm. “No one, and I mean bloody no one, will touch my wife without deadly fucking consequences.”