Chapter 8

eight

ALEXANDER

A lex heard soft voices outside his office, then a sigh as someone entered and closed the door behind them.

Alex looked up and was surprised to see his wife there. He glanced at his watch and cursed to himself. "I'm sorry, darling. I completely lost track of the time. Were you waiting on dinner because of me?"

She shook her head as she headed towards him. "I can't eat right now. I have some news."

"So do I, actually."

She leaned against his desk, sitting on the edge, and he twisted his chair towards her. "If it's about the tour, I've already seen it."

"I'm sorting it out. We've come up with a plan, and our offices should be coordinating."

"I haven't had a chance to speak to Mara in depth about it, but I'm sure she's on top of things. We've been busy dealing with something else though."

He wanted to reach out a hand and comfort her somehow, but she was sitting rigidly, her arms crossed, and he wasn't sure if it was the right move to make. "What happened?"

"I had a doctor's appointment today."

His breath caught. Was this good news or bad news? Based on how she was acting, it wasn't likely very good. "I wasn't aware. Is everything all right?"

"No." She took a deep breath. "Dr. Safar wants me to have surgery."

Fuck . "For…?"

"A few things." She took a few minutes to outline everything the doctor had told her. "It should be a same day procedure. I'll go in early morning and I should be back home in the late afternoon, if everything goes well."

He couldn't even entertain questions of ‘if' when it came to her health.

"I think it'll be good to get it out of the way with the tour and coronation and everything coming up. Things will only get more hectic from here, and I'll want to take a few days to recover, even if I won't really need it. I'm exhausted as it is, and it's not just my workload. Something is wrong with me to feel this tired and in pain so much."

Now he did reach out for comfort, hers as much as his. He stood and pulled her into his arms. She took a few moments, but eventually relaxed her arms and wound them around him. "We'll figure this out, darling, and hopefully this surgery will shed some light. How soon?"

"Friday. I'll have the weekend as cover in case I need to stay longer. We've already arranged things with the Royal Wing at the hospital, but we can't have everyone there, it would be too conspicuous."

"Well, I'll be there, certainly."

"You have work to do, more because of the tour."

He separated from her just a bit to look into her eyes. "I'll be there."

"My mother will be there supporting me." She outlined her idea to announce the coronation and tour together. "Take Friday to get everything in order for the announcement."

What was going on? "Is there a reason you don't want me there?"

"No, it's not like that. I just know you have other things you must take care of. The truth is, there will never be a good time to have the surgery where all our schedules align, and I don't want to put it off."

He took another step back as something else occurred to him. "You told your parents before you told me?"

"It's not what you're thinking. My mother's been helping me with this from the start, so?—"

"Well, I've been there for a lot of this too. You should have told me about this and asked me to come with you. I'm your husband."

"You're also the future king!" She covered her face with her hands and shook her head. She took a deep breath and let her hands drop before she continued. "Your time is not your own anymore, Alex, and your time doesn't belong to me, either. I understand that."

He ran a hand through his hair. "And why are you still going to your parents before anyone else? I told you before that you can't do that anymore."

She scoffed and stood to face him. "Are you serious right now? I need my parents in my life. That is not up for negotiation."

"I'm not saying you can't see them. Of course I'm not. But you must be more discreet."

A fury he'd never seen before flared in her eyes. "Are you fucking kidding right now?"

He jerked back. "Rebecca."

"Are you seriously doubting my discretion? My loyalty? My…ability to do my job?"

"I'm doubting your parents' discretion."

"I told you before that you don't have to worry about them."

"And we never finished that fight. We might as well do that now too."

She shook her head and started to move towards the door. "I can't deal with you right now. I can't have a civilized fight because all I want to do is yell at you and tell you all the ways you're in the wrong.

"You have no idea what I've been through since our wedding. Since before our wedding really. I've put up with all of it, and I've stayed silent, I've been discreet ." She aimed a glare at him, tears filling her eyes.

"But I am fucking done. I'm so done feeling like shit. I'm done with being treated like shit. And I'm really done with you telling me I can't see my parents. They're the only reason I've been able to manage my mental health at all, and I'm not giving them up. Not for you, not for fucking anybody."

Holy fuck. "I didn't know any of this. How would I know you've been struggling if you don't tell me, or if you're not honest when I do ask you?"

A sob escaped her lips. "I can't…I have to go. Oh God, I can't go out like this." Instead of the main office door, she headed for the secret passageway.

He caught her just before she slipped inside. "Please don't leave like this. We should talk this through."

"Not now." Another sob.

It took every ounce of his will not to tug her into his arms and hold her close, and he barely managed to let her go. "We'll talk later tonight then."

She nodded and disappeared into the hallway, the wall shutting behind her, leaving Alex alone in his office and wondering what the hell had just happened.

Had he missed the signs of her distress? Or had he avoided seeing them, even subconsciously?

She had been right about one thing—his time was not his own anymore, no matter how much they might try to plan otherwise. Yet, his wife was the most important thing in his life.

Being king was important, but it wasn't everything. It wasn't her.

He had fucked up— royally fucked up—and he would do whatever it took to resolve this between them.

He started by making a humbling call. "Hello. Yes, it's me. May I come over? I'd like to talk about Rebecca."