Chapter 22
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Storming the castle wasn't going as Phillip planned. The number one reason was that people were streaming out of the castle instead of hunkering down inside and defending it. Phillip tightened his grip on Mal’s hand as they stepped into the courtyard.
The cries of the fleeing crowd rang in his ears.
It was Phillip’s small regiment of soldiers who had accompanied him back that were guiding the people out, helping them as they stumbled over broken stones and splintered wood.
Aurora’s soldiers? Nowhere in sight. They’d abandoned their posts, scattered like leaves in a storm. Many of them were already beyond the castle walls in the hands of the Forest Folks.
"What's her play?" Mal’s skeptical gaze scanned the chaos. “This feels too easy.”
Phillip nodded. A heavy sense of foreboding settled over him as they reached the grand archway leading into the castle.
The halls beyond were empty, devoid of the guards that should have lined every entrance.
The usual clatter of armor and footsteps was replaced by an eerie silence, broken only by the distant sound of crumbling stone and the occasional cry of a wounded soul.
He’d known Aurora since she was a child, had watched her grow from a na?ve princess into something far more dangerous.
And yet, even realizing her ruthlessness, he hadn’t expected her to abandon their people in such a way.
The Aurora he’d once known wouldn’t have left her own soldiers to fend for themselves.
The woman they were about to confront was clearly a stranger to him.
The castle doors opened, and they made their way into the throne room. The dim light cast long, foreboding shadows across the room’s expanse. There, seated on his father’s throne, was Aurora. Her back was straight, her expression poised, as if this were nothing more than a routine court meeting.
Beside her perched Ariel. The sea princess’s eyes glimmered with a cold, unsettling mirth.
Ariel couldn't speak. She'd been born without a voice box.
But that had never stopped her and Rory from communicating on their visits.
The sea fairy's hands moved in subtle gestures, a silent language only Aurora seemed to understand.
Mal’s voice cut through the silence. “I thought you hated fae. Yet here you are, cozying up to the sea folk.”
Aurora’s eyes flicked toward them, a slow, amused smile creeping onto her lips as her gaze landed on Mal.
She lifted Ariel’s hand, running her fingers over it in a possessive gesture.
“Oh, I’ve never hated fae. Except the ones who thought they could steal my future and twist it into something that suited them. ”
“Aurora." Phillip stepped forward, his tone measured, still trying for diplomacy. "You know I loved Maleficent long before you were even born. I told you that.”
“You misunderstand, Phillip. You were never my future. The idea of being another pawn in someone else’s game—whether it was my father’s or yours—was something I vowed to shatter.”
Aurora turned back to Mal, her gaze coldly triumphant. “There was a prophecy about me, you know. It was foretold that a fairy’s curse would end my life. Death by spindle, isn't that tragic? So my father, the dutiful king, had every spinning wheel in the kingdom destroyed."
Phillip only vaguely remembered this story. His father had told him of his betrothed's curse when he'd brought the spindle into the tower of forbidden objects. That was the day that he'd stolen his first kiss from Mal. So the details had always been a little hazy.
"Imagine my surprise when I found my murder weapon in my fiancé's tower."
"You think I would've hurt you?"
"Hurt me, Phillip? No. Ignore me. Overlook me. Use me as a pawn while you rutted with a deer out in the fields."
Phillip felt a chill go through him. This was the Aurora he’d sensed lurking beneath her polite smiles and demure glances, a woman willing to destroy anyone in her path. "What do you want, Aurora?"
Aurora’s lips twitched in a smile that held no remorse. “All I want is to be free, to choose my path, to love who I will."
"Then go and do that. No one's stopping you."
Mal's claws bit into Phillip's wrist as though she wanted to step forward.
Phillip tucked her closer to his side. They were almost out of this with no more bloodshed. “Your army has fallen. It’s over. You’ve lost.”
Aurora laughed, a sound as cold as it was dismissive. “That was my father’s army.” She glanced at Ariel, who met her gaze with a soft, adoring smile. “I’m using my girlfriend’s forces now.”
The doors swung open. A line of mermen entered, tridents gleaming in their hands. Iron tridents.
Mal’s grip went weak in his hand as the poisonous metal cast its presence over the room. Her skin paled, her breath catching as the poison sapped her strength. Phillip stepped in front of her, shielding her as best as he could from the advancing soldiers.
“Aurora, whatever twisted version of freedom you seek, it doesn’t have to come through bloodshed.”
Aurora’s voice was now stripped of any sweetness. “It’s too late for compromises, Phillip. I am not a pawn, and I will not share this world with anyone who thinks they can put me to bed to sleepwalk through life.” Her gaze flickered to Mal with a look of utter contempt.
Ariel signaled to the mermen. The soldiers raised their tridents, points trained on Phillip and Mal. Rage built within Phillip as he realized they were vastly outnumbered and Mal was weakening fast.