Chapter 25
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Mal stirred, her senses coming alive in a warm, gentle haze.
Phillip’s arm was draped over her, solid and comforting, his body a shield against the chill of the morning.
His steady breath was against her hair. The heat of his chest rested against her back.
She let herself stay there, nestled in the quiet.
Wrapped in the illusion that last night had been some strange dream.
That the chaos, the fighting, the tidal wave, and the crumbling of the castle walls had been nothing more than a story her mind had conjured up.
But dreams always gave way to daylight. She opened her eyes and looked out the window of her cabin.
The remnants of that shattered reality lay just beyond the forest. The broken stones of the castle, its once-majestic walls, were all reduced to jagged remnants.
The towers were now hollow against the dawn sky.
Smoke rose from the ruins, faint wisps twisting into the air.
The scattered remains of what had once been Phillip’s home loomed over them.
Phillip shifted beside her, his arm tightening as he stirred. His hand brushed along her shoulder. His touch was instinctively protective, even in his half-asleep state. The urge to reach out, to reassure herself that he was real, was overwhelming.
Beyond the boundaries of the forest, tents had been erected in hastily cleared patches of land, forming clusters of makeshift shelters.
Humans, displaced from their homes, milled about in the early light, their faces etched with weariness and loss.
Outside her bedroom window, she heard snippets of frustrated murmurs.
The faint sounds of disputes broke out over cramped space and lost belongings.
The human world was no longer one of order and rigid structure, but of survival.
Phillip’s hand moved to her cheek, brushing a stray lock of hair back as his eyes met hers. “You’re awake.” His voice was rough with sleep yet filled with a quiet joy she hadn’t seen in so long. “I thought I might have dreamed you.”
“You’d better believe I’m real. Otherwise, there's something else holding your cock.”
He chuckled softly, a low, comforting sound that filled the remaining cracks within her. “Whatever has a hold on me, I never want it to let go.”
Mal tightened her hold on him. A happy gasp escaped the wide smile on his mouth. “Good,” she purred. “Because I’m never letting go.”
She caressed her prince until he spilled in her hand. Before his spend cooled in her palm, he had her on her back, her knees resting against his shoulders. His tongue did beautifully wicked things to her beneath the sheets until she begged him for mercy.
He gave her none.
His cock hard once more, he prowled up her body and thrust into her heat. At first fast and hard. Then slow and languorous. The urgency to reach another peak was far from their minds.
They stayed like that, suspended in a moment of peace, until a rustling outside drew their attention.
A young fae child, her wings tattered but her eyes bright, walked past the cabin window.
She carried a small bundle of food. In her wake followed a human boy, perhaps a year or two younger, who trailed her with besotted eyes, watching her wings with a mixture of awe and trepidation.
It was strange, this new world where fae and humans existed side by side. Where boundaries that had once seemed unbreachable had begun to blur.
Phillip watched the children. His expression shifted into something contemplative. “We have work ahead of us.”
"We should probably start by closing the curtains."
He chuckled, slowly pulling out of her. He rose from the bed and walked to the window, gloriously naked. His gaze lifted to the castle in the distance. “The castle, the lands… it all has to be rebuilt.”
They had lost much, more than either of them could put into words.
The castle had fallen, but the forest had also suffered.
Mal wanted to believe it was possible. She wanted to believe that the forest folk and humans could rebuild something new.
But the path ahead was anything but clear.
Still, there was one truth louder than the tidal wave that had nearly taken them out.
"We’re stronger together than we ever were apart.”
Phillip shut the curtains and returned to bed. He gathered Mal into his arms and held her close. Just this simple touch and she felt like she could single-handedly rebuild their entire world by herself. But she wouldn't have to do it alone. She had him.
“Aurora and Ariel may have escaped."
That soured Mal's mood. If Phillip hadn't already given her three orgasms, she would've been upset about him bringing up his ex while they were naked. "We'll be ready for them if they return.
"I don't think they'll return."
Mal didn't care one way or another. If Aurora was still alive, and if she was dumb enough to mount a second attack, Mal would aim the next blow lower, right at her heart.
“They may have shattered what our parents tried to build," Phillip was saying. "But we’ll create something even stronger. This time… we’ll do it our way.”
His fingers curled around hers, entwining their hands.
The traces of last night’s destruction wouldn't stay hidden behind the curtains for long.
As they lay together, there was an undeniable sense of promise in the air—a promise of rebuilding, of mending what had been torn apart by a cursed spindle.