Mal’s breath hitched, but she held her ground, her arms still crossed tightly over her chest. "You're still going to marry her?”
Phillip shook his head, closing the distance between them. “No, Mal. I told you both three years ago. I told Aurora I loved you. I told you both we were going to figure it all out together.”
“Then the curse... And you don’t find that suspicious? That the curse fell exactly when you told her you'd chosen me?”
Phillip exhaled slowly, brushing his thumb along her jaw, the familiar feel of her skin grounding him. “I don’t care about suspicion. Not right now. I’ve spent three years without you.Three years thinking I’d never see you again. I’ll be damned if I let another second go by without doing this.”
It wasn’t a tentative kiss. Nor a careful one. It was fierce, desperate, like a man drowning who had finally found air. His hands cradled her face, his fingers threaded into her dark hair, holding her to him as if afraid she might slip away again.
Mal resisted, her fists curling against his chest. Didn't matter to him. She could say no all she wanted, but he knew her. Knew her body. Knew what they both wanted.
As though on cue, with a soft, broken sound, Mal's body melted into his. Her arms slid around his neck, pulling him closer. Her magic flared between them, warm and wild, wrapping them both in a fire that started at the place where their chests met and ignited from their toes to their heads in one blast.
Phillip felt whole. Alive. Home.
Mal let out a shaky breath, her hands still clinging to him. “If you ever leave me again, I will kill you.”
“Gods, I’ve missed you.” Phillip smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her brow.
CHAPTER NINE
The world tilted beneath Mal’s feet as the weight of Phillip’s presence crashed into her. He was alive. He was real, standing in front of her, breathing the same air, touching her with hands she thought she’d never feel again. The deep and gnawing hollow ache that had taken root in her chest over the years began to fill, too fast and too suddenly. It overwhelmed her, made her dizzy.
Her knees wobbled. The edges of the room blurred. The ground went unsteady beneath her boots. The ceiling above spun around her. She tried to breathe, tried to steady herself, but it felt like the walls were closing in.
Too much, not enough.
It felt like her body was caught between what was real and what was impossible. More than she could handle. Yet less than she needed.
Before she crumbled into a heap, Phillip was there. Strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her close to him, steadying her against his chest. His familiar scent washed over her—smoke and leather. That was him. That was her Phillip. It really was him.
Mal braced her hands against his chest. Phillip didn’t let go. If anything, he held her tighter, tucking her back into his heart where she belonged. The space fit snugly, like she'd never left. Like it had never been occupied by another.
"I’ve got you. You don’t have to be strong right now, Mal. Not with me. Not anymore.”
His words slipped under her defenses. They unraveled the walls she had built around her heart brick by brick. She sagged against him, her breath hitching as the weight of everything—her grief, her anger, her longing—came crashing down all at once.
“You can lean on me,” Phillip whispered, his lips brushing her temple. "I’m strong enough to hold you."
Mal surrendered. She let her walls fall and wrapped herself around him. Her body trembled like a fortress taking a strike from a battering ram. Her face pressed into his chest. The strength that had held her together for so long ebbed away, leaving her trembling as the tears came—hot and unrelenting. They spilled from her eyes like enemies breaching the gates, overwhelming her with their relentless advance.
She cried for the years lost. For the battles she’d fought alone. For the love she had almost forfeited to time and absence. She cried for the weight she had carried, the shield she had borne, the loneliness that had hollowed her out until she felt more weapon than woman.
Here, in her Phillip's arms, she let it all go. Her burdens dropped like a sword to the ground. Her heart was no longer a battlefield but a sanctuary. Phillip held her tighter, his warmth soaking into her, filling the cracks she hadn’t dared acknowledge until this moment. In his embrace, she found her truce, her peace.
His hands stroked her back in soothing circles. His touch was patient and tender. His lips followed the trail of her tears,kissing each one away with reverence, as though her tears were something sacred.
“I love you. I’ve always loved you. I’ll never leave you again. Not by my own power or anyone else's."
Mal whimpered, her sharp tongue silenced. She softened under the fierce press of his kisses. She melted into him, her magic flickering gently around them, a reflection of her surrender.
Phillip swept her off her feet with ease. He cradled her against his chest like she weighed nothing at all. Mal let him. She gave herself over to him fully, trusting him with a depth that no one else had ever earned. With Phillip, she didn’t have to be the fierce protector, the tough-as-claws leader. She didn’t have to carry the world on her shoulders.
In his arms, she was safe. She could set her burdens down. She could let go.
Her prince carried her through the cabin. The quiet crackle of the hearth and the scent of wood smoke wrapped around them like a cocoon. When he laid her on the bed, she uncurled from him, open and vulnerable for his next advance.
With Phillip, she didn’t need control. She didn’t need to fight. Here, she could follow, knowing he would never lead her anywhere but where she was meant to be.
