Mal and her friends left the picnic area soon after Mal had undone Jane's hair, not wanting to deal with anyone else who wanted to pick a fight.
The four VKs went back to Evie and Mal's room, each finding a place to sit in silence. "Are we sure we want to go through with this?" Evie's timid voice cut the the silence, not needing to explain what "this" meant.
"We have to! Maleficent ordered us to!" Carlos yipped fearfully, his eyes darting from side to side as though the mistress of all evil would jump out and scare him.
Mal sighed. She didn't even know if she wanted to steal the wand or not. it was a pretty idiotic plan, but her only other option was to go with Ben's plan and she really did not want to give him that satisfaction. Mal inwardly groaned at the thought of Ben as it reminded her that she needed to go talk to him about the family day fiasco. Mal dismissed herself, telling the other VKs to talk about it later and started her journey to Ben's office.
While the VKs were trying to figure out their next move, Ben was trying to will away an oncoming headache. He had arrived at his office to find two reports about Mal assaulting some students with magic. The reports were submitted anonymously, though Ben recognized Audrey's handwriting on one of them.
Mal had been doing so well before he left! She did everything Ben had asked of her, even managing to impress his parents before queen laya started yelling at Mal. Ben growled at the thought of how his parents took that old queen's side, and now they were going to feel justified because of what Mal did after he left. When Ben got his hands on her-
A knock on the door broke Ben out of his thoughts, he gave a gruff "come in" before the door opened to reveal the girl he had been thinking about. Ben was out of his chair in a second and began approaching Mal.
"What did you do?" Mal's eyes widened in fear as the kings voice was hardly more than a growl.
"Wh- what do you mean?" Mal asked, wondering how Ben found out about her use of manic so quickly.
"You ASSAULTED a student with magic?!" The look of fear morphed into pure confusion at Ben's words, giving him pause. She really didn't know anything about what happened in the reports. Ben forced himself to take a breath to calm down and unclenched his fists.
"I received two reports stating that you had attacked a group of students just moments after I left." Ben stated calmly. He felt quite relieved when Mal quickly shook her head.
"No. I didn't attack anyone. I swear." Ben could tell from the look on her face that she was telling him the truth.
"So you didn't use you magic on anyone?" Ben's rage returned when Mal looked down and away. "Mal." The prince's voice was completely a growl now.
"I only used magic to change Jane's hair back! She and Audrey just kept going on about how I was just your bad girl infatuation and laughing so I took back the gift I gave her." Mal rambled out, trying her best to keep from stumbling over her own words.
Ben felt all his anger and frustration melt away with Mal's words. "You spelled away the hair you gave her? And that's it?" Ben confirms.
Mal nods in the affirmative. She braced herself to be burnt by Ben's ring when she sees him reaching out to her, but is surprised when he simply cradles her face and pulls her up against his body.
"I don't think I've ever loved you more, mal." The words that came out of Ben's mouth shocked Mal more that anything else ever had. The future king looked ready to beat her to a bloody pulp a few moments ago, and now he was telling her that he loved her? Mal was more confused now than ever before.
"Wh- what?" Mal managed to stutter out. Ben released Mal from his improv hug and held both of her shoulders out at arms length so he could look her in the eye.
"You did everything right. Beautifully even. You refused to let them get away with disrespecting you and me, without harming anyone or anything, except maybe Jane's pride." Ben let out a little chuckle at his own words. "You represented yourself as my girlfriend better that I could have ever expected. I'll bet you that no one in their right mind will try to put you down again. So I guess the only you will have to worry about is chad."
Mel let out a half laugh- half sob of relief, she had thought herself to be screwed. She cursed the traitorous tears that had once again managed to fall from her eyes, though Ben was quick to wipe them away.
"You've had an trying day, haven't you? Tell you what, I'll get the fake reports handled tomorrow morning, then you and I can help you figure out how we are going to handle my coronation. Until then, why don't you come back to my room with me and we will get some sleep." Ben didn't wait for a response before leading Mal to his bed chambers.
They both crawled into the prince's king sized bed (how appropriate) after they changed into some clothes for sleeping in.
Mal only grew more confused as Ben pulled her tight against him in the bed, quickly falling asleep with his arms wrapped around her, the same way someone would cuddle with their lover. Mal thought back to when Ben told her that he loved her.
"Is this really what love is like?" Mal whispered to herself before she let her exhaustion take over and she slipped away into sleep.