Mal.
Eighteen. Senior year.
EXCLUSIVE: The new woman in Prince Ben's life. A year after his shock split from Princess Audrey, Ben has a new woman in his life. The only catch? She's a horse. Read on to find out more about the latest addition to the Beast Castle stables, and why our source says Ben is delaying looking for love.
Leather and Lace - a run down of every outfit from Belle's Easter party.
ROYALS IN CRISIS: Sarah Vine tells us why the current royal landscape may change drastically in the next fifty years. High King Adam was twenty eight when he married Queen Belle, and they were the exception not the rule. Many of the ruling royals we see today we married before the age of twenty. The new generation seems to be bucking that trend, here's what marrying later could mean for these four Royal Houses.
"I honestly don't know what he sees in her."
"It's the bad girl thing. It has to be."
"They aren't even dating. She gets Ben and Harry Hook? How is that even fair?"
ISLE BE BACK: Why the return of villainy won't end with the VK Programme
How to get Olympian fashion for a fraction of the price.
BACK ON? Prince Ben and Princess Audrey spotted in the grounds of The Summer House, Auroria's main palace. Could reconciliation be on the cards?
POLISH MY HOOK: Body language experts explain the relationships between Mal, Evie, and the men in their lives.
"Okay, I get it, she's a demigod. Hades could steal all our souls in the blink of an eye without breaking a sweat. But did everyone forget who her mom is?"
"I don't think anyone, least of all that poor girl, forgot who raised her."
"You're too soft. I don't trust her."
"I don't think she gives a damn that Valarie Coleman from Camelot Heights thinks she's shifty."
"I'm not the only one, John. Everyone's thinking it. Queen Leah is distraught."
"I doubt that very much dear."
"I'm telling you. Her father owns the media. It's a coverup."
"Whatever you say, dear."
Rules of Succession: Ten things every royal bride needs to know.
Evie4Hearts to be the biggest fashion house launch in a decade - from Evil Queen to Style Queen! How Evie rose to the top!
Sugar and spice and all things nice! How the daughter of Maleficent became Auradon's black-clad sweetheart.
...
It was getting harder to avoid him.
He was everywhere.
Realistically, Mal knew Auradon Prep was only so big.
And that she and Ben had over half of their classes together - she'd caught up spectacularly last year - and that they sat next to each other in half of those classes.
They had the same friends.
They were both the children of particularly powerful people.
They were always going to exist in close proximity to each other.
But that didn't help her self-broken heart out any.
It had been six weeks since that night, just before Christmas, when he nearly told her he loved her.
She'd panicked.
Massively.
Gaia's words about princes and future queens and mortal desires had echoed in her mind faster than she could process them. She'd tried in vain, once more for luck, to see his Lifeline. Something. Anything. Even a hint at what was in store for him.
But like everything else about Ben, she drew a blank.
So she ran away. She was good at that.
She'd managed to avoid him entirely for three miserable weeks before term ended. Evie was worried by the sudden shift in dynamics, sharing worried glances and pointed looks with an equally concerned Doug. And when she took Evie and the boys home with her for Christmas, they'd cornered her for answers on the first night.
It was the first time Mal had cried since she was eight.
Evie had cried with her. Carlos handed her Dude to snuggle. And Jay, surprising them all, pulled her into a hug, strong and silent and supporting, and that just made Mal cry more.
They didn't tell her she was wrong or judge her or try to fix it. They just sat there with her. And that was exactly what she'd needed. Even if part of her wanted them to tell her she was being crazy.
On Christmas morning, her father caught her alone in the kitchen and handed her a neatly wrapped jewellery box from under the tree, and Mal cried again.
This one arrived last night, so I think I'm supposed to make sure you open it without an audience.
Ben had sent gifts for them all, including a three part chew toy for Cerberus. She hadn't expected a second gift, especially given that the strawberry hamper was bigger than her head.
So when she opened the box to find a delicate silver necklace that, to the human eye, would match her bracelet perfectly, it was impossible to keep her mask in place.
Hades pulled her into a hug then, murmuring soothing words into her hair. Not for the first time, Mal wondered if she was making a terrible mistake.
Caring hurt too much. But, after almost a year, she couldn't remember how to be the old Mal either.
After that, it was easy to limit contact over the Christmas break, even if her mind always strayed back to dangerous waters. So by the time they were back in school and it was approaching week six of abstinence, her resolve was wavering.
It was only four days into the new term. And Mal was struggling.
Ben was no help. His idea of setting the tone for their new relationship was grinning at her from across the courtyard when Hades dropped them off. As if nothing had ever happened between them.
She'd kind of wanted to kill him for that. But she couldn't.
There was just something about him. Ben was like an overexcited golden retriever. You couldn't help but perk up when you were around him.
And he wanted to do so much good. He'd done more in the year and a bit she'd known him than some kings had in twenty.
He was too good to be tainted by her past.
Ben thought he loved her. But they were eighteen. Still kids. Still in high school. What did they know about love, really?
All Mal knew was divorce and dysfunction. That wouldn't help him run a kingdom.
Mother-in-law, the Mistress of All Evil.
Villain Queen.
Queen of the Damned.
She could see the headlines now. The press would not be kind. They might tolerate her status as an Olympian, but Mal knew no one forgot her origins.
It was a fine line to walk, and she was still learning.
Ben did not need that kind of baggage in his life.
Even if he thought he wanted it.
…
"M, you're going to set Clarissa on fire if you keep glaring." Evie warned without looking up from her sketchbook.
They were 'studying' at one of the picnic tables lining the quad. Evie was doodling, and Mal couldn't even tell you what book she had in front of her. She was too busy watching the was Clarissa, daughter of Christopher Robin, was fawning over Ben at one of the tables off to their left.
Mal threw a look at Evie, thinking about denying it, but knowing it was fruitless. Evie was deliberately saying nothing about Mal's love life, which she was grateful for and incredibly nervous about.
Mal knew she was her mother's daughter - stubborn and hardheaded and slow to change. But so was Evie - and EQ always beat Maleficent at chess.
Evie saying nothing was not evidence of compliance.
"I'm not glaring." Mal muttered, keeping her focus on the way Clarissa was getting all up in Ben's personal space. And the way Ben wasn't moving away. She wasn't glaring.
They'd been back at school three weeks, and Mal and Ben were doing just fine at the just friends thing. She had ended it with him. She had no right to say anything about whoever he let-
Clarissa touched Ben's arm.
Mal growled. Evie smirked.
Ben shrugged the hand off, finally putting some space between them.
Mal glared harder.
"You know, you're not very good at this." Evie remarked conversationally. Mal said nothing, knowing she'd walked straight into Evie's trap. "What about this style of dress for your ball?"
"Yeah, sure, whatever. I trust you." Mal answered distractedly, ignoring the reminder that in three weeks time she'd be introduced to Olympian Society and formally given her crown to the Underworld.
Her father said it was purely ceremonial. That she could bring her friends and after an hour he was more than happy to kick everyone out if she hated the whole thing.
Ben was still supposed to be coming. With his parents.
And the thought of watching him dance with some of her full-god cousins or the nymphs scared her more than the prospect of being paraded around like a show pony by her Auntie Hera. At least she knew that Evie would never put her in something too uncomfortable.
Clarissa made another pass at Ben, more obvious this time.
Growling, Mal tried once more to see Ben's Lifeline. Still nothing.
So she focused on Clarissa, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Clarissa happily married to one of Doug's many cousins two years out of high school. She'd do well for herself, getting her real estate license and qualifying as a lawyer a few years after.
"Whatever you just did, stop cheating." Evie chided with a roll of her eyes. Turning to face Mal fully, she scolded, "Not everyone knows the future and just because something happens eventually, that doesn't mean you'll like how it plays out now."
"E...I'm no good for him." Mal sighed, finally giving in. She glanced around the quad, just to make sure no one was close enough to hear them, before she added, "And he looks like he's doing just fine."
"He looks like he knows he's been left to the wolves." Evie replied dryly, and Mal didn't look to verify.
Because if Ben looked like he was struggling, she'd storm over there and stake a claim and that would undo everything she'd been trying to protect them both from.
"Ben'll be just fine." She sighed, hoping she sounded convincing. Because she didn't know anything about what was coming for Ben. Despite all her extra practice and effort, no matter how hard she tried to focus on Ben's Lifeline, she still couldn't see a damn thing.
After her summer in the Underworld, she had more of a handle on her powers. She could shut out the noise - the feelings and desires and roller coaster emotions - and could focus on what she wanted to.
Except when it came to Ben.
She'd never told anyone what she could See as the daughter of Hades. No one had ever asked. Or thought to ask. And she'd never told her father she couldn't see Ben.
She could see Adam dying at eighty six, peacefully in his sleep. Twenty years after Belle passes in a freak carriage accident involving a spooked horse and a head injury.
Audrey's Story will start after Ben's twenty-fifth birthday ball. There will be a spectacular argument that starts with Audrey spotting Chad cosying up to Ali Hale, who becomes a reporter, and storming off. Chad will notice and follow her, but it will all go downhill from "When will you realise I'm never going to be Ben?"
Evie and Doug had theirs at sixteen and will die in their sleep peacefully at ninety two. Together. Four children, eight grandchildren and thirteen great grandchildren later. Carlos and Jane will get together right before senior prom. As in, the day of senior prom. Then Jay and Lonnie will be thirty before they get their act together when a surprise injury and an inaccurate news report scares them senseless.
But Ben...she didn't know.
Although, she didn't really want to know either. Her heart wouldn't survive the vision of Ben with some blushing blonde bride whose family colour was peach.
All Mal knew was, Ben could do better than some girl from the Isle. Auradon expected him to do better than that, if the rumours about his love life were any indication of their hopes.
So, no matter how much needling Evie managed, Mal would never look up.
She couldn't.
He'd almost said the words at Christmas. He'd almost begged her to stay.
But she couldn't do it.
Because she wouldn't survive being thrown away.
Again.
…
It was almost Easter, and Mal was sitting on the roof of the dorms, glaring at the sky, a copy of AuradonNow! crumpled beside her.
The cover photo had been taken while she, Evie, Jane and Lonnie had been shopping at the weekend. Mal had noticed the paparazzi, but she'd tried to ignore them. Clearly, she'd been unsuccessful.
The headline was so saccharine sugar sweet it made her nauseous. Anyone who knew her, who knew her father, knew that the puffy pink image was not one they were interested in peddling.
Mal knew that this story came from Queen Leah's camp. They'd tried discrediting her. Tried blaming her. And now they were trying to mould her into their image or make her run off to Olympus for some peace.
It was so incredibly frustrating. And reciting murder options only got you so far before you were tempted to act on the list instead of compartmentalising.
Normally, she'd search out Ben for a nice distraction when she started contemplating actual murder.
She'd given up on completely quitting him while they were still in such close proximity.
Because about a week after the Clarissa thing they'd been alone in his office, dealing with some paperwork for the next lot of VKs, and when she got up to leave...he'd said her name. And they'd looked at each other for a lot longer than was acceptable for just friends.
And Mal couldn't even tell you which one of them broke first.
So they were still hooking up. On her terms.
At least that's what she told herself. That she was trying to quit him. Before one of them got too attached.
It wasn't working. But she was trying.
Either way, Ben wasn't an option tonight. He was just back from a meeting with his parents about trade deals or something, and Mal didn't have the patience to pretend she was interested in the details. Because he would tell her.
So instead, she snuck up to the roofs and called the one man who, for some reason, always listened to her rants.
"You haven't asked about your mother."
And now she was regretting that choice, because Hades was clearly in a you-can't-avoid-her-forever kind of mood.
The rest of the kingdom was talking about leaving the OVs on the Isle for good, but with improved resources. Ben didn't agree, but he didn't have a solid policy proposal to deal with it yet. Mal was unsure. She wasn't convinced her mother could ever be reintroduced to civilised society. Cruella would need to be heavily medicated and kept away from anything cute and fluffy. Jafar and EQ probably had a chance.
Mal refused to look at their Lifelines and find out. It kind of felt like cheating.
But her father…he was pro rehabilitation, somehow.
Death comes for everyone, Mallie. We can afford to be patient.
She did not like the family motto right now.
"How mad is she?" Mal sighed, accepting there was no way out of this conversation. She glanced at the magazine again and cringed, imagining Maleficent's reaction to the 'all things nice' headline. "The papers are making me out to be some kind of...beacon of hope and light and, urgh, princess. It's horrible."
Hades was silent for a moment before he admitted, "I'd...give her a few years. At least two."
That was better than Mal expected. Maleficent wouldn't even take her video calls right now, so a two year freeze out was a quick thaw.
Mal rolled her eyes, "Good to know I'm still the family disappointment."
Everyone was still adjusting to the new dynamic.
In the space of a little of a year, Mal had gone from evil protege to persona non grata. And Hades had gone from deadbeat ex-husband to peacemaker. She had a feeling they were getting back together. Slowly. But no proof.
Panic and Pain were no help, they disappeared the moment they heard Maleficent's cackle. Her parents could be doing cross-stitch together for all she knew.
It was unlikely, but she had no desire to consider the alternative.
Hades sighed, and Mal was sure she heard a door slam in the background. Geez, mom, she thought with a groan. Tell me what you really think.
"I'd say you know it's not like that...but I'm pretty sure it's like that."
Mal made a non-committal noise, hoping that meant he was done with this line of questioning. She'd had her rant, now she just wanted to lie on the roof and question all her life choices as she gazed at the stars.
Or maybe she'd go wake Ben up. It was fifty-fifty right now.
"Your mom…" Hades started, and Mal repressed a sigh. She was not getting off easy tonight apparently. "She had a very specific idea of what she thought Fate had in store for you. And a very specific plan for how she was going to prepare you for it."
"I don't believe that for a second." Mal scoffed before she had a chance to stop the words.
Her mother was an evil lunatic. She'd beaten and bullied and broken Mal for sixteen years. And for what? A backbone? A chance at surviving the backstabbing world of Auradonian High Society? No. Maleficent wasn't that far-sighted.
Mal was just a pawn. Her perfect little soldier, moulded in her mother's image.
This reaction was Maleficent's ego, pure and simple.
"I didn't say it was a good plan." Her father countered, still calm and collected. Mal assumed there was a certain amount of perspective that came from being eternal. But she wasn't interested in arguing. It was looking like sixty-forty in Ben's favour right now. "Your mother...she just can't handle being...wrong."
"Now that I do believe." Mal laughed despite herself, shifting onto her feet and heading back towards the ledge. The mood she was in, she hoped someone saw her using magic to get down.
"Your mom cares, Mallie. In her own...twisted, insane, frankly entirely evil, way."
Mal wanted to believe him. But she didn't. So she said nothing.
Then she felt her father's frustration kick it up a notch. But she couldn't tell if it was aimed at her, her mother, or Gaia. Because Gaia always had something to do with Olympian bad moods.
"Kid, our family outranks even the highest ranking royals in Auradon by eons. Your uncles and I, we only have to answer to each other. Your mom craved that kind of power. And she has it, through you. But she's never tried to leverage it. Why do you think that is?"
This was the first time Hades had made this argument, so it caught Mal off guard. She shrugged, stepping off the roof and letting herself float to the ground slowly. "You'd steal her soul?"
"She'd continue on without one just to spite me."
Fair point.
"She'd be struck down by a lightning bolt and fed to Cerberus?" Mal knew her Uncle Zeus was not her mother's biggest fan. He'd be quite happy to do the smiting.
"Damn dog loves her." They both froze, realIsing that he'd used present instead of past tense.
Well there's my proof...
Knowing there was no way she could win this argument, but refusing to give any ground, Mal sighed heavily. The accepting-she-was-dealt-a-bad-hand voice always got Hades off her back. "Don't make her more noble than she is. I was nothing more than a pawn to her. Mommy's perfect little soldier. She doesn't care about me. And she already made it clear when I was a kid that I ruined her life, thank you very much."
"Mallie…"
"I'll talk to you later, Dad." She cut him off, spotting Ben heading back into the dorms. At least she wouldn't have to wake him up this time. "I have chemistry homework I've been putting off."
...
"So Evie is...definitely taken?"
"Yup. Same as last week." Mal laughed as Harry slid into the chair to her left, his lunch tray stacked with his newest discovery in Auradon - tacos.
He asked some variation of the same question at least once a week. He wasn't serious, and they both knew it. Harry was a lot like her - he thrived on chaos, it was what had drawn her to him in the first place. He liked to watch girls blush and boyfriends bristle and the high kept him going for days at a time.
In another world, they'd have been perfect for each other.
But in this one his True Love was the one girl who despised chaos with a vengeance.
Uma liked order and control and loyalty. It wasn't that she wasn't fun, she had been as a child and was finding that part of herself again in Auradon. She just preferred calm seas, and Harry wanted to sail straight into the eye of the storm.
They'd work it out eventually, Mal could see their Story was pretty static, but for now…chaos reigned.
And who was Mal to deny chaos?
So she turned to Harry with a smirk, catching Jane's eye as she did so, and patted his cheek condescendingly, "Keep dreaming, sunshine."
"And what about you, huh?" Harry switched his eyes to smoulder, although to someone who knew him as well as she did, she knew there was no heat to the gesture. "I don't see any fine gent lurking around to defend your honour."
Jane snorted into her yogurt, although Mal had no idea what was so funny.
In the moment before she replied, something caught Mal's eye across the room at the salad bar. Glancing over without giving away her position, she saw Ben watching them, his jaw doing that twitchy thing that reminded her of her father.
"Oh-ho-no." Mal laughed, without taking her eyes off Ben. "I don't need a prince to save me."
She figured she had about thirty seconds before he was plopping his lunch tray down next to hers and loudly changing the subject. Maybe placing a hand on her thigh under the table, or getting all up in her personal space.
And she wouldn't push him away, because she was selfish like that. He might not be hers forever. She might be pulling back to protect her heart. But she wasn't going to say no when he was right there.
Besides, it was nice to feel wanted.
"Who said anything about a prince?" Harry leant in, his lips almost brushing her hair. Close enough that only she could hear, yet intimate enough that anyone watching - mainly Uma - would suspect the worst.
Mal's eyes went wide, and she turned to Harry in shock. For a moment, she saw the boy she'd been friends with. Not the chaotic womaniser Ben had somehow let off the Isle. Harry smirked, his voice still low enough that only they could hear, "Your poker face is slipping, darlin. Just tell him."
Mal quickly looked to Jane to see if she'd overheard, but her friend was too engrossed into whatever email was on her cell to pay Harry's flirtations any attention.
Maybe it was because it was Harry. Because he was the first boy she'd ever cared about and was just as chaotic as she was. Maybe it was because he couldn't have the one he cared about either. But for some reason, she found herself admitting, "Princes don't marry lost girls, Harry."
The words had been part of Queen Leah's PR campaign last year. But whenever she thought of them, Mal always heard Gaia.
She'd seen her great-grandmother only a handful of times since that first meeting in the Underworld, and every one had left her feeling inadequate. Whatever Gaia was measuring her against, Mal was always falling short.
She reached down to play with her bracelet absentmindedly, the glow of the embers soothing her racing mind.
"It's a brave new world," Harry announced, bringing her back to the present. The look he shot her told her he got it, and the overly enthusiastic way he gestured to the room with his hook told her he wasn't going to push her. Mal appreciated it, so she laughed and nudged him with her shoulder.
Then right on cue, Ben slid into the seat on her right. He put down his tray just a little too forcefully, and his grin was just a little too forced, "Should I worry that you two look like you're plotting?"
Harry shot her a truly wicked look that Mal knew meant you're welcome, and she replied in kind with a wink that he'd know meant you planned that.
Ben, fortunately, was not fluent in chaos.
In retaliation, Ben's leg pressed up against hers under the table. He moved so his arm was loosely resting on the back of her chair - that was new.
Instinctively, Mal leant back against his arm rather than into his side. She threw a dont say a thing look at Harry, who simply rolled his eyes and then began quizzing Ben on Ali Hale.
Ben was more than happy to send Harry in that direction, and Mal didn't have the heart to point out she was actually dating Aziz. Or that she ended up preferring women.
Flirting with Harry was always enough to bring out the Beast. And Mal loved it when the Beast came out to play.
Prince Ben got territorial. Which meant Mal usually ended up being dragged into a supply closet before the day was out, breaking her self-imposed ban on proactively looking for Ben's attention.
She could go back to quitting him tomorrow...