𝑨 𝑫𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑴 𝑰𝑺 𝑨 𝑾𝑰𝑺𝑯 𝒀𝑶𝑼𝑹 𝑯𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑻 𝑴𝑨𝑲𝑬𝑺

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑷𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝟒𝟓

NOTE: Mother Mary, and fucking JOSEPH, this update was not supposed to take this long. I am so, so sorry for the wait, guys! This past month has been crazy with packing and stuff because I just moved into my college dorm, but everything is settled and unpacked, so I can hopefully get to writing again soon. I would've loved it if this chapter could have been longer, but I hit a wall and I could not figure out how to continue. ALSO, lil bit of clarification bc I saw a lot of confusion at the end of chapter 44; 

(1) magic nullifiers and stripping someone of their magic completely are two different things. Magic nullifiers just make the magic inside a person go dormant so they can't use it, but that magic is still apart of them. Stripping someone of their magic is a complex, permanent procedure that entirely removes magic from its host. The latter has (sadly) not been done to Mal yet. 

And (2) timeline wise, Mal's magic hadn't been nullified until she arrived at Fairy Godmother's office the morning after the love spell. Which means that there is a large gap of time from when she gave Ben that cookie to that next morning where she could've done anything she wanted. ;)

With that being said, happy reading my friends!

~~~

Since Delphina had known him, Ben was always the stable one. He was always the one with a calm head, the one diffusing arguments and confrontations and trying to mediate whenever he could.

He was the calm one.

He was the stable one.

He was never this, though.

In a blur, she and Ben had switched places. He was writhing and twitching in pain in the large guest room bed while Delphina sat at his bedside, trying to soothe him while Fairy Godmother stabilized him with magic.

"Fairy Godmother, what's wrong with him?" Belle demanded, but the fairy said nothing, her glowing blue stare focused solely on Ben as she muttered to herself.

"Fairy Godmother!" Adam barked, much louder and harsher than his wife. Delphina jumped a little at the sound, and Fairy Godmother's head shot up suddenly, her face a storm of emotions.

"We need to get Mal back in here. Now." She ordered, visibly pouring her efforts into keeping Ben under control.

Every head in the room shot up at her declaration and Belle and Adam went into an uproar. Delphina could only splutter helplessly, keeping a firm hold on Ben's hand.

Fairy Godmother squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, trying to block out Adam and Belle's yelling before she snapped.

"If you want your son to live through this day, you need to get Mal in here now!" She snapped, effectively silencing the king and queen. Huffing, Fairy Godmother began muttering to herself in aggravation. After a moment, she spat out a curse of frustration and one of her hands shot out, the magic shooting past Delphina's head and spiraling to the center of the room. There was a glow of blue light that faded to green before dimming, leaving Mal Dracona in the middle of the room, still in her shackles.

She blinked in heavy confusion for a moment, looking around before her eyes landed on the scene before her and that stupid, smug smirk slithered onto her face. "Oh, let me guess," She drawled out, and the sound of her malicious voice made everything in Delphina churn with rage. Red-hot fury began to flood her gaze, fueled by every pained groan and wince that sounded from the boy next to her.

She didn't even realize she was moving until Mal was directly in front of her, giving her that stupid, cocky look she always had.

"He tried to send me back to the–"