Marked By The Mad King Alpha (Phoebe and Perry) novel Chapter 68

Standard POV Format

When I looked at Perry, a strange panic stirred inside me—half fear, half anticipation.
Would he be angry about what had just happened between us?
But instead of fury, he only gave that faint, devastating smile. His eyes, still dark with something unreadable, softened.

“Get dressed,” he said quietly. “We’re going out.”

Then he turned and left, leaving me standing there with trembling legs and a racing heart.
Only when the door closed did I collapse onto the floor, clutching the fabric of my dress.
Everything that had happened had left me shaken—overwhelmed by a pleasure that terrified me because it had felt so real, so human.

I shouldn’t have liked it. Not after everything I’d suffered.
But against all logic, I did.
For the first time, someone had touched me without cruelty.
It felt like being seen—not owned.

I forced myself to breathe, to bury the confusion under layers of composure before rejoining him.
When I stepped into the hallway, Perry was waiting with a small velvet box in his hands.

“Turn around,” he murmured.

Inside the box shimmered a necklace and earrings—delicate gold filigree that caught the light like sunlight trapped in crystal.
He clasped the necklace around my throat with surprising gentleness. The metal was cool against my skin; his hands were warm.

“They belonged to my mother,” he said. “I want you to have them.”

I turned sharply. “I can’t take something so precious.”

His reflection met mine in the mirror. “So are you.”

He pressed a kiss to my neck, light as breath. “You’re beautiful, Phoebe.”

For the first time in years, I didn’t immediately deny it.
For a moment, I believed him.

Later

He took me into the city. The shops gleamed brighter than I remembered, all mirrors and color.
I wasn’t prepared for the way people stared—not at the king, but at me.

Whispers followed us wherever we went.
Rumors had long painted the king as heartless, a ruler who would never claim a mate.
Now they saw me at his side, and I felt their disbelief pressing in from every direction.

Perry didn’t seem to care. He guided me through the crowd as though I were untouchable, choosing clothes for me, asking about colors, fabrics, shapes.

“Choose,” he interrupted softly, and for once, it didn’t sound like a command.
So I did. A few dresses, a pair of shoes. He added twice as many when I wasn’t looking.

That evening, he brought me to a restaurant high above the city.
Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the lights below shimmered like fallen stars.
“This is beautiful,” I whispered.

For a while, we ate in companionable silence. No threats. No commands. Just two people trying to pretend the world beyond those windows didn’t exist.
It felt almost peaceful.

Later Still

When we returned to the palace, the quiet between us deepened.
No words could undo what we’d already shared—or what we both knew would come again.
He held me through the night as though afraid I’d vanish. I let him.

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