Chapter Eighteen

Nieve couldn't believe what she was hearing. If it hadn't been second nature to look stoic, she would have been gawking at her friend by now. When did Layla and Ryan have time to come clean about their feelings?

"We have laws, Ryan," Lord Simia said, his tone even but stern. The way he said it put Nieve's nerves on edge. She barely understood what this meant. How was Layla's powers growing connected to her feelings with Ryan? Nieve had heard stories of commons suddenly gaining power, there was a fairy-tale about a poor farmer girl that fell in love with a powerful prince. The moment the prince professed his love for the farm girl, she turned into a powerful princess. It was a story she'd heard often and in many different ways, but she'd always thought of it as just that; a story. Was there a truth in it? Could commons gain power if a prime loved them?

It seemed absurd, but it weirdly made sense. Why else would there be a law prohibiting primes and commons from falling in love? The primes knew, they knew they could share their wealth, and they chose to keep it for themselves.

"She needs to be punished," Evangeline's voice pulled Nieve out of a spiral of rage that would have led nowhere. Instead, fear replaced the anger, and if it hadn't been for Riven looking at her and shaking his head almost imperceptibly, she would have spoken up and probably gotten herself in a lot of trouble.

"She did nothing wrong," Ryan defended the girl he loved, his voice low and threatening.

"She broke the law," his fiancée nearly shrieked. "This can't get out. I don't care how you do it; break her body, break her mind, but she needs to stop," the redhead continued on.

"No one's touching her," the Simia heir nearly shouted, not only to Evangeline, but also to his parents, pulling the blonde behind him protectively. "And Riven's not getting anywhere near her mind, either."

Nieve looked at the head of the Simia guard. Would he follow the Lord and Lady if they commanded him to wipe Layla's mind clean? Or would he stand by his friend and fight to protect a simple handmaid? The brunette liked to think he'd do the latter, but he was so duty-bound that she couldn't be sure.

Lady Simia looked about to contradict her son when her husband spoke up, surprising everyone in the room by saying they wouldn't. Relief washed over Nieve as her friend visibly relaxed a little.

"What?" cried Evangeline, jumping up angrily. "You cannot be serious! Serenissima is supposed to be mine. I had plans!"

Evangeline had sucked the air out of her lungs so many times by now that Nieve recognised the face before she felt the air change. Ryan was holding a ball of fire and looked ready to throw it while Kaitlyn forced the ground to move and ice was quickly forming around their mother. The ice had almost reached the redhead when Lord Simia bellowed, "Riven," and everyone instantly dropped their arms; the guard had been ready, waiting for the order to take control. The wind stopped, the ground stopped moving, the temperature rose while Ryan's fire flamed out. While Evangeline's face stayed slack, everyone else seemed to visibly relax and calm down. Nieve couldn't tell whether Riven had made them calm down, or they had come to their own conclusion that a fight wasn't the way.

Ryan looked like he was bursting to say something, but one look at his father, who was seething, was enough to shut him up.

"Tell me those plans," Lord Simia said.

Everyone turned to Evangeline, but it was Riven who spoke after a moment of silence.

"She wants the title," he started with the most obvious. "She had plans to get rid of Lady Kaitlyn," he continued, getting a surprised gasp from the young woman. His eyes searched the floor a little as he spoke. "She wanted Lady Kaitlyn to get married as soon and as far away as possible."

"Wow, I knew I was right to never like her," the young Simia mumbled, walking over to Layla and giving the blonde a hug. "What are you going to do?" she asked her father while she was still hugging her handmaid.

Nieve turned to the Simia patriarch, hoping they would send Evangeline away so she'd be out of a job, and maybe she could go home.

"You said you always had a little power?" Lord Simia asked, ignoring the icy glare his wife gave him.

"Yes, sir," Layla replied.

"Then you've always been a prime, and we just didn't know," he replied, making Ryan laugh as the girl he loved let out a relieved sigh. She turned to him and smiled, her brown eyes sparkling like she was on the brink of, he hoped, happy tears.

"You can't possibly-"

"I'm Lord Simia, I can do whatever I want. And I want my son to be happy," he cut his wife off before she could voice her protest and name the many things that could go wrong. "Make sure everyone here remembers it just like that," he added to Riven.

The three other guards in the room stiffened for a split second, pointlessly trying to protect their minds from the mind-reader, but it took Riven no more than a minute to alter their memories so Layla's little outburst never happened, and they just found out she'd always had powers. He didn't change much of the fight as they clearly still needed a reason to send Evangeline home.

"And what are we going to do about her?" Lady Simia demanded as she turned to Nieve, whose heart immediately started to race. Any hopes she might have had about being sent home evaporated when she realised that she knew too much. They were never going to let her leave now. The worried look on Riven's face told her enough to know that whatever the Lady was thinking, it wasn't pleasant.

"She won't say anything," Ryan said, knowing Nieve was Layla's best friend and it would kill her to see anything happen to her.

"That's what you said last time," his mother snapped.

"Mother, to be fair to Nieve, her behaviour's been exemplary since then. And she would never put Layla at risk," Kaitlyn spoke up in a calm and polite manner, the only way she knew to get their mother to listen.

"Fine," Lady Simia gave in with an angry dismissive wave of her hand. Her husband would get to hear her thoughts on this situation, make no mistake. "Riven, make sure Mrs Pembroke assigns one of the handmaiden's to Layla. And now, everyone, leave," she commanded.

"Sir, My Lady, if I may… would I be allowed to request that Nieve…" Layla started strong and hesitated when she saw their looks. She figured this way they might trust Nieve to keep this secret more, and of course she'd actually get to spend time with her friend. It was very rare for them to have much time together at present, other than standing at the wall side by side during training.

"So be it," Lord Simia nodded.