Epilogue

Layla stared contently into his gorgeous blue eyes, feeling like she could get lost in them forever. She smiled when he smiled. She leant in to kiss his cheek and breathed in his clean scent.

"Layla, honey, come on. We're going to be late. The carriage is waiting for us," her husband's voice interrupted her, his hand gently leaning on her shoulder.

"Five more minutes?" she asked sweetly, looking down at their son.

"It's already been five minutes," Ryan chuckled, but he too took a moment to brush his heir's head before pressing a kiss to his forehead. He stopped her when he noticed she was about to lean in to pick him up out of his bed. "I'll do that, you shouldn't be lifting him anymore," he said, ignoring her eye roll to rub his hand over her burgeoning bump.

Their son, Alexis, reached his arms out now, not caring who picked him up as long as someone did. "Dada," he giggled when Ryan lifted him up and blew raspberries to his neck. He had turned one a few weeks ago and this was the first opportunity they had as a family to take a trip outside of the city to commemorate the occasion.

Ryan had taken over from his father as Lord Simia two years after their wedding, just before they found out that they were expecting their son. He was therefore obviously a very busy man but had made time at his wife's request so they could go visit their friends. A lot of his time had been spent changing some of their laws and customs, meaning that, while still a work in progress, Serenissima was one of the first major cities where primes and commons were starting to live freely amongst each other. He'd always intended to make sure that happened, in line with his promise to his then fiancée and their friends, but it became so much more important knowing they had a baby on the way and knowing what type of world he wanted him to be brought into.

"It's a good thing they don't live too far away," Layla commented now as she got up and stretched her back. She was almost four months along with their second baby and carriage rides weren't her favourite activity right now, even with the cushioned seats that came as a perk to being Lady Simia. "Will Kaitlyn be visiting any time soon?" she asked as they made their way through their mansion to the front gate. She missed seeing her sister-in-law, who had married last year and so had to move away to support her husband run his city.

"Next month I think she said," Ryan answered, his son still on one arm as he took their bag with necessities from her handmaiden before she could.

"I can…" his wife started to protest, but he ignored her. "Sometimes Ryan Simia…" she shook her head in annoyance.

"You love me really," he grinned at her. "Are you excited to see auntie Nieve and uncle Riven?" he asked his son as he gave him a bounce up, getting a happy squeal in response.

"I am," Layla commented with a smile.

"I know you are," he teased her. His new Head of the Guard, Raphael, moved ahead of him now to check the carriage and hold the door open for them. Before she could respond, he helped put his son in the carriage before helping her up the step to get in.

"Sir," Raphael nodded as he closed the carriage door behind him and got up on the front buggy with the driver. He was a good bodyguard and Ryan got on with him well, but their relationship definitely didn't go beyond that like with Riven.

"Promise me you won't do any work this trip?" Layla asked as Ryan put one arm around her so she and Alexis could lean against him. Her husband looked up at her guiltily as he had been planning on taking out a folder that one of the prime council members had requested that he consider prior to their next meeting soon after they got back. "Ryan," she complained.

"Okay, okay," he quickly conceded. "But I do have things to check. How about I only do things on our journey back?" he proposed.

"Fine," his wife conceded, and he knew from her tone and the way she sighed that she was pretty annoyed with him right now. She kept her gaze on their son, whose hands were playing with the two strings at the front of her dress. To make it up to her, he hugged her closer and pressed a kiss to her cheek.

"Have I told you today that I love you?" he asked softly, and he could feel her mellowing already. She shook her head however, trying to maintain her annoyance. "I love you, lots and lots and lots," Ryan told her, starting in a softer tone before he started raising his voice a little as he first kissed her and then reached past her to kiss their son.

"Smooth recovery… my Lord," Layla teased, making him laugh out loud.

Nieve stood on the beach, looking out at the ocean. After Serenissima she couldn't see herself living in a city, enclosed by walls on all sides. So Riven had searched and asked around until he'd found them a home on the shores. Now she could look as far as she could without feeling caged up, while the sound of the waves calmed her down. It had been three years since their move, but the view still took her breath away. They'd had a small wedding a few months after they'd found their house, the only one there besides the clergy was Riven's mother, who they'd taken with them when they left the city.

"Mama, are you nervous?"

Nieve tore her gaze away from the endless blue and looked at her daughter. They'd found Lori living on the streets as they passed through a small town, a then four-year-old common girl that had been cast aside for whatever reason. She'd been dressed in rags but had held her head up with such determination Nieve felt like she was looking at a younger version of herself. Riven had read minds as they first searched for her parents, but when no one seemed to know anything, they'd decided the little girl would stay with them and they would treat her as their own.

"A little," she answered honestly, hugging the little girl as she turned back to the view. She was excited to see her friends again, but the caged-up feeling had returned a little since she knew they were visiting. Ryan was doing great things in Serenissima but Riven and Nieve falling in love and getting married was still very illegal. She knew they had nothing to worry about, no one could sneak up on her husband. But she still did, and she probably wouldn't stop until the law changed everywhere.

Riven stood in the door opening, looking at his beautiful wife and their gorgeous daughter while their new-born son lay quietly in his crib. Nieve's dress flowed around her in the gentle breeze. She'd finally learned to let her hair down, her dark locks cascaded down her back in elegant curls. He'd never get enough of looking at her.

Moving away from Serenissima had been the best decision he'd ever made; he'd never seen her smile as freely there as she did now. Lori had forced her to break down the last pieces of the wall she'd built around her heart, and she could finally trust others. The amount of love she held in her still amazed him. Their house had been as secluded as he could find, the way he'd thought she'd wanted. But as the years passed, his wife kept finding people that needed shelter, either for being a common and prime in love, or because no one else had cared to give it to them. So what had been a secluded house, was now a house on the edge of a small town where commons and primes lived together. All because his wife wanted to give people the safety that she had with him. The town wasn't much bigger than a few houses and a farm, but the primes and commons that lived there used their powers to protect each other. A protective spell had been cast around the town so no one with bad intentions could find them. And so far, no one had.

A smile appeared on his face when he heard two familiar voices sound amazed about the small town as they passed through it. He called Nieve as loudly as he could without waking his son up. His mother shushed him, even though her grandson didn't stir.

"They're almost here, love."

"This place is something else," Layla smiled at her friend. The two couples were sat on the porch, the blonde on a rocking chair, looking out at the waves crashing while Lori and Alexis played in the sand. The seven-year-old was following the little boy while he tried to run on the sand without falling over. So far, he'd tumbled backwards twice, but she'd caught him both times.

"It is," Nieve agreed as she snuggled closer to her husband, curling to the side and tucking them beneath her. He replied by kissing her hair.

The sight made Layla smile; she'd never seen Nieve so comfortable. Her two friends had truly found a piece of paradise. "I suppose that means you're never moving back to Serenissima," she said, only now realising she'd somehow always just assumed they would.

"I don't think so," Riven shook his head, ignoring the objections Ryan threw at him in his mind.

"Shame," he now said out loud. "We would've liked to welcome you two back in our family," he added. He still saw Riven as his best friend, even if they lived far apart and rarely saw each other, and he hoped the mind-reader felt the same.

"Oh, you never know," Riven's mother said as she walked towards them, carrying her grandson in her arms. "Who's to say these kids won't turn your friendship into family," she added, kissing the new-born before she winked at Layla. Nieve looked at her friend who cradled her belly gently.

"Stars, Nieve, wouldn't it be wonderful if we were really a family?"

The brunette nodded, wondering what the future would hold for their children. But there was one thing she knew for sure: "We already are."