Epilogue I

"I must have heard wrongly. Did you say you were engaged to the prince? The prince of Camelot, Arthur Pendragon?" Florence stood, arms crossed, frowning at Gwen.

"He asked and I said yes. So I guess so."

Rosalind's pursed her lips together but she said nothing. The slight flush on her cheeks suggested that she might even be embarrassed by her actions that night. Gwen supposed that the confrontation she had with Rosalind the day after the ball had paid off.

"Why you?" asked Florence, clearly still puzzled by the whole thing.

"Florence," her father said warningly. "Can we just be happy for Gwen and what this means for us?"

Florence sighed. "It means we don't have to worry about money." A smile played on her lips as she turned to look at Gwen's father. "Thomas, no more scrimping and saving for our old age."

Even Rosalind smiled at that. Perhaps, Gwen thought, things would get better for her family now.

Epilogue II

"You want to marry a blacksmith?" Uther pinned Arthur with a gaze that would strike fear in any other person.

Arthur nodded, then popped a piece of meat nonchalantly into his mouth, trying to hide the knot of fear in his stomach. "She made that sword you love so."

"She's a blacksmith!"

"And an extremely brilliant one too." He swallowed. "More importantly, I love her and I will marry her no matter what you think."

"You will give up your throne for her?"

Muttering a quick prayer under his breath, Arthur nodded. "I will. I need her and while giving up Camelot will hurt, losing her will kill me."

For a long while, Uther said nothing. The silence soon became unbearable and Arthur didn't taste a single thing he put in his mouth. He darted looks at his father but his expression was indecipherable.

Once Uther's plate was empty, he placed his spoon down and looked up at Arthur. "Bring her for lunch tomorrow."

Epilogue III

"Are you sure you don't need help with your wedding dress? I thought I did a pretty good job with the one you didn't wear to the ball." The door swung open, as Merlin darted in, ignoring the protests of the guards outside.

"Merlin! I'm glad you're here. And no thank you. You couldn't tell the difference between blue and purple." The seamstress tutted when Gwen moved and she quickly went back to her position, allowing the seamstress to measure her. "But it was a lovely dress and very special."

"Anyway, I'm here to tell you that Arthur is back from his trip to Caerleon, safe and sound. In fact, I believe he is on his way to see you."

"Merlin?"

"Yes Gwen?"

"Thank you. For everything. I don't know how you did it - heal my father, produce a dress at the last minute, heal my ankle - but thank you."

Merlin's eyes softened and he leaned over and whispered into her ear. "You know it's magic."

"Yeah," Gwen smiled and rolled her eyes. As much as she loved Merlin, she realised that he was a man with many secrets. "I believe you."

Merlin left the room and it wasn't long before Arthur entered the room, casually dismissed her seamstress and dragged her into a long kiss.

"I've brought you a wedding present," he murmured, his forehead leaning against hers.

"Oh?"

"Yes." With a flourish, Arthur whipped out a fairly large box and passed it to her. "Open it and see if it fits."

Slowly, Gwen lifted the lid of the box. When she saw what was inside, she couldn't help her laughter. "Shoes?"

"Indeed. I was in a small village when I saw one of the merchants selling these. They look like the one you lost in the stream that day, don't you think?"

She supposed if she squinted and ignored the fact that they were the wrong colour, they did but she wasn't about to tell him that. Not when he was standing there, looking all pleased with himself. "They do."

"Shall I?" He took the box from her, knelt down and lifted her foot, gently slipping the shoe on.

"It fits!"

"Of course it does." Arthur grinned up at her from the ground. "Like us."

"Of course," she breathed as she knelt down, uncaring that she was in her wedding dress, and kissed him.

"Why do you always have to end with kisses?"

"Because everybody loves kisses," the mother laughed as she pressed a series of kisses on her son's face.

"Eww, no. Stop it!"

"Give me a kiss and I will."

Reaching over, the boy gave his mother a peck on the cheek before sliding back under the covers. "Good night mother."

"Good night Llacheu. Sleep well. Father will be back tomorrow from his patrols for your birthday."

"Mmmm." The boy was already half-asleep. "He promised to bring me hunting."

"And he will."

"And you promised me a sword," he yawned as he snuggled into his pillow. "With a fancy hilt, like Gwydre's."

"I know sweetheart." The mother blew off the candles, took one last look at her son before leaving the room.

AN: Thank you so much for reading and the comments. I enjoy reading each and every one of them. If you're interested in what's next, I, as usual, have too many fics on my hands. But I am hoping to be able to finish Secrets and Kings and Queens. (Also someone got me writing AG!pirate smut. So.)