Chapter 216
Another mage?!
A tall, black-haired man struck with powerful magical attacks on par with ours, which the skirefen clearly did not like. Bristling, the creature fired a barrage of long, razor-sharp black spikes at us. Cries of pain rang out among the people. One grazed my shoulder; Laverna’s leg was cut—but it healed instantly.
I was about to unleash my strongest surge of energy again when the man shouted to me.
“Don’t! Don’t waste your power! This thing won’t go down that easily! Get your keys back—we need the All-Seeing One!” the mage yelled, drawing the monster’s attention to himself.
“What?!” I didn’t understand.
“No time to explain! You and that witch should have enough strength to bring them back! Do it—now! I’ll cover you! I’ll tell you what to do next later!”
From the ferocity and strength with which the brunette attacked the skirefen, I realized he was on our side. Grabbing the furious Laverna, I pulled her behind a corner of the palace, where it was relatively safer.
“What the hell, Kays?!” Lavi snarled, straining to jump back into the fight. “I’ll break all her legs!”
“If you haven’t noticed, they grow back instantly!” I tried to reason with her. “We have to bring them back—now!”
“Fine, but it’s not that simple,” Laverna gave in. “Across countless worlds and timelines, finding them isn’t easy. Marifeia and I tried to retrieve the keys several times—and it worked only once.”
“Yes—but you didn’t know where to look,” I pressed on. “I have a kind of beacon in Iza.”
“Right!” My friend’s eyes lit up with joy. “The child can help! We’ll find them by a familiar, native trace!”
And we began—releasing powerful streams of magic that merged into one. We tore through the boundaries of worlds, searching for our loved ones. I guided the search by kinship and blood, which led us straight to those we needed.
Through the portal, I saw Iza and Anton. They looked different—but I would recognize my beloved out of a million. Besides, I had seen her once like this in one of my dreams. Smiling with relief, I reached my hand through the rift, and my little prepedolka didn’t hesitate—she grabbed it, dragging the guy along with her.
We fell into each other’s arms, and my girl burst into laughter and sobs all at once.
“Why did it take so long?” my wife sniffled, clinging to me tighter. “Four months, Kays! I thought I’d never see you again! That I’d gone mad and it was all just a dream!”
“Easy, baby,” I tried to soothe her. “I’m here—and now you are too.”
I couldn’t hold back and kissed her precious lips, salty with tears. She began to calm down. But then, as if jolted awake, I saw panic and raw fear flood her beautiful blue eyes.
“Kays… where’s my baby?!” Iza began frantically patting her now-flat belly with trembling hands. “Kays! What happened to my little one?!” She started shaking in earnest, and I took her by the shoulders, looking straight into her eyes to stop the rising hysteria.
“Iza, calm down! They’re all fine! Here—and in your world—time flows differently! Here, you were gone only a couple of hours, so there’s no belly yet. Look—you’re still in your wedding dress.” She stared at me with tear-filled eyes, so small and fragile right now that my chest felt ready to burst. “Everything’s okay. I love you.”
“Kays,” my prepedollie smiled faintly, tears streaming again, “we’re going to be parents?”
“Of course we are! I didn’t try this hard for nothing,” I grinned, and my girl visibly relaxed, smiling back through her tears. “I wanted to tell you later, in private—but as you can see, plans changed.”
Iza looked at me warmly and leaned in for a kiss herself—I needed no invitation. I love her so much it makes me want to shout it to the world. When I realized yesterday that there would be noticeably more of us, I was beside myself with love and joy. I wanted a big, strong family—and my beloved will give it to us very soon. All my years of loneliness and searching were behind me now; ahead lay only happy moments with my family.
A couple of minutes later, Iza froze in my arms, tensed, and pulled back slightly, staring at me in confusion.
“Wait… what do you mean ‘they’re all fine’?” Fear flickered in her eyes again.
“Our children,” I smiled, guessing my wife didn’t know everything.
“There’s more than one?”
“Yes,” I answered—and her eyes widened.
“How many?” she breathed, barely audible, afraid to hear the answer.
“Iza, I love you madly, and I’m very happy. We’ll handle everything,” I tried to reassure her, but met her sharp look.
“How many?!” she demanded with her signature killer stare, and I had to surrender.
“Three.”
“WHAT?!”