Page 81 of Sent To A Fantasy World and Now All the Men Want Me 7

With my heart seizing and eyes unblinking, I turned toward the man who’d appeared. A man with golden hair that fell past his ears and a warm smile on his lips. He held a bundle of flowers in his fist and approached the front door, lightly knocking once.

When the door opened, my knees almost gave out. A petite woman stood on the other side, her wavy blonde hair flowing to her waist with the top half pinned back with a white ribbon. In her arms was a chubby baby with wispy golden hair and freckled cheeks.

“Pardon me, milady.” The man tipped his head to her, still standing on the porch. “But I happened upon these flowers, you see, and wondered if they belonged to you.”

The woman lightly laughed and accepted the bundle, adjusting the baby in her arms. “Supper is ready. Come inside and wash your hands.”

“These hands?” The man flashed a mischievous grin before wiggling his fingers at her. “Ones that have been clawing in the soil?”

The baby giggled.

This can’t be… I struggled letting myself think the thought. Too afraid the scene would unravel the moment I put a name to it. Like a dream you fought to hold onto, not ready to wake up from.

“Evander missed his papa,” the woman said, stepping aside so the man could enter the cottage.

The baby reached for the man, his lower lip trembling.

“Oh no.” The man… my father… laughed and stepped across the threshold. “Not that face. I cannot hold you yet, my darling boy. Your mother says I must first wash my hands.”

“So the fault is mine, is it?” She echoed the laugh before poking the baby’s nose. My nose. “How is it fair that I carried you in my belly for all those months and gave you life, only for you to look just like your father?”

“But he has his mother’s kind heart,” the man responded, pulling them both into his arms.

A cry left my lips as I stood at the foot of the porch, staring up at the parents I’d never gotten the chance to know.

I had no memories of them. Before that very moment, I hadn’t known what they looked like, apart from what other people had told me. I hadn’t been able to recall the sound of their voices. Seeing them was both surreal and a punch to the gut.

“Dad?” I asked, walking up the steps. “Mom?”

Neither of them could see or hear me. I followed behind my dad and stood in the middle of the foyer as he shut the door and locked it.

As they sat at the table for dinner, I dropped into the lone chair across from them, trapped in a state of shock. There was joy there too, though a bittersweet one.

What did seeing my parents have to do with facing my fears and traumas? Hell, I wasn’t even sure if it was a real memory or just something the elixir fabricated.

“The barrier remains strong,” my dad said after they’d eaten dinner and were cleaning up. He washed dishes at the sink, his green eyes flickering toward the kitchen window.

That must’ve been what he’d been doing prior to picking the flowers. Onyx and Varys had said my dad possessed dark magic with a specialty in barrier magic. After fleeing with me and my mom, he’d created a shield around the cottage and the surrounding land.

“What of the men?” my mom asked, worrying her bottom lip. She had laid out a blanket on the floor and sat with Baby-Me on it. “Are they still beyond the barrier?”

A shadow fell over my dad’s face before he quickly chased it away and smiled over at her. “Worry not, my love. They won’t breach it. Our boy is safe here.”

She looked at the baby, the edges of her eyes reddening. “How long must we live in isolation like this?”

“For as long as we have to.” He rinsed off a plate and set it aside to dry. “I know you miss Exalos and the friends you left behind, Cynthia. I, too, have people I miss.”

“Varys?” she asked.

My dad nodded. “Someone else as well.”

A frown dotted her features. “The demon lord.”

My heart clenched in my chest.

“Yes,” he answered, his gaze downcast to the soapy suds in the sink. “Lord Onyx has shown me nothing but kindness in all the years I’ve known him. He’s not the black-hearted beast many claim him to be.”

“Do you think he’d help us?” she asked. “Grant us passage into his realm?”