Chapter : 1969

  "I am building a new world," Lloyd said. "I am building engines and weapons and medicines that will change everything. I need a partner who understands that. I need someone who can look at a schematic and see the potential, not just the ink."

  He looked back at her.

  "Rosa is powerful," he admitted. "She is a queen of ice. She understands politics and duty. Amina is brilliant. She understands spies and networks. Faria is passionate. She understands art and fire."

  He paused, his voice softening.

  "But none of them understand the machine," he said. "None of them know what it’s like to fix a broken engine in the rain. None of them know the man I used to be."

  He lifted her hand and pressed it against his chest, right over his heart.

  "You are the only one who has the key to the old house," Lloyd said. "You are the foundation. Without you, the rest of it... the empire, the power, the alliances... it’s just noise. It’s just work."

  Airin felt his heart beating under her palm. It was steady and strong.

  "So," Lloyd said, his voice firm. "Here is how it is going to be. You are going to finish your studies. You are going to be the best scholar this Academy has ever seen. You are going to master that light power of yours until you can outshine the sun."

  He leaned in closer.

  "And while you do that, I am going to deal with the politics," he promised. "I will talk to my mother. I will talk to the other wives. I will smooth the road for you. I will build a fortress around you so high that no insult can ever reach you."

  He smiled, a mischievous glint in his eye.

  "And if someone is stupid enough to try," he added, "I will remind them that my wife... my partner... knows how to turn herself into a laser beam."

  Airin laughed. The tension that had been squeezing her chest for weeks finally broke. She felt light. She felt safe.

  "You make it sound so simple," she said.

  "It is simple," Lloyd said. "Engineering is simple. Life is complicated, but we are engineers. We fix things."

  He let go of her hands and stepped back, straightening his vest. He took a deep breath, his face settling back into a more serious expression.

  "But there is one thing I have to do first," he said.

  "What?" Airin asked.

  "I have to tell Mina," Lloyd said.

  Airin froze. Mina Siddik. Rosa’s sister. The woman who was currently Lloyd’s wife in the eyes of the public (even if the public story was a lie to cover the pregnancy). The woman who was carrying his child.

  "Oh," Airin whispered. "That... that will be hard."

  "It will be," Lloyd agreed. He didn't try to sugarcoat it. "Mina is... she is special. She saved me when I was drowning in grief after Jasmin died. She gave me a reason to keep going."

  He looked at Airin, making sure she understood.

  "I love her," Lloyd said honestly. "I love her in this life. We have a child on the way. I cannot... and I will not... abandon her."

  Airin nodded. She felt a pang of jealousy, sharp and hot, but she pushed it down. She remembered the dream. She remembered that Evan was a good man. A good man doesn't abandon his family. If he abandoned Mina, he wouldn't be the man she loved.

  "I understand," Airin said. "I don't want you to leave her. I just... I want to be part of the family too."

  "You will be," Lloyd said. "But I have to do this right. I have to be honest with her. I can't build our relationship on a lie to her. That would be disrespectful to both of you."

  He ran a hand through his hair, looking nervous for the first time.

  "Mina is kind," Lloyd said. "But she is also fierce. She accepted the situation with Rosa. She accepted the political marriage with Amina. But this... this is different. This is the past coming back to life."

  He looked at the heavy door of the office.

  "I need to go to her," Lloyd said. "Now. Before I lose my nerve. Before the rumors start spreading."

  He looked back at Airin.

  "Will you wait for me?" he asked. "Will you trust me to handle this?"

  Airin looked at him. She saw the worry in his eyes. He was terrified of hurting anyone, but he was determined to do the right thing.

  Chapter : 1970

  "I waited eighty years," Airin said with a small smile. "I can wait a few hours."

  Lloyd let out a breath of relief. He walked over to her and kissed her forehead. It was a chaste, gentle kiss, a promise sealed.

  "Go back to your dorm," he said. "Rest. Eat something. I will send for you when it is done."

  "Good luck," Airin whispered.

  Lloyd nodded. He grabbed his coat from the rack. He paused at the door, looking back at the messy office, at the blueprints, at the girl who held his past in her hands.

  "I don't need luck," Lloyd said, his voice returning to that confident monotone. "I have a plan."

  He opened the door and walked out into the hallway. He walked with a heavy, purposeful stride. He was a man marching into a different kind of battle. He wasn't fighting a monster or a machine. He was fighting for peace in his own home.

  He headed straight for the exit of the Academy. His carriage was waiting. He gave the driver a single destination.

  "Home," Lloyd ordered. "As fast as you can."

  As the carriage rattled over the cobblestones, Lloyd stared out the window. He watched the city pass by. He thought about Airin. He thought about Mina. He thought about the complicated, messy, beautiful web he was weaving.

  He wasn't just a survivor anymore. He was a builder. And he was about to try and build a family out of ghosts, soldiers, and scholars.

  He just hoped the foundation was strong enough to hold them all.

  ________________________________________

  The carriage ride back from the Royal Academy felt longer than any journey Lloyd had ever taken. The wheels bumped over the stone streets of the capital, making a rhythmic clack-clack-clack sound that echoed in his head. Outside the window, the city was moving on with its normal business. Merchants were shouting about their prices, children were chasing stray dogs, and guards were patrolling the walls. But inside the carriage, the air was thick and quiet.

  Lloyd sat perfectly still. His hands were resting on his knees, but his fingers kept tapping against the fabric of his trousers. It was a nervous habit he thought he had lost a long time ago.

  He was a man who had fought literal demons. He had stared down a giant made of fire. He had built machines that could level a mountain. He had walked into the most dangerous places on the continent without blinking. But right now, he was terrified.

  He was going home to tell his wife, Mina, that he had fallen in love with another woman.

  It wasn't just any woman. It was Airin. It was the woman who carried the soul of his first love from a different life. It was a love that defied time and logic. But trying to explain time travel, reincarnated souls, and eighty years of memories to a pregnant wife was not a good strategy. It sounded like a crazy excuse.

  "Keep it simple," Lloyd whispered to himself. "Tell the truth. Don't hide."

  The carriage turned through the iron gates of the Ferrum Estate. The guards saluted as he passed, but Lloyd barely noticed them. He was running through the conversation in his mind for the hundredth time.

  Mina, I met a student. No, that sounded terrible.

  Mina, remember the vegetable seller? Too casual.

  Mina, I have an another fiancée. That sounded like a political report.

  He rubbed his face with his hands. This was a mess. A beautiful, happy mess, but a mess nonetheless.

  The carriage stopped in front of the main house. A servant opened the door, and Lloyd stepped out. The sun was starting to set, painting the sky in deep purples and oranges. It was a beautiful evening, but Lloyd felt like he was walking to the gallows.

  He walked up the steps and entered the house. The servants bowed to him, but he just nodded quickly and kept moving. He headed straight for the family wing of the estate.

  He reached the heavy wooden entrance to their private suite. He stopped. His hand hovered over the handle.

  "You can do this," he told himself. "You are Lloyd Ferrum. You don't run away."

  He took a deep breath, pushed the handle down, and walked in.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  Chapter : 1971

  The room was warm and smelled faintly of lavender and old books. A fire was crackling softly in the fireplace, casting a gentle glow over the furniture. Mina was sitting in a large, comfortable armchair by the window. She had a blanket draped over her legs and a book resting on her growing stomach.

  She looked up as he entered. Her face lit up with a smile that was so open and kind it made Lloyd’s chest ache.

  "You're back early," Mina said, closing her book. "I thought you would be at the Academy until late tonight. Did something happen?"

  Lloyd closed the door behind him. He didn't walk further into the room. He just stood there, holding his coat in his hands like a shield.

  "I need to talk to you," Lloyd said.

  His voice was serious. Too serious.

  Mina’s smile faded slightly. She sat up straighter, her hand instinctively moving to protect her stomach. She looked at him with sharp, intelligent eyes. She wasn't just a kind woman; she was a Siddik. She knew how to read people.

  "Is it the war?" she asked quietly. "Has the Fire Fly Corporation attacked again? Is everyone safe?"

  "No," Lloyd said quickly. "It's not the war. Everyone is safe. The borders are quiet. The factory is running fine."

  Mina relaxed a little, but her eyes were still searching his face. "Then what is it? You look like you're carrying a heavy stone on your back, Lloyd. Come. Sit down."

  Lloyd walked over and sat on the ottoman in front of her chair. He was close enough to touch her, close enough to see the worry lines around her eyes.

  "It’s about me," Lloyd said. "It’s about us."

  He looked down at his hands.

  "Today, I spoke to someone," he began. "Someone I have been watching for a long time. Someone I have been... keeping a secret."

  Mina didn't say anything. She just waited.

  "Her name is Airin," Lloyd said.

  He looked up to see her reaction. Mina didn't flinch. She didn't look surprised. In fact, a strange look passed over her face—something like relief?

  "The scholar?" Mina asked softly. "The girl who looks like the woman from your past?"

  Lloyd froze. "You knew?"

  "Lloyd," Mina said gently, a small smile returning to her lips. "I am your wife. I watch you. I see where your eyes go when we are in the city. I see how you freeze whenever someone mentions the scholarship students. And I know about the drawings Faria found."

  Lloyd felt his face get hot. He thought he had been so careful. He thought he was the master spy, the man who moved in the shadows. But apparently, he was an open book to the women in his life.

  "I didn't want to hurt you," Lloyd said. "I didn't want you to think that... that you weren't enough. I love you, Mina. I love our family. But Airin..."

  He struggled to find the words. How could he explain that Airin wasn't new? That she was the oldest thing in his heart?

  "She remembers," Lloyd said. "She started having dreams. Dreams of a different world. Dreams of rain and metal and a man named Evan. She came to me today. She told me everything."

  He took Mina’s hand. Her skin was warm and soft.

  "I couldn't send her away," Lloyd admitted. "When she looked at me... it wasn't just a student looking at a teacher. It was her. It was the partner I lost eighty years ago. And I... I told her she could stay. I told her I would protect her. I told her I wanted her by my side."

  He squeezed Mina’s hand, bracing himself for anger. Bracing himself for tears.

  "I am selfish," Lloyd said, his voice rough. "I know that. I am greedy. I want to keep you, and I want to keep her. I want to build a house where we all fit. But I know that might be impossible. I know I might be breaking your heart right now."

  He stopped speaking. The silence returned to the room. The fire popped and hissed in the grate.

  Lloyd waited. He waited for her to yell. He waited for her to tell him to get out. He waited for the end of the peace he had found with her.

  But Mina didn't pull her hand away.

  Instead, she let out a long, slow breath. Her shoulders dropped. The tension that had been in her body since he walked in seemed to melt away.

  Chapter : 1972

  She looked at him, and her eyes were shining. Not with sadness. With happiness.

  "Oh, Lloyd," she whispered. "Finally."

  Lloyd blinked. "Finally?"

  "I have been waiting for you to say her name for months," Mina said. She laughed, a soft, wet sound. "Do you think I’m blind? Do you think I don't feel the ghosts you carry around?"

  She reached out and touched his face.

  "I love you," she said. "I love the man you are. But I have always known that there was a part of you that was locked away. A part of you that was cold and sad and lonely. A room inside your heart that I couldn't enter, no matter how hard I tried."

  She looked deep into his eyes.

  "I tried to fill that room," she admitted. "Rosa tried to fill it, in her own way. Faria tried to burn the door down. Amina tried to unlock it with logic. But none of us could do it. Because that room didn't belong to us. It belonged to her."

  Mina smiled, and it was the most generous thing Lloyd had ever seen.

  "I don't want a husband who is only half-alive," she said. "I don't want a partner who is always looking over his shoulder at a ghost. If this girl... if Airin is the key... if she is the one who makes you whole... then bring her home."

  Lloyd stared at her. He felt like his heart was expanding in his chest, getting too big for his ribs.

  "You aren't angry?" he asked, his voice shaking.

  "Why would I be angry?" Mina asked. "Because you have a big heart? Because you are loyal? Because you found something precious?"

  She placed his hand on her stomach, where their child was growing.

  "We are building a family, Lloyd," she said. "Families are messy. They are complicated. But they are strong. If Airin is part of your soul, then she is part of this family. We will make room. We have plenty of chairs."

  Lloyd felt tears prick his eyes. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers.

  "Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you for being better than I deserve."

  "You're welcome," Mina whispered back. "Now, tell me. Is she nice? Does she like tea? Because if she's going to deal with Faria and Amina, she's going to need a lot of tea."

  ________________________________________

  The fire in the fireplace had burned down to glowing embers, casting a deep red light across the room. Lloyd and Mina were still sitting close together, the heavy conversation finished, replaced by a comfortable, easy planning session.

  Mina held a cup of warm milk in her hands. She looked thoughtful, her mind already working on the logistics of the situation.

  "It makes sense," Mina said, nodding to herself. "It actually makes perfect sense."

  "What does?" Lloyd asked. He felt lighter than he had in years. The secret was out, and the world hadn't ended.

  "The balance," Mina said. She looked at him with a clever glint in her eyes. "Think about it, Lloyd. Look at the people in this house."

  She held up one finger.

  "First, there is you," she said. "You are the center. But what are you? You are Cold Steel. You are logic and metal and war. You are protective, yes, but you are hard. You have to be, to fight the things you fight."

  She held up a second finger.

  "Then there is Rosa," she said. Her voice was sad for a moment when she mentioned her sister, but she continued. "Rosa is the Ice Sovereign. She is winter. She is cold and beautiful and distant. Even when she loves, she loves like a blizzard. She freezes things to keep them safe."

  Mina looked at Lloyd.

  "You and Rosa... you are too similar," she said. "Steel and Ice. Hard and Cold. When you are together, the house feels like a fortress in the middle of a snowstorm. There is no warmth. There is no light."

  Lloyd nodded slowly. She was right. That was exactly why he and Rosa had struggled. They were both survivors who built walls. When two walls meet, they don't hug; they just crash.

  "Then there are the others," Mina continued. "Faria is Fire. She is passion and anger and art. She burns bright, but fire consumes. Fire needs fuel. And Amina... Amina is Wind. She is intellect and strategy. She moves things, she changes things, but she is cool and detached."

  Mina smiled and pointed to herself.