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“Baba Yaga stuffed her knowledge of spells into my head before she disappeared on Skyfall. I wasn’t aware I’d called this particular one,” he admitted.
She nodded. “You know how to heal too, but I’ve never seen anyone heal themselves.”
“I’m not like anyone else.”
Hilda burst into laughter, which quickly became a wince and a moan as pain from her broken rib flared. “You are a master of understatement,” she sighed as she stretched her back muscles. She gave him another evaluating look. “I’ve never met a Satyr, so I’ve never had the opportunity to fight one. You fight like shit, but you still bested me. That… hurts my pride more than anything. Which makes my next question all the more difficult to ask. I don’t suppose you’d consider using that healing magic on my injuries.”
He gaped at her. “Considering you attacked me the moment we met, you’ll understand my hesitance to assist you.”
“I had to be sure. It’s the way of Valkyries,” she said simply as if that answered everything. She nodded to something behind him, but he refused to look away from her. She chuckled softly. “Our fight is over. I yielded. I’ve never had to do that before. Consider it the greatest of honors.”
Henry nodded as he considered this loon of a Valkyrie before him. He decided it might be safe to look away and turned his head to see Sigrid approaching with Roy. The man’s expression looked a lot like shock, then Henry’s eyes were drinking in the beauty of the blonde woman sliding into his arms. Her lips tasted his, and he surrendered to her need, and the kiss deepened. She felt so good in his arms, but something was different. She was leaning forward. Then he felt it-a pressure against his belly.This belongs to NôvelDrama.Org.
He pulled back from the kiss and glanced down. His eyes were momentarily trapped in her cleavage, which seemed more pronounced. Then he was puzzling over the dome of her stomach. Her severely distended stomach. She was pregnant? He saw her loving eyes, and it clicked.
Henry’s eyebrows threatened to crawl up into his scalp. It was his! How?
Sigrid touched his broken left hand tenderly. “I’m so sorry about your injuries, but I wasn’t able to dissuade mother from testing you. I knew you’d win. I’m so grateful you didn’t kill her.”
“Mother? Not… sister?” he gasped and looked back at the other woman in surprise. His image of a wizened old frail woman was shattered. Then he realized how stupid that preconceived notion was for a Valkyrie.
He caught a delighted twinkle in the mother’s eye, so he willed the healing magic into his left hand and gritted his teeth as the bones reset and ligaments reattached. He flexed it painfully once it was healed.
Then he placed his healed hands on Sigrid’s hips to move her a short distance out so he could see her properly.
“You’re so far along! I don’t understand,” he exclaimed, containing his painful grunts.
She smiled sweetly at him. “It was the night you made love to me in Eden. Valkyries are warriors. We cannot afford extended pregnancies. It happens very rapidly. I wasn’t aware my body had chosen you until I woke the next morning. I immediately left to visit my mother. She wanted us to come back so she could meet you before the birth.”
He placed his hands on her belly and felt the life inside. “When are you due?”
“Tomorrow.”
Henry’s eyes widened, and he looked to Roy.
“Congratulations?” the redhead said with a grin.
Henry turned back to Sigrid and lifted her hands to his lips, and kissed them both tenderly. Then he looked at her with a puzzled expression once more. “What… what did you mean your body chose me?”
She smiled. “When a Valkyrie finds a worthy mate, her body prepares for creating a child. I wasn’t aware of it. It’s a natural process. Typically, the male no longer plays a role in raising the child as the daughter is raised to be a Valkyrie and only Valkyries can do his.”
“That has not changed!” Hilda said firmly.
Henry frowned at her but saw the woman was ready to go a few more rounds to get her way. He sighed. They could argue about this later. “Let’s go inside so I can heal us properly.”
He caught the relief in Hilda’s eyes. He waved to the Silver Soldiers, who went back to their posts. Yablonski was nursing his injured side.
Once he entered the door, a distraught Meixiu rushed to Henry’s side and clung to him. “Sigrid asked me not to interfere,” the woman moaned.
“It’s fine, Meixiu. It all worked out in the end,” Henry sighed.
“I’m going to start knocking on doors to let people return,” Roy said and left.
Henry looked at Hilda. “You’re going to want to lie down while you heal. Do you have a bedroom assigned?”
“I’ll sleep next to Sigrid. I must defend her during her pregnancy,” Hilda insisted.
Henry looked to Sigrid. “We’ll be in the second-floor master,” she said.
He climbed the stairs with Sigrid, Hilda, and Meixiu leading the way. They entered the room, and Henry gestured for the mother to recline on the bed.
“Maybe you should join me so I can properly show you my appreciation for the healing afterward,” Hilda said with a hungry grin.
“Sigrid, tell your mom to behave,” Henry said as he reviewed his healing spells.
“She’s a Valkyrie. You can’t tell them anything,” Sigrid said with a happy smile.
“Incorrigible, the two of you!” Henry muttered as he concentrated on the spell he chose. He ignored their delighted giggling as best he could.
Bone setting spells tended to be very painful with a fair amount of residual ache. He countered this with a spell to reroute the pain signals to pleasure instead. He launched that one inside Hilda and watched her eyes widen immediately. She looked to him in question. “Painkiller,” he said.
Then he launched the spell to heal her body from her toes to her scalp. He linked the magic to the excess energy he was kicking out.
Hilda cooed as a few improperly healed breaks in her toes refractured, then realigned as the wave moved on. Her eyes snapped open. “What-what have you done?”
“The spell can be pretty painful. I temporarily rerouted your pain signals to your pleasure center.”
Hilda’s eyes rolled back as the scar tissue in her knees tore away to be replaced by new growth.
Henry frowned and upped the flow of energy into her body to compensate for the amount of damage being repaired. He looked to Sigrid. “I think her body has taken a lot of abuse.”
Sigrid snorted. “She’s a Valkyrie!”
Henry glanced at her. “That’s your answer for everything.” She just grinned happily.
He was concerned about losing the woman if her body repairs exceeded her capacity to withstand the sensations. He’d endured the incredible pain, but the intense pleasure was equally dangerous.
He let a little of the pain through, and Hilda gasped as her eyes flew open to look at him. He moved closer to her ear and whispered to her. “I replaced most of my body this way, and I didn’t have the option of pleasure. I survived. Will you do less?”
Hilda’s eyes flared with a mix of emotions as they held his. Then she grinned. “Bring it on.”
Henry watched the spell progress through her body. The worst spots were her broken ribs, he’d fractured more than one, and her damaged hands. While she was immersed in bliss, he allowed a little pain through to bring her back from the clouds. Each time she’d look for him and grin to let him know she was still there.
Finally, the spell reached her scalp, and he was surprised to see the grey in her hair begin to gleam with gold once more.
“Shit, Henry! This rejuvenation magic would make you a fortune!” Sigrid said in shock.
He just shook his head. “No. It takes the strength of a Valkyrie to survive it.”
He dipped his mouth down to Hilda’s ear once more. “Now you look even less like a grandmother, sorry.”
She chuckled softly then she slipped into sleep.
Henry removed the rerouting of her pain, and he was done. He turned to Sigrid, and she was kissing him once more. He went with it as it was bliss, and he had no other choice. Then the growing pain in his ribs finally made him pull back, and she looked at him curiously.
“Sorry, my ribs…”
“Oh my god! I’m so sorry, Henry!” she gasped.
“I need to go heal myself now and catch a few winks,” he sighed as she stepped back. “Don’t let me miss dinner tonight, okay?”
She smiled and nodded to him. “Thank you,” she said, gesturing to her mother.
He smiled and shook his head. “Yeah, it would have been nice to get a heads up in advance that I’d be in a life and death battle with a Valkyrie.” Sigrid looked apologetic at least.
“We need to talk,” he said gently as he touched Sigrid’s tummy, and she nodded with a smile on her lips.
He touched his chin tenderly. Hilda had probably cracked his jaw. That was gonna hurt. He sighed.
He left the bedroom and climbed to the third floor, and found Meixiu walking behind him. He looked at her in question.