The kiss went on.
Alex stood frozen against the wall, his good hand hovering uselessly in the air.
’What the hell?! Is this how healing works?’
He searched the memories that had been poured into his head that morning. There was no memory of anything like this. Not a single case in which a healer pressed her lips to a patient’s mouth and called it treatment.
He should have pulled back. He should have asked what she was doing.
But the warmth in his arm kept spreading, and the pain was melting away. They moved slowly and gently, with a patience that made his head spin.
’Well... I’m not complaining.’
He closed his eyes.
The heat crept up through his forearm and wrapped around the bone, knitting something that had been torn. He felt it in his wrist, then in his elbow, then in his shoulder.
He lost track of time.
When the last of the ache finally dissolved and the heat in his arm faded into a calm, he realized that her hand had moved from his jaw to the back of his neck.
Then she drew away. Slowly.
Her lips parted from his, and a thin, thread of saliva stretched between them for a heartbeat before it broke. Elena stood there with her cheeks flushed and her breathing a little uneven.
She smiled. It was a soft, satisfied smile.
She raised her fingertips to her mouth and wiped the corner of her lips, and for a moment Alex could not look anywhere else.
"You are fully healed, young master."
Her voice was perfectly calm. Alex blinked, then looked down at his arm.
The skin was smooth and clean, and the bone beneath it sat perfectly straight.
He flexed the arm with different motions and it was perfectly fine...
"As good as new. Thank you, Elena."
"It was my pleasure."
Alex looked up.
She was still standing very close and if not for the faint pink in her cheeks, it would have been easy to believe that nothing had happened at all.
He cleared his throat.
"That was..." He hesitated, searching for the word. "A strange way of healing."
"Yes."
She did not seem embarrassed in the slightest.
"It is unusual. But it is the most effective method for an injury as severe as yours." Her tone was smooth and practical, the tone of a woman explaining the use of a tool. "Both bones were broken. The damage had already begun to spread to the muscle. I had to make sure that I healed you perfectly."
Alex studied her face.
He could not find a single crack in it.
’She’s either telling the truth... Or she’s the best liar I’ve ever met.’
He had no way of knowing. And, he decided, he did not mind.
"Hmm."
He nodded slowly.
"I see. Then it worked very well."
"I am glad."
Her eyes twinkled slightly. Elena lowered her head, took half a step back, and bowed.
"You may leave now, young master Alex."
She straightened.
"Your maid is waiting for you in your room."
Alex almost smiled.
He tugged his sleeve back down over his healed arm and nodded once.
"Right."
’And I’ll be coming to claim you next, Elena.’
He turned. He took two steps down the corridor, then glanced over his shoulder.
Elena had already returned to her place beside the great doors. But as his gaze passed over her, her lashes flickered.
Just once.
Alex turned back and kept walking.
’What a morning.’
He almost laughed.
An few hours ago he was on earth. Now he had a new body, a system, inheritance and two sisters.
His thoughts drifted back to them.
’Both of them are beautiful are really beautiful.’
The thought settled into his chest like a promise.
’And I’m going to make both of them mine.’
It was an arrogant idea. But it sat in his mind with perfect clarity, and he did not push it away.
’Lena first. Then Elena.’
He nodded to himself.
’That makes two.’
’And the third...’
He slowed.
The third.
He frowned and began running through the memories. He sorted through them one by one, searching for another face. Another woman who could wield mana.
Nothing came. His stomach sank slowly.
’There’s no one currently. Lena and Elena were the only females in the estate currently that possess mana.’
He stopped in the middle of the corridor and rubbed his forehead.
’Where am I supposed to find a third?’
He needed a third woman with mana, and he needed her soon, because the preliminary exams were only two weeks away, and the seal would have to be broken long before then.
’This is going to be a problem.’
Just then, the familiar door of his room appeared ahead of him, and he realized he had walked all the way back without noticing.
He stopped in front of it and let out a breath.
’I’ll worry about it afterwards. One step at a time.’
He reached out and pushed the door open. And on the bed, Lena was waiting.
She was lying on her side with her head propped on one hand. A loose blanket was draped across her body, wrapped around her waist and tucked beneath her arm, leaving her shoulders and her long, pale legs bare. Her chestnut hair spilled over her shoulder in soft waves.
She looked up as he entered, and her whole face lit up.
"Welcome back, young master."
Her voice was soft and a little breathless. Alex shut the door behind him.
He turned, and looked at her.
"You’re prepared already."
Lena lowered her eyes shyly.
"Yes."
She smoothed the edge of the blanket against her side.
"I could feel you approaching."
"Alright. I’m going to make you a woman now."
Lena’s breath caught.
Her eyes shone, and a radiant smile bloomed across her lips.
"Please do," she whispered.