Page 10 of Ink Sworn (Greatdrakes #3 | The Fae Universe #24)

Y elena was aching from the top of her head to the tip of her toes. It was a good healing ache that told her that the ice had finally released its grip on her, and warmth was flooding back through her system.

She opened her eyes slowly and blinked a few times. She recognized the healing wing of the palace by the smell of mint and lavender.

There was another scent in the room that sent a different kind of ache through her. It was ginger with citrus and a lingering note of hot stone.

Yelena breathed the scent deep into her lungs until she could taste it on her tongue. Her left hand was the warmest part of her, and when she glanced down, she saw the source of the scent.

Valentine Greatdrakes was asleep in a chair beside her, his body slumped forward onto the side of her bed. His hands were both wrapped around hers.

He's okay . Yelena breathed shakily, in and out, as tears filled her eyes. Her plan had worked, but the cost of it was brutal. She hadn't let herself think about it while in Cathal's cell. She couldn't doubt it. She knew it had been the only way. It still wasn't a comforting thought.

But there he was, alive and whole and perfect.

Valentine looked different from the way she had last seen him, too. He was leaner as if he hadn't been eating properly, and his aura was thick with magic.

Slowly, so as not to wake him, Yelena moved her hand and ran her fingers through his inky black hair. He was so brutal in his beauty that it hit you hard when you weren't ready for it. Gods, she had wanted to touch him for so long.

The first time she had seen him, her dragon had pounced on him, unable to stop itself.

It was so curious about the silky, dark sensation of his magic.

She had licked his skin, tasted his blood, her ridiculous mouth running about him being a dark mage because she didn't know what he was.

The taste of his blood and skin had been intoxicating.

She didn't know how to handle it or how to understand him. The enigma of all that darkness that was used to do good. And she had made such a mess of things by not knowing how to be normal around him.

Yelena's hand was shaking as she stroked his hair, memorizing the sensation of the silky strands. It might be the one and only time he let her touch him after the fiasco with the letters. She had just wanted to talk to him so badly.

When Taranis had been hurt and they had worked together to help heal him, Yelena had felt the dragon inside of Valentine. It had been awake all along, unlike the rest of his family. Her own dragon had wanted to play with it, to provoke it into coming out.

Yelena had seen the magic he had done to keep it locked in, and she had almost wept.

Valentine needed help, and no one was able to give it to him except for her.

That was why she had gotten Taranis to convince Valentine to write to her as Caelan.

He would never have accepted the help if it had come from her.

Baby Girl Galadrial . She had heard the name he had mockingly given her. Layla had been more than happy to show her the movies, and afterward, Yelena realized that despite his tone, that name wasn't a mean one. She was flattered to be compared to the elf queen of so much power.

The letters had worked until Valentine found out the truth and sent her that final note. Despite the hurt in it, he had still travelled all the way into Faerie for her.

Yelena couldn't remember much while in the ice, but she felt him change into a dragon. She knew he had come for her and that she was safe again.

Tears tracked down her cheeks, her body languishing in the feeling of that safety and having him close.

She looked at her arm, bound in bandages and in a sling.

Her mind couldn't make sense of the part of her that was missing.

She looked away, tried to keep breathing because she didn't know what to do about it.

Her eyes fell on the drawings that were scattered around Valentine on bits of paper. They were studies of her hand from different angles. Notes were written in tight script she couldn't read. She could also make out the designs of a sigil, half hidden by his arm.

Valentine shifted in his sleep and opened his eyes. They were scarlet, not their usual gray. Yelena slowly moved her hand from his hair, hating the feeling of loss that swept over her.

"Hey..." he whispered, and it was his voice and not a dragon's growl.

"Hey," she whispered back. "You okay?"

"Me?" His dark brows shot up. "I'm better than you."

Yelena's lips twitched into a smile. "That's not hard."

Valentine sat up and ran his hands through his dark hair and over his face. Bandages covered his arms, and Yelena could see them through the open V of his shirt.

"You are hurt," she said, trying to keep her voice low and steady, afraid of frightening him away.

"It's nothing. I'll just... I need to go get Charlotte now you're awake," Valentine said, getting out of the chair. He gathered all the drawings quickly and headed for the door.

"Valentine?" Yelena said, making him halt, his hand resting on the door frame. "Thank you."

He didn't turn. "I couldn't leave a friend like that. We are still friends, aren't we?"

Yelena swallowed hard. "I really hope so."

Valentine knocked his knuckles on the stone. "I've got to find Charlotte. Don't go anywhere."

Yelena bit back a laugh. "Dick."

Valentine grinned over his shoulder, and then he was gone.

The dragon side of Yelena preened and said the one word that it had said every time Yelena had a chance to glance at that so rare smile of his. Mate.

Yelena wiped at her wet eyes and gave the same response she always did. We aren't like them. I don't think we wild ones mate the same way.

The dragon ignored her. It knew what it was.

Who he was. They were the opposite of each other and the same.

He was the only one capable of handling what she had buried deep inside of her.

Like she was the only one who could handle what was inside of him.

They were matched even if they weren't mates.

Yelena had managed to compose herself by the time Charlotte appeared. She smiled with relief when she looked at Yelena.

"Thank the gods. I was starting to worry that you weren't going to wake up," she said in her crisp, no-nonsense way. Yelena loved Charlotte .

"Thank you for coming into Faerie to look after me," she replied.

Charlotte pushed her glasses up her nose. "You can thank Valentine for that. He wasn't going to let any of the healers anywhere near you," she said, and sat on the edge of the bed.

Yelena licked her dry lips. "Really? That's a bit silly. We have good healers here."

"But none that Valentine trusts. Especially not any that the feral dragon version of Val trusts.

He wouldn't let you go until Taranis came to Ireland to get Reeve and me.

" Charlotte shook her head. "Stupid men.

He got frostbite for it and was still hovering about like someone was going to jump out and assassinate you in your sleep. "

Yelena blushed, and Charlotte was kind enough not to mention it. "How's Avallach?" she asked.

"Sore and grumpy. A few broken bones are healing, and he's got bad dehydration like you. Mostly, he is pissed off."

Yelena sniffed back her tears. "And Valentine's frostbite? I saw the bandages."

"He is healing and is also pissed off, but that could just be him. Everyone has been giving him some space. Emyr and Owain are a little in awe of him," Charlotte said, and got Yelena to sit up and put more pillows behind her. She helped her drink some water, and Yelena felt steadier.

"It's a hard thing to impress those two," Yelena commented.

"Apparently, Valentine went feral and shifted without warning. They couldn't stop him and couldn't control him. He turned the whole place you were being held into ashes," Charlotte said, a concerned note in her usual calm voice. "Even the stone somehow. Like a volcano had destroyed the lot."

"Magnificent," Yelena whispered, just imagining it.

Charlotte's brow rose. "That is one word for it. "

"He scared the tar out of them, is what he did," Taranis said, standing in the doorway of her room.

Yelena beamed at him. "Hello, Master."

"You haven't been my apprentice in a long time to keep calling me that, little dragon," he replied and took up the seat Valentine had vacated.

"Drink this for me, and I'll leave you two to talk," Charlotte said, holding out a vial of a pale blue liquid. "Don't ask me what's in it. Apollo made it specially for you."

Strangely touched, Yelena drank it. It tasted vaguely of blueberries. "Thank him for me. Is he here too?"

"No. I'm keeping as much of the family out of Faerie as I can until this business with Midir is resolved," Taranis grumbled. "Charlotte and Reeve are the exception because nothing else would calm Valentine down."

Charlotte bent down and kissed Yelena's forehead. "I'm glad you're back. We'll talk later." She patted Taranis on the shoulder. "Don't keep her up too long."

"Yes, mother," he teased.

Charlotte gave him a warning look before slipping out of the room.

Taranis fixed his eyes back on Yelena. "Okay, little one, we are alone now. Tell me what in the darkest hells is going on."