Page 12 of Ink Sworn (Greatdrakes #3 | The Fae Universe #24)

V alentine held up his tongs and looked carefully over the small piece of silver plate he had been gently tapping into shape. He glanced over his drawings and notes.

"Hmmm, needs a bit more," he murmured, heating the silver again.

Valentine hadn't worked with metal in years and was finding the challenge helped to clarify his mind. He needed the focus, especially now that Yelena was awake.

Seeing her eyes open and having her hand in his hair had dissolved the ball of worry in his chest, but it had also created another.

Before he came to Faerie, Valentine thought that if he saw Yelena again, he would want to get confrontational about the Caelan matter. He had rehearsed a thousand scathing remarks while he had brooded for weeks. When the time had come, not a single one had sprung to his tongue.

He was a mess inside and out, and he didn't have the heart to fight with the female who had suffered so much.

Once Charlotte and Reeve had taken over her care, he had begun to think about how he could help Yelena.

She was a mage who was missing a hand, and that would cause all kinds of problems with how she channelled her power.

He would do his best to help her with that, and maybe, she would be able to help him with his own problems.

Gods, it would help if she weren't so relentlessly beautiful.

Valentine's hands itched to sketch her sleeping face whenever he sat by her.

He had resisted the best he could, but his notebook's borders were still decorated with the curve of a cheek here and the bow of her lips there.

Drawing her left hand over and over had helped.

Trying to remember details about her missing hand had also taken up a lot of his time.

He didn't want to think about the way he felt hard and dead parts of him slowly waking up again.

Valentine hated feeling vulnerable more than anything in the world.

It made him want to tear his skin off. The project that was taking shape was the only thing that was saving him from his magic and emotions eating him alive.

Taranis and the others could deal with Midir and whatever the fuck he was planning.

That wasn't Valentine's problem. He would fight beside them if they asked—that was without question.

He didn't care about the politics. He had other things to occupy his time and mind.

Things with big eyes and fair hair and a slight smile that hurt to look at.

Valentine didn't hear Reeve come in until his youngest brother stood before him.

"Hey, bro, what are you doing in here?" Reeve asked, slipping his hands in his pockets. Reeve knew better than to touch any of his projects, unlike Apollo, who would have already picked up several items and put them down in the wrong spot.

"I'm making something," Valentine said and pushed sweaty hair back from his face .

Reeve studied the sketches, the wooden model Valentine had carved, and the small silver pieces that were laid out in precise order.

"I can see that," Reeve replied and looked at the pile of books that Valentine had taken from Taranis's library. "You're making a hand?"

Valentine put down his hammer and the piece of silver he was working on. "For Yelena. Do you remember the story Mom told us about King Nuada?"

Reeve shook his head. "My 'mom memories' aren't as numerous as yours. I remember she was good at stories, but nothing specific jumps to mind."

That thought made Valentine a little sad. He sometimes forgot he had her for so much longer than the others.

"Nuada was a king of the Tuatha Dé Dannan.

I believe he is some ancestor of the family, but I don't know where, and the stories can't be trusted," he explained and sat on the wooden stool by his work counter.

"The myth goes that Nuada lost his hand in battle, and a physician mage called Dian Cécht made him a fully functional prosthetic out of silver.

Yelena needs to be able to channel her magic, and I thought making her something like the original Silver Hand would help her do that. "

"That's really kind of you, Val," Reeve said softly.

Valentine shifted uncomfortably, forcing the heat to stay away from his face. "Yes, well, she needs to have a hand. It must be something that can work for her properly," he said gruffly.

Reeve smiled and looked back at the hand. "I take it you are somehow layering in spells as you go so that it can work functionally and not just be a pretty prosthetic like the original?" he asked curiously.

"It would be a waste of time if I didn't. She needs to be able to use it like a real hand.

I'll have to tattoo a binding sigil on her arm so that it can connect to her brain patterning and ensure her body doesn't reject it.

" Valentine stopped talking because he knew if he went any deeper, he would lose Reeve altogether.

His brother's magic was unique, but what Valentine was planning, he wouldn't understand on a magical level.

Only Yelena would . Valentine wanted to get her thoughts and input when it was more complete. She had a way of seeing gaps in his spell work like no one else did.

"It's incredible. No wonder you have been working on it like a mad thing." Reeve gave him a careful look. "From the stories I've just heard from Emyr, you ate Yelena's other hand, so it seems right you make her another one."

Valentine sighed. "The dragon ate it, not me."

"You know it's the same thing. You ate a whole fucking guy, too," Reeve pressed. "I don't know how I should react to this."

"What do you want me to do? Deny it? I did eat the fucker. He was a shapeshifter. It was the only way to make sure he didn't escape."

Valentine didn't mention the fierce indigestion it gave him or how he suddenly suspected that if he put his mind to it, he might be capable of shifting into more than just a dragon because of it.

It was better not to voice those things before he confirmed them because he didn't want his family to worry about him more than they already did.

"It's still gross, man. I'm not going to judge it.

It wasn't my hand. Yelena's response when she learned of it was that she wished she could have seen you do it, so I don't think she cares either way," Reeve replied.

He gestured at the worktable. "Time to wrap this up.

I was sent down here because Taranis wants a family dinner, and your presence has been requested. "

Valentine screwed up his face. "Why? I did my part and found them. "

"Because you're a part of the family. Also, Yelena and Avallach are going to be there. You are going to want to hear what they have to say."

Valentine growled. "What are you all thinking? She shouldn't be out of bed yet."

"She can make that choice for herself. Besides, Apollo sent her a potion, and she's been doing much better since she drank it."

"What fucking potion? What was in it?" Valentine demanded. They should have let him check it first for fuck’s sake.

Reeve only smiled like an asshole. "You will just have to come to dinner and ask her yourself, won't you?"