The fortress and the sleeping girl shattered like a mirror, and Valentine was roaring and tumbling until he hit his body and woke up with a cry of pure fury.
"Valentine! Valentine!" Cosimo banged on the door.
Another voice joined his, and the wooden door shattered. Valentine couldn't move his body, but he managed to open his eyes. He was covered in red and black threads, his magic surrounding him like a pulsing web.
"Don't touch him," Taranis said, his eyes wide as he looked around the room. "I don't think he's fully in control of his body yet."
Valentine forced his fingers to move, and then his toes. Everything was heavy and hurt.
"Val? Pull the magic back in, son. Let us help," Cosimo said softly, like he would to a scared animal.
It was the worry in his voice that made Valentine snap back into himself properly.
"Dad? I'm okay. I'm okay," Valentine tried to reassure him.
His throat was sore, like he had been screaming for hours. Hepulled the threads of his magic back inside of him, and as the last one disappeared, Cosimo pulled him up off the bed and squeezed him.
"What the hell? You scared the fucking life out of me," he said, rocking Valentine like he hadn't done since he was a kid. "What happened? What did you do?"
"Try not to smother him to death, Cosimo," Taranis said and moved to put a hand on his shoulder. "Let him breathe."
"You're not a father. I don't expect you to understand," Cosimo snarled, making Taranis take a step back like he had slapped him. Cosimo wasn't one to lose his temper, and no one knew how to handle him when he did.
Valentine patted Cosimo on the back. "I'm fine. Let me go."
When he didn't, Valentine whispered, "You need to let me go so I can help Yelena and Avallach."
Cosimo slowly released him but took Valentine's face in his hands. "You should have known better than to attempt that kind of magic alone."
"I know. I'm sorry, but it worked," Valentine replied.
Cosimo helped him sit up properly but kept a protective arm around his shoulders. Usually, Valentine would have bristled at the fussing, but he was shaken, and his father's bulk and the pressure of his arm grounded him.
Taranis pulled up a chair and sat down. He eyed the scattering of letters around the bed. "Tell me what you learned, lad."
"They are in a fortress. It was further north than their last camp. They both still live, but I didn't see any of the others that you sent with them. There are at least a hundred enemy warriors there," Valentine replied. He swallowed back the panic that was clawing its way up from his guts. "Yelena has frozen herself in a cage. She... She's missing a hand."
Taranis's face went gray because, despite what Cosimo hadsaid, hedidknow what it was like to be a father. Yelena had always been the closest thing to a child he could get, and his enemies had her. "Those fucking bastards. I need to go to Mag Argatnél," he said, his eyes burning with dragon fire.
"Yes, but you aren't going alone," Valentine replied. His dragon shimmered just under the surface, too, refusing to go back into the darkness. "I am coming with you, and I won't stop until I have her back."
Taranis glanced at Cosimo, who still looked pale and worried. "I don't think…"
"Dad can't stop me. No one can. I either go with you into Faerie, Uncle Taran, or I go alone. I will make them pay a thousandfold for hurting her." Valentine could taste fire and blood, and his dragon said through his mouth, "I'm going to burn their world to ash, and they won't be able to stop me. Neither can you."
Taranis looked at him for a long time before nodding once. "Get your gear. We leave in an hour. "
6
Twenty minutes later, Valentine paused on the stairs, his bag over his shoulder, as he watched Cosimo approach Taranis in front of the great doors. He moved behind a statue, not wanting to intrude.
"I'm sorry," Cosimo said and ran his hands through his black and silver hair. "I snapped at you like a bastard before I could think, and you didn't deserve it."
"I can see where your sons get that strong streak of asshole they all have." Taranis sighed dramatically and pulled him into a hug. "Think nothing of it, little brother. It's not only your sons who are contending with their dragons waking up."
"I feel like I'm losing my mind," Cosimo admitted. "I've never felt so overprotective of my sons, and I feel like I'm failing them because I can't help them with this. I can't even help myself."
Valentine hadn't heard him talk like that since their mother had died. He didn't know how to help his father either. Not then, and not now.
