"I can," Yelena said softly. "I think he could be my mate."
Taranis's breath wooshed out of him. "Dagda's balls. I mean... I suppose it would make some kind of sense. But I didn't think wild dragons had mates."
"I didn't either, but my dragon seems to think Valentine belongs to her. Me. His magic is like mine. I'm just more experienced in hiding it. He can't control it properly yet, but I can help him. I know I can," Yelena insisted. She let out a bitter laugh. "If he will trust me enough to let me help, that is. I don't suppose he's going to come back now that I am awake."
Taranis rubbed at his forehead. "He seems taken up with a project when he hasn't been here with you. He's been driving the smiths in the city a little crazy, but I've made sure they give him whatever he needs. It's better if he's kept busy and channeling some of that power of his. I didn't know he could smith as well, but that's Valentine for you."
Yelena smiled because she understood that kind of obsessive energy, too. "He's going to be upset with me for the Caelan thing for a while."
Taranis patted her hand. "Probably not as long as you think. If you are mates, well, these things have a way of working themselves out. He was extremely worried when he knew that you had been taken. Apparently, as a dragon, he was even scarier."
Yelena chewed her lip, thinking of the binding sigil on Valentine's chest.
Taranis sensed her hesitation. He knew her too well. "What is it? What now?"
Yelena chose her words very carefully. "I don't think that was his full shift. Just part of it."
"Fucking hell, I'm too old for this. Just thinking about this gives me heartburn," Taranis said, rubbing at his chest. "You'll warn me if you sense him starting to lose control?"
Yelena nodded."I will. I told you. I am going to help him. He needs it, and I think we are all going to need him by the end of this."
"Can I helpyouin any way?" he asked.
"Give me a hand up? I want to go and see Avallach."
The beaten knight was in the room next to her with Emyr and Reeve keeping him company. He was bandaged and bruised, but he was smiling. Yelena hobbled in, her body still stiff and sore.
"I'm… I'm so sorry," she said, and would have tipped over if Taranis hadn't been holding onto her arm.
Avallach moved over and patted the bed. "Come here, little sister. You look far worse than I do."
They helped her into the bed beside him, and she flung an arm around him and sobbed.
Taranis patted her on the back. "I'll let you all catch up. I have to see to some things."
"He's stressed," Reeve said once he was gone.
"It's a king's job," Emyr replied.
Yelena hugged Avallach until he groaned. "Easy there, little sister. I don't need my ribs any more bruised than what they are."
"It was the only way to save us. I'm so sorry," she said into his chest.
"Stop saying sorry. I'm a bit knocked around, but you said we would survive, and we did. That's what matters," Avallach said, holding her close. "I'm a little miffed I didn't get to be the one to kill Cathal, but Valentine did a satisfactory job."
Yelena wiped her cheeks. "He did?"
"Yeah, he ate the bastard. You should have seen it. Cathal was changing to all these different forms, trying to escape, and Valentine ate him whole," Emyr said, and wrinkled her nose. "And he also ate your hand. Cathal was wearing it as a trophy, and Valentine took offense at that."
"Fucking gross," Reeve said with a laugh. "Val has never been one to do things by halves, though."
"I wish I could have seen that," Yelena added. She knew she probably shouldn't, but she didn't mind that he had eaten her hand. Dragons weren't squeamish about such things. "Cathal had it coming many times over."
Reeve grinned. "I'm glad you are both okay. Especially you, Avallach. I would have hated to tell Moira you were defeated."
"Charlotte passed on her letter," Avallach snorted.
"She wrote to you? That's cute. I didn't get a letter," Yelena said with a pout. She liked the fiery little Ironwood.
