I know you are raging, but we can't shift here in the mountain. We must be careful hunters, treading softly, he tried to soothe it. It was the tempestuous part of himself that always needed to be coaxed into patience.
A rush of heat burned through him, and when Valentine opened his eyes, it was with the vision of the dragon. He looked down, and the thread of silver was now attached to his wrist.
Thank you,Valentine said. He didn't know how long its patience would last, so he all but ran through the palace, following the flickering light up twisting staircases, moving higher and higher. His ears popped as he passed viewing platforms for people studying astronomy.Where the hell was she hiding?
Valentine came to the top of another set of stairs that stopped in front of a large wooden door. It was painted blue with a silvery gray dragon design on it.
Valentine swallowed hard, recognizing it at once. He had been drawing that same dragon design for weeks, right down to the two curling horns. He thought it was a new tattoo design.
What the fuck is happening?He didn't know, but he sure as hell was going to find out.
Valentine banged on the door. "Yelena. Open up."
"Go away," came the sharp reply through the wood. It was a pissed off tone that he had never heard her use before that night. He liked how it cut into the numb part of himself a little too much.
"No. I'm not moving until you talk to me. We need to work this out, and if you leave it up to me, I'm just going to jump to the wrong conclusions," Valentine replied. He placed his burningforehead against the wood. "Please, Caelan." He bit his tongue, hating that the name slipped out like a plea.
The door opened. Yelena was dressed in a dark sapphire blue robe, and seeing such a rich color on her was a shock to his system. She usually wore pale creams and soft blues, which made her seem sweet and…as unthreatening as possible.
Facts started to connect in Valentine's brain—the way Taranis had found her a wild thing, Quinn's comments about false innocence, Charlotte trying to tell him that Taranis's court was afraid of her, Lord Afon's snide comments about taking in another feral creature, and finally the personality from the letters they had exchanged.
Yelena reallywashiding her strength just the way Valentine always had. Where he had made his armour so sharp that if anyone got too close, they would bleed, she had gone the opposite way and tried to make herself seem as meek and sweet as possible.
Valentine blinked rapidly, trying to bring his mind back on course. "No pastels?" his mouth said, and he winced.
Yelena's eyes turned to a blue so dark, they were almost black. "If that's all you have to say to me, go away."
Valentine grabbed the edge of the door to keep her from closing it in his face.
"Sorry, I'm just a little stunned. Is anything about you real?" he asked and stepped into the chambers, forcing her to step back. He shut the door and locked it.
Yelena's lips lifted into a sneer. "I'm sorry, is a girl dressing how she likes in her own rooms too much for your little boy brain to comprehend?"
"And you've been hiding that sassy mouth too." Valentine grinned. "You have got them all fooled, don't you?"
"I had you fooled, too. Perhaps too well," Yelena said, matchinghis snide grin. "Speak, Valentine. Or get out. I am tired and want to sleep in my own bed for the first time in weeks."
Valentine tried not to get distracted by the shelves upon shelves of books around them, the tables covered with notes, sigils, and artifice. The paintings on the walls depicted strange, barren landscapes and lush forests, as well as standing stones carved in alluring patterns. The couches were in deep jewel tones of blue and green, arranged around the large, open fireplace. Everything was burning into his senses.
Valentine dragged his eyes away from the power of the room and back to the most intriguing thing in it.
"I'm not sorry for what I said at dinner. You should have written to me. You seemed to be okay doing that for months, but when it came to something as important as a vision that concerned me, you decided I wasn't worth telling. Why?" he demanded, folding his arms.
This wasn't the way he had wanted this conversation to go, but he couldn't think straight, and his mouth seemed determined to bring up the part that hurt the most.
Yelena's left arm hugged her waist, with her other tied up in its sling, her version of crossing her arms. She mirrored the arrogance in his stance in a challenge, and his hackles rose. He wanted to pounce on her and sink his teeth into any soft place he could reach.
"I don't know, Valentine, it might have something to do with the fact that I got your last letter right before I had the vision. You thought I had deceived you. You wouldn't have listened to me about the vision even if I did tell you."
"Of the two of us, I have been the least deceptive,Caelan," he pointed out.
The snarl that came out of her had all the hairs on the back of his neck rising. The burst of lust that came with it surprised himinto stepping back. He had thought her beautiful before, but it was nothing compared to when she showed her fangs and claws.Breathtaking.
"It wouldn't have mattered if I had told you. I didn't have the time to get your 'permission' to do what was right," Yelena said sarcastically. "I had to protect this city from Midir. You are so safe and clueless in your little human world."
"You could have trusted me…"
Yelena threw her hand up in the air in frustration."It's not about whether or not I trusted you not to turn on all of us. If Midir has a chance to be in the same room as you, he will take hold of your mind, and that will be it. He will hollow out all your feelings, thoughts, and bonds with family. There would be nothing left of what makes you who you are. Why he sees you as his ultimate tool has everything to do with the power you refuse to acknowledge. It makes him even more dangerous because you don't know how to use what you have to fight back."
