"He knew I was helping Yelena," Valentine replied. His family loved to overreact. He was surprised they hadn't tried to put a tracker on him after Apollo's kidnapping.
"Look what Val made me!" Yelena said, high-pitched and excited. She showed off her hand like some women would show off an engagement ring. Both Avallach and Emyr immediately closed in on her, hammering her with questions about it, turning it this way and that to study it.
"Is there a reason you two came banging on the door this early?" Valentine asked. He would have liked at least another hour in bed, preferably with Yelena naked beside him. Or under him. Or on top of him.
Avallach looked up. "It's almost noon."
"We didn't go to sleep until late," Yelena said with a shrug.
"I bet," Emyr chuckled, and Valentine narrowed his eyes. "Oh, come on, you aren't even wearing pants right now."
Yelena beamed. "I shredded them! They are mine now."
"And this whole place smells of sex," Avallach added, wrinkling his nose. "We are dragons. You can't hide anything from us."
Valentine fought the blush that was trying to force its way up his neck. Yelena wasn't the least bit embarrassed, so he didn't know why he was. "Do you have a point?"
"We aren't shaming you, Val. Calm down," Emyr said, rolling her eyes. "After you went insane trying to get her back, we knew it was only a matter of time."
"And the reason why you're here is..." Valentine prompted. Hewasn't going to talk about sex with Yelena. It was no one’s damn business.
"Midir has agreed to a meeting at dusk. Taranis wants you both to be there, and for Midir to know he's failed," Avallach replied, a feral gleam in his eyes. "I will never forget what he did to Yelena and me, but I will wait until it won't start a war before I get my revenge."
It was sometimes hard to remember that Avallach was the oldest of the knights. He was always quick with a joke and a smile, but according to Killian, Avallach was a legend through all of Faerie for his utter ruthlessness in battle.
"We will be there. Valentine is going to help me experiment with my new hand out of the city first," Yelena said with a nod of her head.
The knights looked at him again, and he scowled. "Yes, I am going to shift. You have a problem with that?"
"You didn't fuck him hard enough to get rid of that attitude, little sister," Avallach said with a snort. "Maybe give it another go."
"I will." Yelena smiled serenely. "But I like his attitude just the way it is."
Valentine did blush then. Fuck. He couldn't act like a defensive asshole in the face of her happiness. "I will be careful when I shift. Yelena is going to help me. There will be no rampage this time."
"I rather liked the rampage last time. I've never seen Owain and Emyr look so shocked," Avallach said, and some of the tension went out of Valentine's spine. "You are a scary-looking dragon, but that's no bad thing. We might need you a bit scarier if Midir doesn't calm the fuck down."
"Any luck finding the spies in the city?" Valentine asked. Someone had leaked Yelena's location, and he wasn't going to stop until he found out who was responsible.
"No, but the lords are all invited to this meeting. It will give us achance to see who is twitchy. They were the only other people who knew where we were going," Avallach replied and cracked his knuckles. "They won't remain hidden for long."
Valentine nodded before looking at Yelena. "I need to go and get some clothes. Come by and get me when you are ready to go," he said.
The other knights were leering at him, so he didn't do anything like kiss her goodbye, only slipped out into the corridors. He pulled a glamor around him, one Yelena had taught him through their letters, and hoped that no one in the palace could see through it.
23
Valentine's luck held until he got to Taranis's private wing. He dropped the glamor and stepped inside only to find Taranis, Quinn, Reeve, and Charlotte were all hanging out and chatting over a late brunch. Conversation died, and they all stared.
"Well, well, well, walk of shame, is it, sweetie?" Quinn piped up.
Valentine only smiled. "I have no shame."
"Interesting look you are rocking there, bro," Reeve said, his coffee halfway to his mouth. "What happened to your pants?"
"Trying something new," Valentine replied.
Taranis looked like he was about to explode with laughter. "I'm sure it's good to give everything an airing out sometimes."
