Valentine gathered the last of his tattooing gear together in his satchel and slung it over his shoulder.I know. I just wasn't ready to listen. We will fix her hand, and then maybe she will be able to help us too.
Want her. Want her. Want her.The dragon tossed an image into his mind of Yelena on top of him, licking his throat.
Valentine ran his hands through his hair and tugged on it. "I know. I feel it too. Let me think long enough for the magic, and then we will see how she feels about anything else."
She wants us, too.
Valentine ignored it. There was no reasoning with it when it was in an obstinate mood. In that way, they were the same. He let magic fill his mind, gently pushing the dragon out. It didn't fight him, knowing what had always come first for them.
Valentine had never really been interested in anything that wasn't magic, and finding that he was equally interested in a person was a new experience for him.
And he wasveryinterested in making Yelena submit again.
"Magic, magic, magic," he whispered under his breath, trying to get his blood to cool down.
He almost felt normal again by the time he made it to Yelena's door. All that normal unravelled as her scent hit himand he spotted her sitting cross-legged on the floor with his drawings and new ones of her own scattered around her. There was a smudge of ink on her chin that made his mouth dry out.
"Good, you're back. Come here and explain what this design here means. I want to make sure I'm not misunderstanding it," Yelena said, snatching up a piece of paper and waving it at him.
A smile was on Valentine's face before he could stop it. His dragon tried to tell him something, but nothing existed in that moment but the girl on the floor. If it had been anyone else, he would have cringed and tried to start tidying them up and getting them to move to a proper space. His OCD need to have order didn't apply to her.
Valentine placed his bag down on the coffee table next to what was left of their dinner. He toed off his boots, dropped a cushion beside her, and sat down. If she needed to work on the floor, he wouldn't interfere with that.
Balance. She's the balance, he thought to himself. The balance and the opposite.
"Show me what you need help with," Valentine said, taking the sketch from her.
Yelena was drawing with her left hand and was making small, frustrated sounds every time it shook. Valentine wrapped his hand over hers.
"Tell me what you want me to do, and I will draw," he said.
"I should have kept up with my ambidexterity," Yelena complained, but let him take the pen from her.
Following some unknown urge, Valentine kissed the inside of her wrist before letting her hand go. Her cheeks went pink, and his heart stuttered.
"Let me help," he said, quickly looking away before he got distracted and tried to pounce on her again.
Yelena pulled three of his sketches toward her and started folding different sides. "You have most of it, but it's spread out.Look, like this." She put the folded pieces of paper together, and the new sigil jumped out at him.
"Oh, gods, this is what happens when I am distracted. Okay, let me start, and you tell me where to add your bits to make sure the magic connects your nerves properly," he said, excitement rushing through him like it always did when he could finally see a magical solution to a problem.
An hour later, they had cleared off the coffee table, and Valentine set out his inks, needles, and guns. The design sat in front of him, and there wasn't anything he could see that needed adjusting.
Yelena sat on the opposite side of the table and had her arm resting on a cloth so they wouldn't get blood and ink everywhere.
"Are you sure you want to do this tonight? Your arm will probably still be tender from such a traumatic wound," Valentine said.
The look Yelena gave him made his balls shrivel. "Remember what I said the other evening about how I know what my body is capable of?" she said.
Valentine sighed. "I don't like the idea of hurting you."
"I know, and you won't. I'm so full of healing potions right now that the biggest thing you need to consider is how my body is going to try to fix me as you tattoo," Yelena said. She drank some more of the water he had set out for her. "I'm better than fine, Val. Please, just do it. If you were me, wouldn't you want to be able to use your magic straight away?"
Valentine shivered. "Yes. I would be worse than you about it, if I'm being honest. Although you didn't seem to have any issue throwing me out of the room the other night."
Yelena laughed, deceptively sweet. "That was brute strength and annoyance, not precision. There's a difference, as you well know. Now, are we doing this or not?"
"We are. Tell me if you need a break. I can get a bit lost when I'm tattooing, so if I go quiet, you know why." Valentine picked up his marker and lifted her arm so it was positioned upright. "You could tell me about what kind of dragon you are, and how you can use ice magic?"
