Valentine knew he had to face what truly lived inside him if he was going to protect them all from Midir's interest. For the first time, with Yelena in his arms, he wasn't afraid of finding out what he was made of.
22
Valentine couldn't remember falling asleep the night before. Or had it been morning by that point? He opened an eye and tried not to panic because he couldn't remember where he was.
Yelena was asleep facing him, her silver hand curled around his and holding it close.
Oh. That's where he was.
He took a moment just to stare at her shamelessly. The dark circles under her eyes were almost gone, and color flushed her cheeks. Valentine would never forget the way she had looked half-frozen, her lips blue as death.
Logically, he knew she was impossibly strong and could handle anything. His dragon didn't feel logical things.
He had never had an overabundance of emotions and had thought it was just how he was built. He was reassessing everything. He had bound his dragon when he was a teenager, and maybe it was his dragon side that was emotion and passion.
Yelena would help him free it. She would make sure he didn't hurt anyone. He had never seen her dragon, but he had felt hermagic and knew without a doubt that she could take him in any fight.
Valentine had never slept with anyone before, and he wasn't sure why he had stayed. They had bathed, and he had tucked her in. Yelena had taken his hand and pulled him down beside her, and there he had stayed. There had been no asking or argument.
His head had hit the pillow, and there was nothing. He never went to sleep that quickly.
The soul-destroying orgasm might have had something to do with it. Or the huge amount of magic he used. Or both. Either way, he hadn't been so clear-headed in a long time.
"Overthinking already?" Yelena murmured sleepily.
"No," he replied unconvincingly. "How are you feeling?"
Yelena opened her blue glacier eyes and stretched like a well-fed cat. She flexed all of her fingers. "I feel good. Whole. Curious to see what I can do with this hand, magic-wise."
"Want some company while you practice?" he asked, trying not to sound too eager.
Yelena smiled. "That would be nice. I want to experiment outside the city."
"Are you going to show me your dragon?" he asked hopefully.
Yelena raised a brow. "If you show me yours. We will have to fly to the place I usually practice."
Valentine rolled onto his back and touched the locking sigil on his chest. "Would you think less of me if I admit that I am nervous about what will happen if I do?"
"No," she replied simply. Cool silver fingers traced the design. "But you won't be alone, Valentine. I know you feel disconnected from everyone else, but you aren't. We are all here to help and support you, no matter what happens."
Valentine placed his hand on hers and held it to his chest. "What if I let it out and become a different person?"
"It doesn't work like that. Did Bas become a different person? Or Apollo? Look at your brothers. It will not change who you are. You will simply becomemoreof who you are."
Valentine chewed on his lip. "They didn't lock theirs up like I did mine."
"You let it out to save me, and you haven't gone mad. What makes you think you will now?"
Valentine stared up at the roof, struggling to find the right words. "I feel different since the change. I've been...emotional. I have always tried to keep myself in check because when I have felt things, they have been extreme. I lost my temper while tracking you. I could have been more strategic. I let my emotions get the best of me, and everyone died. I don't want to turn into some killing machine every time I get pissed off."
Yelena hummed thoughtfully. "I wouldn't use that example as an average day. According to what I was told, you shifted back, opened a portal back here, all the while under that so-called rage. No one should be able to open a portal into the city except for Taranis. You had the power at your fingertips, and you used it to get everyone to safety. I don't want to downplay your concern, but you are always more in control than you believe."
Valentine looked over at her. "I didn't feel in control, Yelena."
"You didn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve to be hurt. I won't let you lose yourself to the dragon. I promise," she said, and the certainty in her tone and strength of her gaze settled the nervous flutter in his stomach.
"You'll bring me back if I get lost?"
