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Jared smiled down at her while he walked. "A little, but not as much as before I met you. The others suffered too."
"I know. But you..."
"Macey, it's okay. We managed, and we found you. Or you found us..."
"Or Fedelm found all of us?" she suggested with a weak smile.
"Yes, thank goodness for interfering ghosts." Jared's smile widened, and she felt him relax. "You look thin."
"I've been a captive for two months, what do you expect?" she answered instantly, almost demanding he set her down so she could prove just how fine she was. But she refrained. Realistically, she didn't want to leave his arms, or his touch. She'd missed them all far too much for that.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?" She cocked her head to the side, but even this close together, he managed to avoid her gaze. "You're not to blame for me being caught. No more than Izban's to blame for Amber's capture," she told him, thinking back to the beithir's story. From what she'd said, there was almost no way Amber could have avoided being caught, so she assumed the same was true for her.
"We should have been more careful though. If we'd taught you to strengthen your mental walls more, then maybe none of this would have happened..."
"And maybe it would have just happened a different way," she replied softly. "Whatever the cause, the outcome is the same. But we're here, we're safe now, and we're now only one Warden short. I'd say that’s pretty good going really. Despite it all, we're further forward than we were." As she spoke, the words embedded themselves in her mind too. It was true. Despite it all, they'd come out of it with more allies, and more Wardens. Everything was further forward than it had been.
"I suppose, but we lost two months with you." Jared's voice cracked, and she began to understand the true problem. It wasn't that their mission had been side tracked. It was that they'd missed her.
"What's two months when we have forever." She turned his face towards her so he had to look her in the eyes.
"I hate to break it to you, but we're long lived, not immortal."
She laughed, the tears finally clearing. But it was a relief, especially with amusement in Jared's eyes. He was relaxing already. Being back with them was a relief.
"An incubus, Macey? I'm impressed." Aunt Nessie's laugh boomed through the room, gaining everyone's attention.
Macey wiggled slightly, and Jared listened, setting her down on the floor so she could stand on her own two feet.
"Auntie, this is Jared, Flint and Cam." She gestured to each of them as she introduced them. "This is my Aunt Nessie," she added, perhaps needlessly. None of her men had confused expressions on their faces.
"Meaning you must be Izban," Nessie addressed the blue-haired mage, who was hanging about and trying not to look at Amber.
Macey rolled her eyes. Were the two of them seriously going to ignore whatever it was between them and just dance around one another?
"Hi," Amber squeaked, stroking her tail in a move that reminded Macey of when she wrung her own hands. It was nervousness all over.
"Hello," Izban replied.
"I'm sorry," they both blurted at the same time, before going back to their shy nervousness.
"Should I mention the sexual tension I can feel emanating from them?" Jared whispered in Macey's ear, causing her to giggle.
"Behave."
"With you around? Never."
She smiled wider than she had in days, glad to be back in their comforting presence.
"There's a quiet room just off to the left," Fedelm piped up. "If you want to use it," she added hastily, probably sensing the tension in the air.
"Thanks," Amber said. "Izban, do you want to talk?" She didn't look like the same confident woman Macey had come to know already. She hoped she didn't come across quite the same when she was around her men. The last thing she wanted was to come across as useless when she was with her partners.
"Sure." He seemed just as nervous as she was, for which Macey was glad. Even if it did put his personality completely at odds with everything she'd come to know about him already. Gone was his snark and sarcasm. Even his eyes had softened. Amber was definitely his soft spot then.
She supposed she was Flint, Cam and Jared's s
