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Macey sat down besides Flint and waited for Rónán to take a seat on her other side, before she cleaned her throat.
"Rónán helped me deal with my magic," she began. "Sorry for bursting your pipes."
Cam laughed loudly. "You can burst my pipes anytime, little kelpie."
"Mine too," Jared grinned. "Although please give us some warning next time so we can ask the house for more buckets and mops. Or a pump."
"That bad?" Macey asked, feeling more guilty by the second.
Flint reached over and put an arm around her shoulders, squeezing reassuringly. "Nothing we couldn't handle. We've had parties here that were more destructive than your magic, so don't worry. Are you feeling better?"
Macey nodded. "Yes, I think I've got it all back under control." She blushed a little. "Rónán helped."
She was kind of expecting a reaction from her guys, but none came. Sure, they had insinuated that they were fine with her adding someone to her harem, but that didn't mean they'd not feel jealousy.
Amber chuckled in amusement and all eyes turned to the beithir. "I think your men were quite turned on by the idea that you were with the selkie," she said with a giggle.
"I wasn't," Cam protested at the same time as Jared admitted, "I was."
They looked at each other before Jared added, "But I'm an incubus. I can feel sexual energy from miles away."
"Cowards," Amber muttered, giving Macey a wide grin. "Are you planning on adding any more, Macey? I'm beginning to wonder what you're going to do with all of them. You'll need a larger bed."
Izban groaned and put a hand over his girlfriend's mouth. "Don't upset our hosts," he whispered loud enough for everyone to hear. He clearly wasn't as comfortable around the other Wardens as Amber was. Was he still suspicious of them all? Was he still intending to leave?
Cam cleared his throat. "Anyway, we should discuss our next steps. Just because we defeated the creature inhabiting the Staran doesn't mean that we can relax. There's more like it out there, including the Voice. He impersonates the Mahoun, the devil, and the one we killed was Self-Doubt. What other personas could these creatures have taken on? Fear? Anger? Loneliness?"
"This is an impossible task," Izban sighed. We don't even know who the enemies are, nor how to destroy them. Now that the Staran is mostly back to normal, maybe we should just be content with that and wait for the next generation of Wardens to take on the task."
Amber elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't."
"What?" He looked at her almost confused.
"Don't be an arsehole."
He frowned. "I'm not risking you for some foolhardy venture that might get you killed."
Amber shut him up by kissing him on the lips, before turning to the rest of the group.
"Please continue, Cam," she said with a sweet smile. "Izban will listen now."
The blue-haired mage in question didn't look very happy about it, but said nothing further.
Cam hesitated for a moment as if waiting for Izban to protest, but then said, "I propose we go after the Voice first. We know that he exists, at least, and we now know what he is."
"Kind of," Jared interjected.
Cam sighed. "Kind of. we managed to destroy Self-Doubt, which fills me with hope that we might be able to deal with the Mahoun as well."
"In the prophecy, it says that Air will appear 'when the end is near'," Macey said deep in thought. "We now have Air. Does that mean this is only the calm before the storm? Is everything about to go pear shaped?"
Flint pulled her closer to him. "Even if the apocalypse is about to happen, we'll be together. We'll get through this."
Izban laughed mirthlessly. "There won't be an apocalypse. Don't make this sound worse than it is."
"You didn't see what I saw," Amber said quietly, pulling everyone's attention to her. "The Mahoun showed me things, terrible things. I think he wanted to weaken me by showing me how resistance was futile, how he was going to destroy the world. Back then, I didn't care much, I was too focussed on staying alive, but now that I've been away from him for a while, the images are coming back to me." She shuddered and her eyes darkened. "He's planning to do something to the ground, to the earth. I saw crops dying, cattle starving. He's not going to attack magic users this time. He's targeting humans."
"Not just humans," Jared said thoughtfully. "If the earth is sick, animals die. First the land animals, then the birds, the fish. Everything is connected and if the balance is disturbed, everyone is at risk. We may not realise it, but we're dependent on the humans and their resources." He got up, his fists clenched. "I need to go to Earth, check what's happening. If he's already started, I may be able to feel it, but not from here. We're too far removed from the human plane."
