Page 29 of Within the Flames
"By the way," Amber blushed even more, "I've been wondering how you do it. Four guys, it can't be easy."
Macey laughed, surprising herself. "Do you mean emotionally? Or physically?"
Amber grinned. "The latter. Not that I'm not interested in the relationship you have, but right now I'm feeling more like I want to know all the juicy details."
She wiggled an eyebrow suggestively at that last bit.
"Amber," Macey groaned. "Please don't use words like that."
"No? What about moist? There must be a lot of moisture when you all come together. You know, you being a water being and all that."
Macey's face was flaming red by now. "Can we go back to discussing the end of the world? That's so much less embarrassing than my love life."
Amber chuckled. "Well, let me tell you, using magic during sex is amazing. Izban has this trick where he conjures ice while he-"
"Amber!"
The beithir laughed loudly. "Okay, okay, but what's really fun is when the ice starts to melt and-"
Macey threw a pillow at her friend, hitting her straight on the nose. She gasped and threw it back. Macey just about managed to evade it, but that meant the pillow hitting the lamp on the bedside table. It fell to the floor, the porcelain base shattering.
Before she could even move to pick up the shards, the door sprang open, Flint running into the room. Sparks covered his hands and he looked ready to interfere whatever cat fight the two women were involved in. They both looked at him as if they were surprised by his presence. They both knew that he'd been standing outside, waiting just in case the girls were going to attack each other. There was a distinct possibility that Izban was somewhere nearby too.
Amber pulled Macey off the bed, smiling innocently at Flint.
"We were just about to see if there's food somewhere. Macey is starving."
Yes, she was actually, now that she came to think of it. Food hadn't been a high priority but now that Flint was healed, the other guys on the way back and Amber not dead by Macey's hands, she could really do with a meal.
"Waffles?" she asked hopefully.
Flint shook his head. "All we have is soup. Malan made it, so I don't know how good it is. The storm kelpies brought some fish earlier, but you're a vegetarian, so I didn't reserve any of that for you."
"How did Malan make soup?" Macey inquired. "He doesn't exactly have a body."
Flint shrugged. "No idea, I wasn't there to witness it. Maybe someone else made it and he's just claiming the credit for it. Who knows."
That sounded like something Malan would do. She just wished he'd made waffles instead of soup. She needed some sugar to keep her going and dispel all the dark memories still lingering at the corners of her mind.
"Let's have some food," she said, slightly more cheery than she thought.
* * *
By the timethey'd finished their meal, Cam and the others arrived. All three of them were exhausted, but Jared looked healthier than he had when Macey had last seen him.
"We took a little stopover at the hedonist village," he explained at seeing her quizzical look, before hugging her tight. The other two had run over to Flint, checking on him, but Jared stayed with Macey, embracing her.
"Thanks for saving me," he whispered. "Somehow, you managed to save two Wardens in one day. I don't know how you do it, but thanks."
Macey smiled and pushed him just about far enough away so she could look him in the eyes.
"If I hadn't dragged you down in the water, you wouldn't have needed saving."
Instead of replying, he kissed her, his lips full of warmth and passion. The familiar incubus heat tingled on her skin. She peeked at his wrists. He was no longer wearing the cuffs. Good. She'd hated seeing him shackled like that. She couldn't imagine being cut off from her magic like that... well, actually, she could. The Mahoun had done something similar to her.
She returned his kiss, but her mind kept spinning. Now that everyone had returned and Flint had his powers back, they were going to have to go in search of the Mahoun, and defeat him.
Which sounded straight forward, but she knew it wouldn't be as easy as that. Nothing had been easy since the moment her brothers had been captured.
Her brothers.
Guilt welled up within her. Even more than when she'd thought her Wardens were in danger. So much had been going on that she hadn't given them a second thought.
On reflection, neither had her father when they'd visited him, which was odd, to say the least.
"Get me the kelpies," she instructed, not caring who actually followed her directions, so long as someone did.
It was time she had a talk with her own people.
