"Are there any side effects?" Flint asked worriedly. Just like him, Macey was a little worried about this latest development. Having a seventh Warden would have been so much easier. There may have been some trouble fitting them into their current relationships - no one ever wanted to be the only one single in a group of couples... quads - but at least it would have been a living, breathing person. Macey could work with that. But having a new power... that was different.

"I'm not sure a Seelie power has ever been bound to a non-fae before," the man said softly. His voice was calming and gentle, and Macey began to wish that he'd talk to her more, about anything, everything. His voice was to die for.

"I cannot guarantee that it'll all go smoothly. But if you want your seventh Warden, there is only that one way."

"Wait, how do you know about the Wardens?" Macey asked, suddenly suspicious despite his beautiful voice. "How do you know we're some of them?"

"The very power that is going to bind with one of you told me," the woman said, a big smile on her face. "It also told me that it's met you before, Macey. It tried to warn you once, but you didn't listen."

"What? I don't think I've ever..." A memory popped up in her head. Back at her brothers' house, when they lay unconscious outside, she'd heard a voice that told her to run. She didn't and ended up being kidnapped. Kind of. Although that was a good thing, otherwise she'd never have met her men. But wasn't there something else? She remembered how when she first woke, she'd been convinced that someone had hit her on the head. Cam had insisted that she'd fainted and she'd almost begun to believe that herself... But what if Air had warned her about whoever had attacked her, not about the kidnapping?

"So, you can talk to it?" she asked, aching for more information.

"Air talks to all of us," the man said with a grin. "We're made of the same element; you could probably call us family. Air whispers to us when humans are in need of us, and sometimes, we listen. Not as much now as we used to, but that's another story." His smile turned sour. "There are bad things going on all over the world, and many of them are connected. Even the Seelie court has not stayed untouched by evil. But let's not speak of that. You need to make a decision. Who of you will carry Air?"

"Can we have a moment alone?" Cam asked the two sìth and with a nod, they disappeared from the room, leaving the five Wardens alone.

"We shouldn't decide this without Jared," Flint said empathically. "It's a big decision and all six of us should be involved."

"Do we have time for that?" Macey asked. "We still need to go and talk to the selkies from what Aunt Nessie said, and we only have three weeks in which to do it..."

"It'll only take half an hour or so to go talk to him," Flint pointed out.

"Will they let us back in if we leave?" Amber asked.

Macey looked at the other woman, appreciating her acuteness. That was a very good question. The sìth, or at least some of them, were co-operating at the moment, but would that continue? If they said they needed to delay, then would they still be friendly?

Sure, the Seelie Court was supposed to be the light one, but Macey doubted that was always the case. Every race had their decent folk, and their evil and twisted ones.

"I'll do it," she said suddenly, before holding up her hand. "Before you say anything, it makes the most sense. I'm the one with most of the marks already, and that's got to mean something. So, it makes sense for me to take on Air."

Macey didn't want to admit how worried that thought made her. But if it needed doing for the good of the Wardens, and the good of the world in general, then she'd do it. She needed to.

"That might be true, but..." Flint started, only to stop speaking when Cam placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It might be easiest for me to take the power. I'm Wind already, so Air would match my existing skill set."

Macey walked up to him and cupped her hand around his cheek. "Can you promise me that's the case? That it wouldn't mess with your existing magic? Or that it would be painless? Because if you can't, then you're not doing it."

"Macey..."

"Don't Macey me. There's a reason this all set in motion when I showed up. And why the marks are appearing on my back and not on anyone else's."

"That's not how this works," Flint protested.

"Isn't it?" She met his eyes and was floored by the compassion and concern that lingered there. Her men certainly weren't thinking with their heads right now. They were thinking with their hearts.

"I could take it, I think," Amber piped up. "It's probably similar enough to my storm magic. But I think Macey's right, I think it needs to be her."

Macey nodded her thanks. It was good having a friend fully on her side through all this. Amber wasn't going to make decisions based on her romantic attachment to Macey, because there wasn't one. She'd logic these things out, before agreeing with whichever party made the most sense.

"I agree with Amber," Izban added.

"Of course you do. It's not your girlfriend being put in danger," Flint burst in.

"Girlfriend?" Macey raised an eyebrow at him. Now definitely wasn't the right time to be having this conversation, but she really couldn't help it. She liked the way the word sounded when he said it.

"Girlfriend doesn't even begin to sum up what you are to me," he announced.

"And do you have a word that would sum me up?" she teased.

"I don't think anything could," he answered softly, taking her hand from Cam's face, and placing it on his own. "I know a lot of things about it though. I know I love you, Macey, and I know that I couldn't live with myself if anything bad happened to you."

"I feel the same way," Macey said honestly, before looking over at Cam. "About all of you. But that doesn't mean I'm not doing this. We all know I'm the logical choice to take on Air. So that's what we're going to do."

Flint started to protest, but Macey held up her hand to stop him.

"Please, Macey," Cam tried begging.

"No. I'm doing this. I have to do this. Think about what the alternative is," she implored them, hoping that would make the difference.

"Fine."

"I'm glad to hear you've decided," the sìth man said, popping up out of nowhere and making Macey jump.

"You couldn't have knocked?" Izban demanded.

The man looked at his hands. "With what?" He seemed genuinely perplexed, and Macey had to admit he had a point. Though given his appearance out of thin air, she had some questions about why they even had doors if they weren't going to use them.

"I'm ready," Macey said. "Tell me what you want me to do."