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with a glimmer in her brilliant green eyes. “Fighting bad guys, bringing them to justice, plenty of time with comrades? What’s not to love?” 
    Dylan pressed his lips together firmly.
    “Danger, the possibility of being killed by insane and unstable elementals, the guilt of knowing that people might be put to death…” 
    Leigh rolled her eyes.
    “I thought water elementals were more adventurous than us earth-aligned types,” she pointed out, sticking out her tongue at him. 
    “We are. I just … I don’t want you to feel like you have to do something you don’t want to in order to be with me.”
    “You met me when I was spying on your brother and sister-in-law. If I weren’t at least a little bit more adventurous than some of my kin, we might never have met.” 
    “We’ll talk about it later,” Dylan said. “After we figure this all out.”
    “I need to get on the top of my game again,” Aira said from the front passenger seat. “Stop making me smile, you two. I need to be able to harness the power of righteous indignation and petty rage.”

 
     

    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    DYLAN, LEIGH, AND AIDEN STOOD outside of the council room, waiting for Aira to reappear. Every so often—true to form—Dylan heard her voice through the thick door and walls, raised to a breaking pitch as she castigated the other two rulers. 
    “She has leverage over Maralah,” Aiden pointed out, murmuring just loud enough for Leigh and Dylan to hear. “With Oriel still in custody, she might be able to get Connor on board as well; but word on the street is that Connor wants to stay out of it as long as it’s just air elementals the group is going after.”
    “Well it’s clearly not just air elementals anymore,” Dylan argued, feeling the rankling frustration of knowing that his own kind was being killed. It had only been three of the 12 in the most recent attacks—but Dylan had known two of the elementals personally. 
    “Until the earth elementals turn on fire elementals it’s not going to be high priority for Connor,” Aiden said. Aira’s voice rose once more, though her words weren’t audible through the door. Dylan grinned slightly.
    “Clearly she’s working on making it high priority for Connor,” Leigh said. Dylan could hear the respect in her voice. 
    “What do we do if she can’t get the other two on board? Maralah has a reputation for being stubborn, and obviously she isn’t going to want to come after her own people any more than Aira wants to put air elementals on trial if she can help it.” Dylan said, as he glanced around the quiet, empty hallway.
    “We’ve already got the authority from the elders to hunt down the people involved. She can keep tracking them with our help no matter what.” Aiden replied and nodded.
    “She’s taking it hard—but of course she is. Right before she left, the calls started coming in from the families of the people who were killed.” Dylan said and groaned in sympathy.
    “A lot of pressure on her,” Leigh said, her lips twisting in an expression that was neither a smile nor a frown. “I have to admit, I’m surprised at how well she’s handling it.”
    “Do you know about the trials they subjected her to?” Aiden looked almost—not quite—offended at Leigh’s implication.
    “Only in the vaguest terms; that sort of information is strictly need-to-know, and few of my family were present.” Leigh glanced at Dylan and then at Aiden. “But I would have suspected with the elder’s doubts, they’d put her through the wringer.”
    “And then some,” Dylan said, shaking his head in memory. “She nearly died when someone poisoned her, she had to personally execute her poisoner, and she was forced to take my brother as a mate…” Leigh’s eyes widened.
    “You were arranged?” she stared at Aiden in undisguised shock. Aiden shook his head, smiling in the way that Dylan recognized so well—the ‘gone’ smile that always came over his brother when he