"You're right," the Watcher said. "I'll find someone else to do the job."
The Watcher didn't look happy. The creature winked out of existence, and Jule sat up. The otherworldly creature wanted to force his hand, and he didn't understand why. He rose and paced, dwelling on the carnage that would surely ensue if the Guardians remained vulnerable for long. This woman was the key. Yet, he felt her death was not the answer.
Right about now, he'd give almost anything to talk to Sofia, the White God's Oracle. She alone could provide insight into what he needed to do.
"Sofi says hi." The Grey God's voice was quiet, and Jule didn't sense him appear. He chuckled, silently thanking Damian and his mate.
"I'm happy …" He paused as he turned, startled to see the Grey God without the scars that knotted his face the last time Jule saw him. The man gazing back at him was wiry and lean with angled features and swirling gold eyes.
"I got a new face," the Grey God said.
"I see that. Lookin' good, Darian," Jule said. "How's everything on your side of the world?"
"Interesting. Dusty found his mate and destroyed most of Florida."
Jule laughed, not at all surprised by the news of his adopted brother, the human turned assassin with a low tolerance for bullshit.
"Damian doesn't know I'm here," Darian added. "But Sofi asked me to visit."
"So you defied your brother for the little blonde Oracle?"
"She runs the place, Jule," Darian replied. "Damian's just figuring that out. Anyway, she wanted me to tell you to trust your instincts."
Jule snorted. "She sounds like a Watcher."
"You have no idea," Darian agreed. While the Grey God appeared calm, his air was agitated and his gaze stormy. Jule sensed a great deal of turmoil behind his calm features and pitied the man. Darian had spent thousands of years enslaved to the Black God before the Oracle freed him, and Jule couldn't imagine how deeply that experience must have scarred the Grey God's soul. Darian's power had grown; the air of the room shimmered, and light and dark alike warped in the space around Darian.
"Good to see you, Darian," Jule said, genuinely happy to see Damian's brother alive. "The new Black God?"
"Nothing more than a kid. Sofi says his path is dark. I can't help feeling bad for him," Darian said, his gaze growing dark and distant. "I know what that life is like. I guess the alternative was worse."