"Hey Dusty," she said in a tight voice.
He approached her favorite chair. She was curled up in it, her head resting on one of the arms. Her swirling silver eyes were red with tears. He sat on the ottoman in front of her, reaching out to tuck her hair behind her ear.
"I miss Damian," she whispered. "It's really hard to deal with all the bad stuff sometimes."
"Trust me, I know, kiri," he said. "I feel like I had a meltdown last night."
"You? Never," she said. "You shouldn't be so hard on yourself."
"I'm hard on everyone," he reminded her. "No exceptions."
"I just want this Europe thing to be over. You do enough for us anyway," she said.
"You're my family. I feel like I should be doing more. I just don't have the time."
"You need to take care of yourself, Dusty," she advised.
"I will, kiri," he said. "We're a lot alike, aren't we?"
"Yeah, we are," Sofi agree. "And this is how I know you're not taking care of yourself as much as you should be."
"Doesn't make a difference now if I die this weekend, does it?" he mused. She looked away. "I told Darian not to let you help him."
"He can't do it on his own, Dusty, and it's not because I'm being overprotective. Bianca healed me earlier, and I thought I could do more than I could, especially since ...." A troubled look crossed her features. "Dusty, I'm worried about him. To take his place as the Grey God, he has to overcome some really large hurdles. I don't know if he can do it."
"The Darian I remember was the strongest man I'd ever known," he said. "I believe … I hope … that man is still inside of him somewhere. If so, he'll take his place and probably knock the shit outta Damian and Czerno both a few times."
"I hope so, too," she replied. "He's about to run into something bad. I can't see well enough yet to know what happens, but it scares me. It'll make or break him, and I don't feel like he's anywhere near ready." Her words sent a streak of cold through him. His phone rang.
"I gotta get going," he said.
"Dusty, remember that Bianca can heal anyone and any wound." Her eyes were swirling again.
"You sound like the Watcher," he said warily.
"Just keep it in mind."
"Boss." Toni's voice was accompanied by a tap at the door. Dusty excused himself to join the Guardian. "I dug this out of a box of electronics upstairs and programmed it to be your new phone. That flip shit is so old school. I didn't get you the full touch screen, though. Your paws are too big to text." Toni held up a sleek phone and Bluetooth earpiece. "I tagged both with GPS and a speck of C4, so if you lose either, we can blow it up."