WAKING UP early in the morning, Juno gazed around the room. The cold walls of the castle stood in stark contrast to Apollo’s blonde hair. Wearily rubbing her eyes, Juno rolled over and started to get out of bed. Next to her, Apollo struggled sleepily to pull her closer. Juno smiled and stepped away from the bed.
Putting on a robe, she waved her hand across the surface of the scrying basin. After revisiting the memories of her past, she had tried to see across time to the present. She needed to know what Phoebe, Supay and the Greek daemons were preparing to do. Despite her many attempts at scrying across the oceans, she could not get the present to reveal itself to her. The only reasonable answer was that the Greek daemons had chosen to block their activities from prying eyes, but Juno hoped that this was not the case. If she was not able to scry, she would have to go straight to the source to gather intelligence on the opposing side’s forces.
Gazing into the ebony basin, few images appeared on the surface of the water. Shifting her gaze slightly, Juno switched between images of the Roman preparations to families cooking breakfast. Nothing appeared in the basin that seemed even remotely connected to the Greeks.
Leaning back heavily, Juno sighed. Her only task with the Romans was to gather intelligence. She had made a deal with Supay and Phoebe that she would not actively participate in the daemon war or stir up trouble. This was the only thing that she could do to stay involved. Glancing over at Apollo, Juno sighed again. This was also the only way for her to stay near Apollo.
Wandering over to the window, Juno looked out over the preparations. The many archers positioned along the wall were unnerving enough. Last night, she had been told that an offensive plan was being readied. Although the Roman daemons wanted to keep the fighting quiet on the island of Sicily, they had no compunctions about drawing attention in Crete. Here, they would use archers, boiling tar and daggers to defend the castle. Over on the island of Crete, they were willing to use any manner of mortar, machine gun, mine or pistol. It was not looking good for Supay and Phoebe. Juno snorted. Not that she cared about Phoebe, but it would be heart wrenching to see anything happen to Supay.
A sound behind her indicated that Apollo was starting to wake up. Running her hands through her hair, Juno approached the bed. Slowly opening his eyes, Apollo caught sight of Juno and smiled. “There’s my lovely lady,” he murmured as he pulled her in for a kiss. Over the last few weeks, Apollo and Juno had grown increasingly close. What started as a simple, physical fling had transformed into something more. As of yet, Juno was not entirely sure how she felt. After her youthful romance with Supay years ago, she had forsworn any type of love or romantic entanglements. In reality, she had almost militantly stuck to the siren’s code to never fall in love and only have sex for enjoyment or manipulation. During the last few weeks, she had enjoyed the closeness of her relationship with Apollo and the blossoming friendship.