Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon

and curse, none of the Daimons would even exist.”
    â€œThey killed his son and his mistress,” she said as if that warranted the god’s unreasonable anger.
    â€œThree soldiers killed his son and mistress,” Sin reminded her. “The rest of them were completely innocent. How many of the Apollites did Apollo kill as children the day he went wild on them? Does he even care? Oh, wait a second, I forgot. How many of the Apollites were his own flesh-and-blood children and grandchildren that he condemned to death? Did he care they were damned over something they had no part in? He killed more of his own blood family in anger than the three soldiers who killed that mistress and child. A lot more.”
    Kat cringed. Again, Sin was right. Stryker, who served Apollymi, was Apollo’s own son. Originally, Stryker had had ten children who had been cursed along with him. Out of that ten, all of them had gone Daimon and been killed.
    All of them.
    â€œTell me something, Kat,” Sin said, his voice deep and tense. “If you were going to die at twenty-seven and someone showed you how to live another day, would you really choose the life of a complete stranger over your own?”
    â€œOf course I would.”
    â€œThen you’re a better person than I am. Or maybe you just haven’t had to fight for survival, so you can’t truly understand what it’s like to look death in the face and have him stare right back at you.” The heat in his voice sent a shiver over her.
    Still she wasn’t swayed to his side. “You’re immortal. What do you know of dying?”
    A cold look descended on his features as pain glowed in those golden depths. “Immortals can and do die. Some of us more than once.”
    There was something there … something she needed to know the answer to.
    â€œAnd have you ever taken the life of an innocent to live another day?”
    His eyes were harsh and cold. “I’ve done many things in my life that I didn’t want to. I’m not proud of them, but I’m still here and I intend to be here for a long time to come. So don’t you dare sit in judgment of people when you haven’t been in their shoes.”
    Kat reached out to touch him even though she knew she shouldn’t. The instant she did, she felt the rawness of his grief. But more than that, she saw him with his daughter, screaming out her name as she was killed by demons. His black hair was plastered by sweat against his dark skin. Blood ran down his rage-contorted face and body in thick, crimson rivulets.
    She could see him cradling Ishtar against him and feel the searing ache that made her gasp.
    Then Kat felt the sharp, crisp pain of something piercing her own heart.
    She looked down, choking on what seemed to be her own blood, expecting to see a wound. But it wasn’t her body she saw. It was Sin’s. There was a sword stuck through him and it burned like the very fires of hell. Every beat of her heart sent more agony pounding through her until she wanted to scream from it.
    And it wasn’t the only painful memory he kept buried. She was in a long, open hallway that was light and airy, with thin white curtains billowing in the breeze. Sunshine poured through it as Sin walked toward the back of his temple in Ur. There was a feeling of happiness in his heart until the sounds of grinding sex intruded on it. The joy turned to vengeful rage as he entered his bedroom. He approached the bed in the corner and parted the heavy red curtains.
    What she saw there jolted her into releasing Sin’s arm. Kat gasped as she stepped back in shock.
    She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t see or hear anything other than the unbelievable agony inside her. It hurt … it hurt.… Over and over images continued to flash in her mind. Sin’s memories. She saw his wife in the arms of another man. Saw his son, Utu, and his daughter, Ishtar, as they died fighting the