He slammed a glass down on the counter so hard she was surprised it didn't shatter. "Don't push me, Kat. My anger at you right now is only surpassed by my desire to kill Kessar. Since I can't lay hands on him, you might prove a worthy substitution." He poured the glass full.
"And I want you to understand the depth of my sorrow over what I did to you and your family. If I could put a hair shirt on to make amends, I would. I wish by all the gods I've ever met or even heard of that I could go back and return your powers to you. You deserve them. But I can't do that." He turned to leave.
But she wasn't willing to let him go that easily. Angry over his dismissal, she spun him around and kissed him. "I love you, Sin. I just wanted you to know that."
Sin was stunned by both her actions and her declaration. He couldn't move. All he could see was the tender look on her face. The sincerity. But even so, he heard the laughter of his wife echoing in his head. "You're incompetent as a god, a lover, and a man..."
The only thing he'd ever been good at had been killing. But Kat made him feel as if he had more skills than that. She made him feel as if he mattered. As if he had value.
And that shredded his resistance to her.
She laid her soft hand to his cheek. "We will win this and we will save your brother. I promise. I won't ever let you down or hurt you again. I swear it by all that I am and all I hope to be. You can trust me, Sin."
He swallowed as his emotions choked him. He wanted to turn and walk away from her, but he couldn't. It was too late for that.
"Don't disappoint me, Kat. I don't think I could recover from it if you did."
Kat's eyes teared as she heard those words from him. He didn't say that he loved her, but it was a start. He hadn't laughed at her or thrown her out.
He'd given her the promise of a relationship. A chance to rebuild the trust that had been broken. She couldn't expect more than that.
"You have my word, Sin."
He dipped his head down and gave her the lightest whisper of a kiss. Even so, it sent shivers over her and it fired her blood.
She buried her hand in his hair and held him close so that she could nuzzle her cheek against his. The scent of his skin made her hot and shivery. Her entire life had been spent wanting this kind of contact. He felt so good in her arms.
She didn't want to be her mother. She didn't want to miss him. To live her life with a memory of what they'd had and then to know she'd lost it all because of stupidity.
For the first time in her life, she had total clarity on Artemis's relationship with her father. It was a tragedy she didn't want to duplicate.
She rubbed a lock of Sin's hair between her fingers as she realized just how much she really did love him. Not just his body, which was hot, but the man inside it. "We're going to win this."
"I can almost believe it when you say that."
Stepping back, she smiled. "So what do we need to do?"
He took a deep breath before he answered. "One. Don't die. Two. Don't get bitten."
She really hoped there was more to it than that. "And?"
"Kick their ass," he said simply.
"Good plan. Little vague on the details."
He gave her a wicked grin. "Isn't it though?"
She laughed at his mischievous demeanor. It would be infectious if their lives didn't hang in the balance. "I've found that specifics aren't necessarily a bad thing at times like this. Plans can actually be your friend."
"Really? I've found a game plan usually gets in the way. Better to hang loose and improvise."
She took his glass and drained it. "Hang loose, huh? Is that really what you're going to do?"
Sighing, he stepped away from her, and his face fell to complete sobriety. "No. We have a time bomb in our hands and a lot to do. Step one-"
"Get your brother."
He shook his head. "We have to get the Tablet first."