Was there really a choice here?
Don't do it...
It was terrifying even to contemplate, but she really had no other option. One of them was going to have to open up, and it dang sure wasn't him.
"I tell you the answer and you'll train me?" she asked point-blank.
"Yeah, what the hell?"
She took a deep breath for courage before she spoke again. "Very well. My powers are derived from the sun and the moon. The longer I go without one or the other, the weaker I become. It's why I can't stay here with my grandmother for too long or I'll be sick. If I were confined here without exposure to the sky, it would kill me."
Sin stared at her incredulously. He couldn't believe she'd told him that. Was she insane? "Do you know what you've just done?"
"Yes. I trusted you."
Yeah... She was nuts. No doubt about it. What kind of fool let loose something this important? "You know how much I hate your mother."
"And I know what you think of my father."
"Who doesn't even know you live."
"There is that," she conceded. "But I want to help you do the right thing, and if that means giving you power over me, then I'll do it."
She really was insane. He couldn't get past that. What kind of being would be so damn stupid and trusting? And for what? To help a race that didn't even know she existed? "I can destroy you now."
"Yes," she said, her eyes burning with intensity. "You can. But I'm trusting that you won't."
Sin shook his head in disbelief. No one had ever trusted him like this... not even his wife. Gods just didn't relinquish that kind of control to anyone under any circumstance. "You're not right, are you?"
"Could be. Other people have definitely thought so, and right now my inner monologue is going wild with worse insults than that."
He lifted his hand to touch her cheek. Her skin was as soft as silk against his fingertips. She was so delicate and yet he sensed within her a core made of steel. "Do you understand the danger you're going to face?"
"Seeing how my arm was broken earlier by one of them and your body is pretty torn up, I have a real good idea. But I've never been one to back down from anything. You need help and I intend to give it whether you want it or not."
Someone by his side. To fight. What a novel concept. No one had ever made such an offer before and he still wasn't sure if he should accept. But he had given her his word and he wasn't the kind of person to break an oath.
Still he was doubtful of her. "How do I know you won't take what I teach you and use it against me?"
She made a rude sound at him. "Hello? You have the knowledge to kill me. I think in this I'm the one who's most likely to get screwed."
He nodded in agreement before he dropped his hand from her face. "All right then. I need to get out of here. Back to my place so that we can prepare."
"Okay."
In a blink of an eye, they were back in his penthouse in Las Vegas. He looked around for Artemis, but she, along with her Dolophonos, was gone. Kish was still standing by the sofa as a life-sized statue.
Kat arched a brow as she saw Kish's frozen form for the first time. "Friend or foe?"
"Depends on the time and day." He snapped his fingers and Kish returned to his normal self.
Shaking his head, Kish frowned. "Did you freeze me again?"
Sin shrugged. "You were annoying me."
"I hate it when you do that." Kish did a double take as he realized Kat was standing beside him, watching him with a curious glimmer in her eye. Confusion marked his brow before he turned back to Sin. "You and Artemis made up? Damn, how long was I frozen?"
Kat laughed. "I'm not Artemis."