Until she saw Kat in his arms.
Apollymi's countenance instantly changed to one of concern as she rushed forward to place her hand on Kat's brow. "What happened?"
For some reason, that one single question coming from Kat's grandmother hit a raw nerve in him and all the repressed emotions he'd been holding back came rushing forward. His throat tightened as fear for Kat overwhelmed him.
But there was more to it than that. The thought of her dead...
Sin hadn't hurt like this in so long that it was all he could do to draw a breath. He couldn't lose her. He couldn't.
Swallowing against the lump in his throat, he spoke in a hushed tone. "I think she was bitten by a gallu demon and she's becoming one of them. I need you to heal her... please."
Tears filled Apollymi's eyes as she met his gaze, and he saw a hopelessness there that tore through him like fire. "I can't heal something like this."
Anger singed him. "I saw you mend her when she was hurt. You can heal this. I know it."
She shook her head. "I can heal wounds, but this... this is in her blood. It's spreading through her. I can't fix this. It's beyond me."
He felt as if someone had just sucker punched him. He shifted Kat in his arms so that he could press his lips against her feverish temple. Every laugh she'd ever given him... every touch burned through him now.
The thought of never hearing another sarcasm-laden quip...
It couldn't be over. He couldn't lose her over something so stupid as a bite they'd failed to cauterize. If not for helping him, she wouldn't even be in this.
No, there had to be something else he could do.
He glared at Apollymi as he felt his own tears pricking his eyes. "I won't let her die like this, Apollymi. Do you hear me? There has to be something. Anything. Don't tell me that out of two pantheons we don't have a solution."
She brushed a loving hand through Kat's pale hair. "Maybe her father can do something. He understands demons a lot better than I do."
A chill went over Sin at her words-the last known address for Ash was Artemis's bed. "What?"
Apollymi locked gazes with him. "You have to take her to Olympus. Apostolos is the only one I know who might have a solution or cure for this."
Personally, he'd rather have both eyes gouged out than ever step foot on Olympus again. The last time he'd ventured there, it'd cost him everything he had, including his dignity.
But one glance at Kat's beautiful face and the obvious pain she was in and he knew he was willing to walk through the fires of hell to make her better.
"Where is he on Olympus?"
"Artemis's temple."
Of course he was. Where else would Acheron be when Sin needed him?
How unfair was this? But his past didn't matter right now. Only Kat did.
"All right," he breathed, "but I can't go there on my own. Artemis stripped that power from me to keep me from killing her."
"Oh, we can only hope." Apollymi touched him on the shoulder. "Do me proud," she whispered. Then, louder, she called out to her son, "Apostolos?"
Ash's answer was almost instantaneous. "Yes, Matera?"
"I have Sin here with Katra. She's ill and she needs you, but I can't send them there without your help."
Sin barely had time to blink before he found himself on the balcony of Artemis's temple.
The large doors to his left opened to show Acheron in a pair of black leather pants and a long, heavy silk Atlantean robelike formesta that billowed out around his boots as he walked. "What's wrong?"
Sin met him halfway across the balcony. "A gallu bit her."