Free Devil May Cry by Sherrilyn Kenyon Page B

Kat, she understood the reason and complied even though the daughter in her didn’t want to. Honestly, their separation was the thing she regretted most in life. “Not really. My father doesn’t know about me.”
    Sin was stunned by the news. If he knew anything about Acheron, it was that the man would be furious to learn he had a grown daughter no one had told him about. “How the hell have you kept that from him? He knows everything.”
    Kat shrugged. “Most everything. He can’t see those who are closest to him, and since I share a genetic link, I’m a ghost to his vision. My mother hid me from him first and then my grandmother joined in once she realized that giving him the knowledge of me would only hurt him more … and it would give my mother another tool to use against him. Believe me, it’s much better for everyone if he never learns I exist.”
    That made sense, but still it wasn’t right. Personally, he’d kill anyone who would keep such a thing from him. “And none of you thought about how wrong you were?”
    â€œWhat do you mean?”
    â€œAsh will die if he ever learns he has a child that he has never seen, especially since you’re grown.”
    â€œThat’s why he can never know and why you have to stop referring to Artemis as my mother. As far as anyone is concerned, I, like all the other handmaidens, was a foundling that Artemis raised.”
    Sin shook his head. Damn, with the exception of losing a child, he couldn’t imagine anything worse than to have a child he didn’t know about. Acheron deserved so much better than this. “You three have really done a number on him. Does anyone else know?”
    â€œJust you, Simi, and us. And I’m depending on you to not say anything.”
    â€œDon’t worry about me. I don’t want to be the messenger he kills in anger.” He gave her a devilish smile as he relished an image of Ash blasting Artemis into oblivion. “You know, there is a bright side to this. Sooner or later he’s going to find out about you, and when he does he’ll kill Artemis for me. I just hope I’m there to see it.”
    She gave him a peeved look that somehow managed to make his groin jerk. “Very funny. He would never hurt her.”
    â€œYeah, I know. Damn it to hell,” he said in a low tone. “Bastard is still in love with her. There’s something seriously wrong with him.”
    â€œNo,” she said softly. “I don’t think he’s in love with her anymore. I’m not sure if he was ever anything more than infatuated by her. But he understands her and it’s not in his nature to hurt anyone if he can help it.”
    Sin snorted in disagreement. He’d seen Ash break loose on a few people over the centuries, which was one of the reasons Sin didn’t push the Atlantean god too far. And those were for minor encroachments. Sin couldn’t imagine how much fury Ash would unleash over something this major. “You don’t know him as well as you think you do.”
    â€œAnd what makes you the expert?”
    â€œLet’s just say I understand betrayal. And having been where he is, I know the explosion to come. Trust me. ‘Duck’ won’t quite cover it.”
    She tensed at his warning. “Artemis didn’t betray you.”
    â€œWho said I was talking about her?”
    Kat paused as she tried to read him, but Sin was anything but an open book. Even his emotions were hidden from her. Normally she could tell what anyone near her was feeling, and though she got twinges from him, it was nothing like what she normally felt. It was baffling and strange to be so clueless. “Who betrayed you then?”
    He folded his arms over his chest. “That’s the thing about betrayal. You don’t really want to talk about it, especially not with strangers who are related to your worst enemy.” He looked around