She beamed.
“But,” he continued, “my terms are this: you are going to pay them every month a wage that will allow them to buy whatever they need or desire. As stated earlier, they will need shield-bearers to care for them personally so that they won’t have to worry about scrounging for food, clothes or arms. I don’t want them to be distracted from their work.”
“Fine, I will find humans who will serve them.”
“Living humans, Artemis. I want them to serve of their own free will. No more Dark-Hunters.”
“Four of you are not enough. We need more to keep the Daimons in check.”
Acheron closed his eyes as he felt the endlessness of this relationship. All too easily he could see into the future and where this was headed.
The more Dark-Hunters, the more he would be locked to her. There was no way to keep her from tying him to her forever.
Or was there?
“All right,” he said. “I’ll give on this, if you will agree to provide them a way out of your service.”
“What do you mean?”
“I want you to establish a way for the Dark-Hunters to regain their souls so that they are no longer bound to you if they so choose it.”
Artemis stepped back. This wasn’t something she had foreseen. If she gave him this, then even he would be bound by it.
He could leave her.
She’d forgotten just how devious Acheron could be. How well he knew the rules of the game and how to manipulate them and her.
He was truly her equal.
And yet if she failed to give him this, then he would leave her anyway. She had no choice and well he knew it.
However, there were still things that could keep him by her side.
One way she knew that would ensure his presence in her life for all eternity.
“Very well. Let us make the rules to govern them, then.” She felt his thoughts drift back toward Ias.
He pitied the poor Greek soldier who loved his wife.
Pity, mercy and compassion would always be his downfall.
“Number one, is that they must die to reclaim their souls.”
“Why?” he asked.
“A soul can only be released from a body at the moment of death. Likewise, it can only return to a body that is no longer functioning. So long as they ‘live’ as a Dark-Hunter, they can never have their souls again. That’s not my rule, Acheron, that is simply the nature of souls.”
He frowned at that. “How do you kill an immortal Dark-Hunter?”
“Well, we could cut off their heads or expose them to daylight, but since that damages their body beyond repair, it rather defeats the purpose.”
“You’re not funny.”
And neither was he. She didn’t want to release them from her service.
Most of all, she didn’t want to release him.
“You have to drain out their Dark-Hunter powers,” she told him. “Make their immortal bodies vulnerable to attack, then stop their hearts from beating. Only then do they die in a manner that will enable them to return to life.”
“Fine, I can do that.”
“Actually, you can’t.”
“What do you mean?”
She fought the urge to smile. Here was where she had him.
“There are a few laws you need to know about souls, Acheron. One is the owner must freely give it up. Since I own their souls…”
Acheron cursed. “I will have to barter with you for every soul.”
She nodded.
He looked less than pleased by the knowledge. But he would come around in time.
Yes, he would definitely come around…
“What else?” he asked.
Now for her one rule that would bind him to her forever. “Only a true, pure heart can release the soul back into a body. The one who returns the soul must be the one person who loves them above all others. A person they love and trust in return.”
“Why?”
“Because the soul needs something to motivate it to movement, otherwise it stays where it is. I use vengeance to motivate the soul into my possession. Only an equal and as powerful an emotion will motivate the soul back into its body. Since I can choose that emotion, I choose it to be love. The most beautiful and noble of all emotions. The only one worth returning for.”
Acheron stared at the marble floor as her words whispered around him.
Love.
Trust.
Such simple words to say. Such powerful words to feel. He envied those who knew their true meaning.
He had never really known either one. Betrayal, pain, degradation, suspicion, hatred. That was his existence. That was all he’d ever been shown.
Part of him wanted to turn about and leave Artemis forever.