“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.

“Return my beloved to me. Please, I will do anything to have him home…” Liora’s words rang in his head. He could hear her tears even now. Feel her pain.

Feel the pain of Ias as he thought of his children and wife. His worry over their welfare.

Acheron had never known that kind of unselfish love. Neither before nor after his death.