Such simple words to say. Such powerful words to feel. He envied those who knew their true meaning. He'd 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.
"Give me Ias's soul."
Artemis arched a brow. "Are you willing to pay the price I ask for it, and to the terms for their release?"
His heart shrank at her words. He remembered the youth he'd been long ago.
Everything has a price, Acheron. Nothing ever comes to anyone for free. His uncle had taught him well the price of survival.
Acheron had paid dearly for everything he'd ever had or wanted. Food. Shelter. Clothes. Paid with flesh and blood.
Some things never changed. Once a whore, always a whore.
"Yes," he said, his throat tight. "I agree. I'll pay."
Artemis smiled. "Don't look so unhappy, Acheron. I promise you, you'll enjoy it."
His stomach tightened even more. He'd heard those words before, too.
It was dusk when Acheron returned to the cave.
He wasn't alone as he walked up the small rise. He led two men and four horses.
"What is all this?" Callabrax asked.
"These are to be the shieldbearers for you and Kyros. They've come to show you both to the villas where you'll live. They will see to anything you need and I will come by later to finish our training."
A twinge of fear darkened Ias's eyes. "What of me?"
"You're coming with me."
Acheron waited until the other two had mounted their horses and left before he turned back to Ias. "Are you ready to go home?"
Ias looked surprised. "But you said-"
"I was wrong. You can go back."
"What of my oath to Artemis?"
"It's been taken care of."
Ias embraced him like a brother.
Acheron cringed at the contact, especially since it aggravated the deep welts on his back where Artemis had beaten him in exchange for Ias's soul-at least that was the lie she told herself. But he knew the truth. She beat him to punish him for the fact that she loved him.
And those marks were nothing compared to the even deeper welts that resided in his soul.
He'd always hated anyone to touch him.
Gently, he pushed Ias away. "Come, let us see you home."
Acheron flashed them back to Ias's small farm where his wife had just sent their two children to bed.
Her beautiful face paled as she saw them by her hearth.
"Ias?" She blinked. "They told me this morning that you were dead."
Ias shook his head, his eyes bright. "Nay, my love. I'm here. I've come home to you."
Acheron took a deep breath as Ias rushed to her and hugged her close. It went a long way in ebbing the pain of his back.
"There's still a couple of things, Ias," Acheron said quietly.
Ias pulled back with a frown.
"Your wife will have to release your soul back into your body."
Liora scowled. "What?"
Ias kissed her hand. "I swore myself to serve Artemis, but she's going to let me go so that I can come back to you."
She looked baffled by his words.
Ias looked at Acheron. "What must we do?"
Acheron hesitated, but there was no way to avoid telling him what had to be done. "You'll have to die again."
He paled a bit. "Are you sure?"
Acheron nodded, then handed his dagger to Liora. "You'll have to stab him through his heart."
She looked horrified and appalled by his suggestion. "What?"
"It's the only way."
"It's murder. I'll be hanged."
"No, I swear it."
"Do it, Liora," Ias urged. "I want to be with you again."
Her face skeptical, she took the dagger in her hand and tried to press it into his chest.
It didn't work. All the blade did was prick the skin.
Acheron grimaced as he remembered what Artemis had said about Dark-Hunter powers. An average human wouldn't be able to hurt a Dark-Hunter with a dagger.
But he could.
Taking the dagger from Liora, he drove it straight through Ias's heart. Ias stumbled back, panting.
"Don't panic," Acheron said, laying him down on the floor before his hearth. "I've got you."
Acheron reached up and pulled Liora down by his side. He took the stone medallion that contained Ias's soul from his satchel. "You have to take this into your hand when he dies and release his soul back into his body."
She gulped. "How?"
"Press the stone over his bow and arrow brand mark."
Acheron waited until the moment right before Ias died. He handed the medallion to Liora.
She screamed as soon as it touched her hand, then dropped it to the floor. "It's on fire!" she shrieked.
Ias gasped as he struggled to live.
"Pick it up," Acheron ordered Liora.
She blew cool air across her palm as she shook her head no.
Acheron was aghast at her actions. "What is wrong with you, woman? He's going to die if you don't save him. Pick up his soul."
"No." There was a determined light in her eyes that he didn't understand.
"No? How can you not? I heard you praying for him to return to you. You said you would give anything for your beloved to return."
She dropped her hand and eyed him coldly. "Ias is not my beloved. Lycantes is. It was he whom I prayed for and he is dead now. I was told the ghost of Ias murdered him because he killed Ias in battle so that the two of us could be together to raise our children."
Acheron was dumbstruck by her words. How could he not have seen that? He was a god. Why would that have been hidden from him?
He looked at Ias and saw the pain in his eyes before they turned blank and Ias died.
His heart hammering, Acheron picked up the medallion and tried to release the soul himself.
It didn't work.
Furious, he froze Liora into place before he killed her for her actions.
"Artemis!" he shouted at the ceiling.
The goddess flashed into the hut.
"Save him."
"I can't change the rules, Acheron. I told you the conditions and you agreed to them."
He motioned to the woman who was now a human statue. "Why didn't you tell me she didn't love him?"
"I had no way of knowing that any more than you did." Her eyes turned dull. "Even gods can make mistakes."
"Then why didn't you at least tell me the medallion would burn her?"
"That I didn't know. It doesn't burn me and it didn't burn you. I've never had a human hold one before."
Acheron's head buzzed with guilt and grief. With hatred for both himself and her. "What happens to him now?"
"He's a Shade. Without a body or soul, his essence is trapped in Katoteros."
Acheron roared with the pain of what she was telling him. He had just killed a man and sentenced him to a fate far worse than death.
And for what?
For love?
For mercy?
Gods, he was such a fool.
Better than anyone, he should have known to ask the right questions. He should have known better than to trust in the love of another person.
Damn it, when would he learn?
Artemis reached down to him and lifted his chin with her hand until he looked up at her. "Tell me, Acheron, is there anyone you will ever trust enough to release your soul?"
He shook his head. "You know better. You've tutored me too well on how vicious women are. On how much love ruins and destroys. Thank you for the lesson, Artemis. It was just what I needed. And I assure you, it's one I'll never forget."