Goddess of Light (Goddess Summoning #3)(52)

"In love?" Artemis shook her head. "You can't be. She's a mortal. And, as if that's not impossible enough, she's a mortal from the modern world."

"I am aware of that," he said between clenched teeth.

"How would you know, anyway?" Artemis scoffed. "You have never been in love."

"That is exactly why I believe I am falling in love! I have lived eons and never experienced this feeling until now."

"What? What feeling is so overpowering that it must be love?" Artemis asked.

"I care more for her than I do for myself. Her happiness is mine. Her pain causes me despair."

The goddess looked at him as if he had just broken out in a mystifying rash. "Perhaps it will pass, or fade completely with time."

"The problem with that, my dear Sister, is that I don't want it to." He smiled, but the expression lacked humor. "This morning I was so smug. I thought love was so incredibly simple. I'd found my soul mate. I'd made love to her, and she must feel the same for me. I was an arrogant imbecile."

"You believe she is your soul mate?"

"I'm afraid that she might very well be the mate of my soul."

"Then, if she is, by the very nature of the bond she must love you, too," Artemis said, trying to make sense out of her brother's bizarre proclamations.

"You would think so," he said miserably.

Artemis drummed her chin with her fingers. "Well, she is a mortal. We really should not be surprised at the confusion. Perhaps that's it! Pamela's heart's desire was for her soul mate to come into her life - she just named it romance, but couldn't it all mean the same thing? Romance... love... true desire... soul mates... Are they not all words that could be used to describe the same phenomenon? And if I'm right, it would make sense that the invocation has not been fulfilled."

"How does that make sense? If the desire of her heart was for her soul mate to come into her life, and I am her soul mate, then why hasn't the invocation been fulfilled?"

"She has to recognize and accept you as the mate of her soul. Obviously, she has not." Artemis rested her hand on his shoulder. "The emotions I felt through our bond were not filled with love and contentment. Pamela felt hurt and confused; she did not feel loved."

Apollo's eyes were haunted. "I know she has been wounded by a man in the past. I was arrogant enough to believe that a little touch of my immortal power and the passion of my body had healed her."

"You were wrong, Brother. There is more to Pamela."

"There is also more to love," he muttered.

She clapped his back. "Your misery makes me glad that I haven't experienced it."

"I think I'm beginning to understand that love is misery and wonder all wrapped together in the soft skin of a woman," Apollo said, staring off into the distance.

"Why not simply reveal who you are? Whisk her away to Olympus tonight - use your immortal powers to coax her love to the surface."

Apollo looked horrified. "'That wouldn't be love! That would be abject worship, or fear mixed with adoration."

"Now this is an excellent example of how you and I differ. You won't use your powers to win her; I think it only makes sense. What mortal wouldn't want to win the love of a god?"

Hearing the arrogant thoughts he'd had early spoken aloud, Apollo was disgusted with himself. Little wonder Pamela was reluctant to recognize him as her soul mate.

"Something tells me that Pamela would not be overjoyed to learn my true identity."

Artemis snorted.

"Modern mortals are not like the people of the Ancient World. They command metal creatures to obey their will. Information passes between them through machinery, not through the power of magic and ritual. We are dead to them. No, she must find her love for me as a man, first. After that I will persuade her to accept the god."

"And how do you plan to do that?"

"I have to love her as a man loves a woman."

Artemis raised both brows questioningly.

"With my heart and not my powers," he said.

"Which means exactly what?"

"When I understand that, I will have gained something priceless. Her love," said the God of Light.

"Do you think you can win her love before dawn tomorrow?"

"It seems doubtful," he said.

Artemis sighed. "I suppose I should be grateful that the bond between Pamela and me has loosened. Now it is more like an itch that is difficult to scratch than a constant, jabbing annoyance. Bacchus certainly set a great deal of mischief afoot with his little prank."

"Have you spoken to him at all?"

"No, he has been conspicuously absent from Olympus these past days." She shrugged. "Although it's not as if he ever spent much time here. He has long preferred the company of mortals. When this ordeal is over, we must remember to deal harshly with his impertinence."

Apollo was silent. How could he tell his sister that "this ordeal" would never be over? He knew little of love, but he was already certain of one thing. Love couldn't be ordered around - it didn't begin and end on demand. Unfortunately.

"Apollo? Pay attention. I asked for your plan of action tonight."

"I don't know!" The walls glowed dangerously, and the God of Light reined in his frustration. "Dinner - she asked that I take her to dinner. You heard her."