Eternal Echoes, Emblem of Eternity Trilogy Book 2 by Angela Corbett Read Free Book Online Page B

strong opinions on the subject. I wondered if he’d influenced my husband at the time. I highly doubted someone like Jack the Ripper could be redeemed, and taking his soul probably would have done everyone a favor. Who knows what he came back as when he finally died. That led me to wonder why an evil soul was allowed to come back at all. “At what point is a soul evil enough to be taken?” I could think of plenty of people in history I’d never want to see on the earth again.
    “What do you mean?”
    “Well, if a soul is evil in one life, can it ever actually be redeemed? Or does it keep building on that evil from life to life? Is that how we got people like Hitler and Caligula? Bad judgment on the part of the Goddesses over when evil souls should be taken?”
    Alex furrowed his brow. “I don’t know. The Goddesses make the decision.”
    Alex had had at least two hundred and fifty years to think about questions like this and he’d never asked? I watched him closely, stunned that he could so blindly follow the Goddesses and support the Amaranthine without a complete understanding of how they worked, or why they made the decisions they did. “And still, you’re completely devoted to the Amaranthine.”
    “Every organization makes decisions that won’t be popular. I believe in what the Amaranthine Society does and what the Goddesses order, Evie. For the greater good.”
    I gaped. “They might be returning evil souls back to the world to have another chance at being evil. There’s no greater good about that, and no amount of rationalizing can make it seem so.”
    Alex blew out a long breath as we sat on a secluded bench under some pine trees. “My understanding is that souls are given several chances to redeem themselves. It’s the same issue of balance as with the Daevos. Once souls find their mate, it helps them balance each other out. People who were evil in one life might find their mate later and develop into the kind, charitable soul they always should have been. You have to learn to look past one lifetime, and focus on a soul’s eternity. However, if it’s overwhelmingly clear that an evil soul isn’t going to change, the Goddesses will order the Amaranthine to take their souls.”
    “I’d get a definition on “overwhelmingly clear” if I were you,” I scoffed. “I wouldn’t want to work for an organization that gave some of the most evil souls in history another chance.”
    “Everyone has the capability for evil, Evie. The question is whether you act on it. Life experience in each lifetime helps to make each soul grow and change until they’re ready to find each other again. Because of those experiences, some souls become more violent or aggressive than others. Finding your soul mate helps bring balance to those extreme tendencies.”
    I thought about his explanations, and didn’t like them. Maybe there weren’t many evil people in the world at all. Maybe there were just a few evil souls that kept coming back and taking on evil roles in each life. If so, the Goddesses weren’t as humane as I’d given them credit for. “Do evil souls at least get reincarnated to a place where they’re tortured or something?” I was a big believer in karma.
    “It’s not usually a specific selection…though, the Goddesses can control it if they choose to. For most people, their body dies, and then their soul is judged and moved into the body of a baby about to be born. Where a soul ends up isn’t typically discriminatory or planned unless the Goddesses step in and make the choice.”
    I considered that. It seemed…unorganized. “So, you’re telling me that if I ever have a kid, the soul that comes with it could be Hitler. That’s excellent birth control, Alex. I won’t be having sex. Ever.”
    Alex grinned. “I can put in a no-evil-soul request for you.”
    I glared at him. “Are the Goddesses still creating new souls?”
    Alex shook his head. “They stopped a long time ago.”
    “So, the souls