House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,26

come along as well—he didn’t much trust the boy—but Brenna had insisted, as the witch had instructed her to do, that it was imperative that only Tara go.

Tara hadn’t remembered ever being in the underworld before, and she found it all very fascinating. When they arrived at Helia’s palace, Helia was overjoyed to see them both.

“I’m so glad you’re both here!” she said, smiling. “I’ve missed you.”

“I’ve missed you too,” Brenna said as she hugged first Helia and then Matt. “Good to see you, too, Matt.”

“It’ll be nice when we can all get back to hanging out together again,” Matt said.

“Agreed.” Brenna looked around the throne room. “Where is Tannin?”

“He stepped out for a walk,” Helia said. “Before he gets back, let me explain about a few things that have changed with him since last you saw him.”

“Ah, Helia,” Tannin’s voice called from the entryway as he strode into the throne room as if he owned the place. “Trying to prepare my beautiful guest so I don’t scare her away already?” The tone in his voice was a mixture of falsified arrogance and embarrassment. He was trying to cover his feelings of insecurity.

Brenna and Tara turned at the sound of his voice, and Tara’s hand clutched the paw of her bear that was dangling down by her thigh, a bit tighter than she had before seeing Tannin.

“Still have that ridiculous bear, I see,” he said cavalierly as he strode past them and plopped himself down on Helia’s throne.

Helia rolled her eyes at him. “What have I said about my throne,” she said both sternly and slightly amused.

Matt snickered under his breath. They both loved the boy, but he was a handful for sure.

“Sorry,” he said as he promptly stood up from her seat.

Why didn’t the witch tell me about this, Brenna thought in her head. She must have known the boy had changed. Even Brenna was taken by surprise as she looked at the two horns that pushed up out of Tannin’s head.

He was handsome, my God, he was so handsome. Tara’s mouth fell open for multiple reasons as she stared at him. He was slender, but the muscles that adorned his frame were so pronounced and taught that he looked like nature’s perfect predator. His high cheekbones and long mane of eyelashes made him look like he should have been the god of love or lust. His eyes that he looked out from behind were such a deep shade of brown that they were nearly black. He was absolutely breathtaking. But pushing up between the thick, wavy strands of his chestnut-colored hair, were two rounded, cylindrical horns that came to points at the ends as they curved backward.

The two of them stared at each other for a moment, both speechless. When he had gotten up from the chair, Tannin allowed himself a closer look at Tara, and he was equally as struck by her beauty. The long, silent moment grew uncomfortably awkward as they both gawked at each other without speaking. Tannin wasn’t sure if his horns had scared her to silence, or if she were as smitten with him as he was with her. But he was exceptionally sensitive about feeling like a freak, so he interrupted the silence as soon as he was able to regain his composure. He reached up and rubbed his fingers alongside one of his horns.

“What, you don’t like them?” he asked her sarcastically. “They’re sharp enough to cut through most things. They could skew your silly bear like butter, I’m sure.”

Tara snapped her mouth shut in anger. Even though they had not seen each other since they were young children, he knew how much Button meant to her. She looked at him and at the way his eyes were shaking as if waiting to see which way her reaction would go. Tara snatched Button up to her chest and turned and ran out of the throne room in tears.

Brenna sighed and turned to follow after her.

“Way to go,” Matt said to Tannin after they had left, and it was just the three of them in the room.

Tannin shrugged. “She didn’t like my horns.”

“You don’t even know,” Helia said. “You didn’t even give her a chance.”

“I’m tired of giving people chances.”

“Well, you have to try,” Helia scolded. “At least with Tara.”

Helia left to go after the other two girls and see if she could try to smooth things over. After she left, Tannin slumped back down on her throne again.

“She is very pretty,