House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,27

though,” Matt said to him as he grinned.

“Yes, she is,” Tannin agreed. “I think that might be part of the problem.

CHAPTER EIGHT

They decided that the second visit Tara and Tannin had together should be held in the forest. Yggdrasil was a more comfortable place for Tara, and since Tannin had been so abrasive to her on their previous meeting, Tannin was asked to act a bit “softer” this time. As Helia prepared her magic to step them into the forest, Matt gave Tannin a bit of a pep talk prior to leaving.

“She’s going to love you,” Matt said. “Just try not to be so—”

“Demonic,” Tannin interrupted.

“You are not demonic, Tannin.”

“Well…”

Matt laughed. “Be serious. Tara will love you if you give her the chance to see you for who you really are.”

“A boy with horns? What do I do if she goes searching to see if I have a tail?”

Matt looked shocked. “Do you?”

“Of course not!” Tannin laughed.

Matt gave him a playful smack on the arm. “She will love you, just like Helia and I do.”

Tannin looked at Matt in awe. He knew Helia and Matt cared for him; they’d been raising him for several years now. But he’d never heard them actually say that they loved him. They weren’t, after all, his parents.

“All right, enough of the mushy shit,” Matt said as he gave him a hug and then pushed him toward a smiling Helia who had heard every word.

“Ready?” she asked.

“No.”

Helia laughed and waved her hands through the air to craft her magic and send them to the forest. “We do love you, you know. And Matt is right, so will Tara. You just have to give her a chance.”

The sight around them disappeared and was replaced with the lush greenery of the forest coming into view.

“You just have to give him a chance,” Brenna said to Tara as they prepared for the arrival of Helia and Tannin.

“Why should she have to give him a chance if she doesn’t like him?” Cai asked. He was always rushing to Tara’s aid because he had such a soft spot for the girl.

“You know why,” Astra said as she backed-up Brenna.

“It’s a stupid prophecy.”

Astra rolled her eyes at him. Cai was normally so level-headed, but not when it came to protecting Tara.

“What are you doing?” Brenna asked as she saw Tara stuffing Button away inside an alcove of the tree.

“Hiding him,” she answered.

“Why in the world would you do that? Button has been beside you your whole life. Just because Tannin was a jerk about it, does not mean that you should stop holding onto him. I don’t care if you’re a million and four years old, that bear is more than just a bear, and we all know it.” Brenna knew that she was tasked with overseeing the two of them and with trying to help them get along, but she drew the line when it came to this. No man should ever make a young woman question herself.

“I’m not afraid of getting made fun of,” Tara said.

“Then why are you hiding Button?”

“Because I don’t want him to get hurt.”

“Oh, I don’t think Tannin would really do that. I think he was just showing off,” Brenna said.

“And being an ass,” Cai interjected.

“How do you know?” Tara asked. “He looks like he is half a demon, he obviously has no respect for anyone, and he threatened to skewer Button right to my face.”

“I’m gonna kill this kid,” Cai said as his face turned red.

“Calm down,” Astra said. She put her hand on his forearm in an attempt to get him to settle his temper before they arrived.

“You have to give him a chance,” Brenna said. “He is different, and sometimes that’s difficult. Sometimes people have a strange way of coping with things when they’ve been treated like their different. I think he might surprise you, but you need to give him a chance. Oh, and bring Button. No one should influence what you can or cannot do.”

Tara smiled and took Button back out from his hiding spot. She held him in the crook of her elbow as they walked out of the hollowed tree to meet their guests. Cai and Astra went, too, although she gave him a stern warning about not interfering at all.

It had also been arranged that Rolf could pay a visit to the forest later that afternoon after Tara and Tannin had gotten a chance to spend the day together. Brenna thought it would be good to allow