House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,28

all of them a chance to be reunited for a few hours to talk and reconnect after having been separated for so long. She also thought it might take some of the pressure off of Tara to have her brother there at her side. She was surprised that she was able to convince the witch of it but happy that it was agreed upon. Lopt would send Rolf to the forest at dusk, and then after everyone had enjoyed a nice meal together, it would be time for both of the boys to be sent home. Brenna was sure the peacefulness of the forest would be a good thing for all three young adults and their raging hormones.

When Helia and Tannin appeared, everyone was ready to greet them, and Brenna had thought up a few random conversation starters to make things less stressful and take some of the pressure off of the two young future lovers. But Tannin surprised them all by speaking first before any of them had a chance to open their mouths. He seemed to ignore the presence of everyone else around them and spoke directly to Tara only.

“I’d like for us to take a walk in the forest alone if that’s all right with you,” he said to her.

Tara was stunned and had no idea how to respond to him. She didn’t really want to take a walk with him but was also trying to heed what Brenna had told her and give him a chance. Maybe he wanted to apologize but was too embarrassed to do it in front of the group. Tara looked to Brenna for guidance, and Brenna nodded.

“Absolutely not,” Cai said abruptly, which made everyone turn to look at him, including Tannin, whose expression was both surprised and angry.

“Cai,” Astra said as she pulled on his arm. “You cannot intervene.”

Tannin looked back at Tara and waited for her answer.

“Okay,” she said hesitantly.

With that, Tannin walked to her side, and the two of them headed off into the woods toward one of Tara’s favorite walking paths.

“Well, this should be interesting,” Helia said.

“Interesting? How am I the only one here that thinks this is a bad idea?” Cai was so upset that even his eyes were turning red.

“Calm down,” Helia said. “Tannin is a good guy. He isn’t going to do anything to harm her, and hopefully, he won’t do anything to upset her this time.”

They all went back into the tree together to talk about all the things that could and probably would go wrong. If the relationship between Tara and Tannin failed, the nine worlds would fail to stay tied together, and everyone they love will be separated forever. Brenna’s hope of being reunited with Brandt once the hundred years was up would be lost. And since none of them could use their magic to influence the tumultuously budding relationship toward a more amicable one, the fate of everything rested in the hands of the two who seemed to despise each other.

As they walked through the woods, Tara felt a bit stifled by Tannin’s close proximity to her. She kept her head down as they walked so she wouldn’t be tempted to look up and gawk at his horns. She had taken a good look at him when he had first arrived, though, enough to see that he was wearing black jeans and a black T-shirt, and the shirt clung to the muscles in his arms. She was tempted to look at more than just his horns honestly, so she tried hard instead to keep looking down at her feet as they walked. She knew the path by heart and didn’t need to look to see where they were going.

Tannin, on the other hand, couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. She had put on a gossamer white dress that looked like it was made of a thin cloud if such a thing were even possible. He wondered if she had used magic to concoct the garment. She was barefoot because she loved the feel of the forest moss on her feet, and he was aching with curiosity to know if she was bare beneath her dress as well. The visible curvature of her breasts and the arch of her nipples beneath the fabric made it seem like she was. He tried to look farther down beneath her navel too, even though he felt slightly guilty for wanting to see what was revealed beneath the layer of fabric there, but he couldn’t