House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,34

and it was never good.

They were nearing the end of the hundred years, and soon he would have his memory restored. But in the decades that had passed, he was increasingly troubled, and in an attempt to put a salve on the encompassing feeling of despair he had, he became more and more provocative and promiscuous. Jerrik assured her that they all kept a close eye on him. They tried to persuade him not to go out to bars or to bring women back to the apartment, but Brandt was in so much pain that he barely listened to their well-intentioned guidance. So all that was left for them to do was to keep watch over him, which they did. Jerrik kept an eye on him night and day, and although Brandt was definitely off the rails, there was still a line that he never crossed.

He never slept with another woman. Jerrik wasn’t sure why, and he told Brenna this. In a hundred-year time span, surely, he thought Brandt’s physical desires combined with the pain he was going through, would have him succumb to it. But he didn’t, not even once. It wasn’t that he hadn’t gotten close; one time, he was actually even trying to make himself go through with it, just to try to keep himself from thinking for a single night. But he had gotten as far as bringing the girl into his bed, undressing her, and crawling on top of her…and then he couldn’t do it. His heart and soul belonged to another, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t let go even if he didn’t remember her.

It made Brenna both happy and sad to hear what Brandt was doing. She was so relieved and happy to know that he hadn’t been with another woman. She felt like she would have died and given up if he had. But she was also sad about how much pain he was going through. She was in pain, too, but at least she knew why; at least she knew who everyone was and what was going on. Brandt was just stumbling around in the dark for a century, feeling a pain that gutted him with no memory as to why. She laid down on her bed and stuffed the letter beneath her pillow. She tried to fall asleep, but all she could see were images of Brandt kissing another girl in her head. She decided to get up and make a cup of tea.

The witch was in the kitchen when she got there, and she already had the kettle started.

“Couldn’t sleep either, huh?” Brenna asked her.

“I rarely sleep anymore,” the witch answered. “I’ll make you a cup as well.”

“Thank you. You know I don’t even know your name.”

“Oh,” the witch replied. “I’ve gone by many names.”

Brenna chuckled as she thought back fondly about Freya. “I used to have a friend who would say that to me too.”

CHAPTER TEN

Time on the hundred-year clock was running out, and soon the nine worlds would begin to pull apart if Tara and Tannin were not united under one rule to govern the realms. Everyone began to think about where they would choose to stay as the worlds closed off from each other. Brenna would be free to go back to Earth, and Brandt’s memory would be restored as promised. But she would never see her daughter on Valhalla, or Lopt on Alfheim, or any of the rest of her friends or loved ones on different worlds. Even Cai knew the magnitude of devastation this collapse of unity would cause, so he pleaded with Tara to go to Hel and make one last attempt to reconcile with Tannin for the good of everyone before their time ran out. At Cai’s request, she agreed.

When Tara arrived in Hel, she was surprised to see Tannin alone in the throne room, sitting upon Helia’s throne. Helia and Matt had left to go into the city to visit her favorite pub during Tara’s visit. They knew this was the last chance at hope for the continued unification of the realms, and Tannin had grown so out of control since their visit to the forest, that they knew better than to think anything could reach him except for Tara.

“Where are the others?” Tara asked as she walked toward the throne Tannin was sitting upon.

“Out,” he answered curtly. “Where is your bear?” he asked not only to as a retort to her, but also to see if she