House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,40
someday show me your secret.”
The bartender nodded and gave Tannin a thumbs-up.
It was nice to sit in a pub and not think. All of his thoughts had been consumed with Tara lately, and as much as Tannin tried not to think about her, it only made it worse. He was mad at everything, including her. If she had believed him from the very beginning, if she hadn’t run to her brother in the forest and had instead run to him, if she had not called him arrogant, maybe none of this would have happened. Tara was just like them, he thought. She saw him as an outsider, and he was a fool to think it would ever be any different.
He listened to the low hum of chatter around him. Everyone was talking about the light elf with his magical device had overthrown the powerful rulers of Alfheim and was heading to Earth next to strip the few immortals there of their magic as well. It was of no concern to him. Hel was far from Rolf’s reach, and even if he did attempt to ever come here, he and Matt and Helia would put Rolf down as soon as he stepped foot in the underworld.
The bartender had a second drink in his hand before he even needed to ask. He loved this pub. He could see why it was Helia’s favorite.
“I’m not sure what will happen to her,” a man a few tables away was saying to the girl sitting with him. “The one woman will die for sure, and probably the man too. But that one is his sister, so it’s hard to say whether he will have mercy or not.”
Tannin’s ears dwelled on the mention of a sister. They could have been talking about anyone. He was just overly anxious, eavesdropping on their conversation; Tara was in Yggdrasil, and her brother was busy being a pain in the sides of the immortals on Earth. There was no connection there.
“It is such a shame, though,” the heard the girl say. “The forest was such a beautiful place.”
Tannin kicked the barstool out from beneath him and immediately stood up and walked over to their table.
“What is it that you are speaking of?” he demanded.
Both the man and woman at the table shrunk back a bit. They knew who he was, and they had heard of his volatile temper.
“We were just talking about the light elf. Rolf, I think is his name?” the man answered.
“What of him?”
“We have heard that he is in the forest now. He seeks to take the magic from Yggdrasil and confront his sister there.”
A look of fury and fear filled Tannin’s eyes. He ran out of the pub, pushing the doors so hard that they broke off their hinges behind him. He ran as fast as he could without stopping until he reached the throne room where Helia and Matt were pacing the floor with looks of extreme worry on their faces.
“Tannin,” she said, startled as he ran into the room and tried to catch his breath while he spoke.
“Send me there!” he demanded.
“Where?”
“To Yggdrasil. Send me there now.”
Helia’s face looked as though she had witnessed a death that had not happened yet. “So you heard. We just heard it ourselves. Rolf must have just gotten there.”
“Helia, you must send me there now!” Tannin shouted.
“We’ll all go,” she said. “Matt and I were just talking about—”
“Helia!” Tannin’s voice shook the stones of the building. “There is no time. He will kill her; I know this. I know what kind of man he is. You have to send me alone, and you have to do it now! Please!”
Helia looked at Tannin and saw the dangerous mix of terror and rage welling within him. He loved Tara. She could see it behind his shaking eyes.
“What will you do?” she asked him.
“I’m going to kill him.”
Helia hesitated for one minuscule moment, before wrapping her tendrils of magic around him and sending Tannin to Yggdrasil.
“Will he be able to stop Rolf?” Matt asked her. “Should we go too?”
“I don’t know. But if we go, then we are exposing the chance for Rolf to take our power as well. It would leave Hel unprotected and wide open for him to take. Tannin is the best chance we have at stopping him.”
As soon as Tannin saw the forest trees come into view around him, he started off in a run. He didn’t know where he was going, only that he needed to