House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,63

it’s okay with Brenna, we are going to take a bit of a sabbatical.”

“A sabbatical?” Erik asked.

“Yeah, I think I owe her a vacation in Chinatown.”

Brenna’s smile was so big that her cheeks hurt. “It is definitely okay with me,” she said.

“That settles it then.”

“How long will you be gone?” Leif asked.

“I don’t know,” Brandt said. “Why? Is there something needing our attention? I was under the impression that all was well now.”

“Oh no, all is definitely well. I was asking for mere personal motives. I was hoping that Norna and I could stay here at the apartment in your room while you two are away?”

Brandt chuckled and gave Leif a solid handshake. “You can absolutely stay in my room while we are gone.”

Leif smiled and pulled Norna closer to him.

“It was a good question, though,” Erik asked. “How long do you think you’ll be gone?”

Brandt looked over and Brenna and smirked.

“See?” he joked. “When I’m here, they can’t wait to get rid of me, and now they can’t bear to lose me. It must be you.”

Brenna giggled.

“We won’t be long,” was the only vague answer that Brandt gave.

After a while of comradery, as they all sat together and talked about random things, Brandt and Brenna excused themselves to get ready to leave. When they got back behind the closed doors of the bedroom to pack their bags to leave, they realized that they didn’t actually need anything aside from each other. So, instead of saying their goodbyes all over again on their way to the elevator, Brenna used her magic to move them from the inside of Brandt’s bedroom to just outside the apartment on the street. From there, they walked hand in hand to the restaurant in Chinatown, where the loft was waiting for them.

As several days passed, no one really noticed their absence. Erik, Colby, and Jerrik went back to being the handsome, wealthy, billionaires that they had been previously, spending their days making fortunes and being playboys and their evenings in the apartment sharing stories of their glorious adventures with Leif and Norna. It wasn’t until many weeks had passed that they began to question the absence of Brandt and Brenna.

“Do you think they’re ever coming back?” Colby asked in the evening as they were all gathered around the living room with short glasses of whiskey in their hands.

“Of course they are,” Erik said. “This is their home.”

“I think their home is within each other now,” Norna said.

Leif looked at her adoringly. “I know that feeling.”

Jerrik seemed troubled, and the others picked up on it,

“What’s the matter?” Colby asked him.

“I just didn’t think they would leave without saying goodbye.”

“They haven’t left,” Colby said as he gave Jerrik a pat on the back.

“How about this,” Erik suggested. “Let’s take a bit of a day trip into Chinatown tomorrow. We can certainly call-in for a day; the money will continue to be made without us. And we know where the loft is. Let’s go pay them a visit and remind them that we miss them.”

“You don’t think they’ll mind?” Norna asked.

“Not at all!” Erik said as he raised his glass to clink against the others.

Jerrik wasn’t so sure, though. He felt uneasy and excused himself to his room for the night. After he had readied for bed, he sat at his desk and wrote his final letter to Brenna. He wasn’t sure why he felt as though it was his final letter, but he just seemed to know. He wanted it to say everything that he hadn’t had a chance to say before. He wrote and then sealed the letter and left it on his desk before getting into bed. In the morning, they would all head out to visit Brandt and Brenna, and while the others assumed they would be bringing everyone home to the apartment in one, happy, cramped living situation, Jerrik somehow knew that they wouldn’t see Brandt or Brenna again.

The days had passed delightfully slowly for Brandt and Brenna in the loft. But yet still, they both had the gnawing sensation that it would come to an end, and neither of them wanted that to happen.

“Do you want to stay here forever?” Brandt had asked her during the witching hours of the early morning before even the moon had thought to leave the sky. He had expected her to ask him something along the lines of “why do you ask me that?” or “what do you mean?”

But instead, she answered with a simple one-worded