House Of Gods 9 - Samantha Snow Page 0,7
fine,” she said. “And no, Jerrik doesn’t like me…not like that.”
“He seems to care about you a lot.”
“He’s a good friend, and he’s trying to help.”
Brandt nodded.
“What did you come in here to talk to me about?” she asked.
“I wanted to know about Kemma. She’s our daughter, right?”
The fact that he even had to ask her that felt like small pieces of her were being torn apart, but she managed to answer without giving in to more tears. “Yes.”
“And the man that she is with?”
“Baldur.”
“Yes, him. Does she love him?”
“No.”
“Then why is she with him? I’ve seen the way they look at each other, and it’s rather disturbing. I may not remember that she is my daughter, but I hate to see anyone be bound to someone they cannot love.”
Brenna’s heart was imploding within her. What if the person you are bound to cannot love you back? she thought.
“Their relationship is complicated.” She didn’t want to get into any convoluted explanations with him because it would do no good if he couldn’t remember any of the emotional attachments he’d had. It would only serve to frustrate them both. “Is that the only thing you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Yes. I honestly just wanted to come in and see you more too.”
Brenna’s heart did a summersault inside her ribcage. Maybe there was something buried deep within him, a feeling, or a vague memory, that drew him to her even in his fog, that would flip the switch on so that everything would come flooding back to him.
“I wanted to see again if I could remember you or remember the feelings I had for you.”
“And do you?” she asked as she tried not to get her hopes up. It was impossible not to have hope, even though she fought against it for fear that it would crush her.
“No.”
There it was, the wave that crashed over her and pounded her against the ocean floor until she could no longer breathe.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he stood to leave.
“Brandt,” she gasped out with the weakness of a mouse squeak.
He turned to look at her and waited for whatever she was about to say. But she had nothing to say; she just missed the feel of his name on her lips and she didn’t want him to go. He looked at her with sympathy and apologized again before turning and walking out the door.
Brenna sat on the bed with her breath held in her chest. When Jerrik came back into the room, she looked up at him with more pain and suffering than even he could bear to witness. He sat down on the bed with her again and wrapped his arms around her once more.
“It will be okay,” he whispered.
“No, it won’t.”
He knew she could be right. It was possible Brandt would never recover his memory, that the great act of magic which he used to save them all had forever altered his mind. It was possible that the love which sparked everything would be snuffed out by a terrifyingly blank slate. “If it’s not going to be okay,” he said to her, “then we will make it be.”
CHAPTER THREE
The journey to Valhalla was short since everyone had their magic back, and travel between the realms was once again as easy as wielding power. Edwin still had an open invitation to Valhalla, so since Baldur’s welcome there was likely to have been rescinded, he asked Edwin to come along with him and Brenna as they went to seek out the witch for more answers about their baby and the hex she had put on it. Edwin was happy to accept because he had been itching to get back home.
The only thing he wasn’t so happy about was leaving Abigail behind. He had grown rather fond of her quirky spunk, and he was fascinated, if not slightly freaked-out by mortals in general. Besides, it was their fault that her friend, Trey, had died, and it made Edwin feel rather guilty about leaving her. She could, of course, just go back into the city as if nothing had happened like all the other humans had done. But it would be more difficult for her just to carry on obliviously since Brandt had allowed her to retain her memory of magic. She would feel like an outcast in her own world, with a power that she had but could never be seen using again.
When Baldur approached Edwin with the proposition to go back to Valhalla, Edwin