Queen of Ruin(Book three of the Immortals Series)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN HELLO ROHI

"Hello,

Rohi."

In the last ten years, Tessa often wondered if she remembered everything right, but he had changed little since she last saw him. His curly black hair was shorter, and he had a short black beard, but his dark brown eyes still had a hint of amber in the right light. The dark tawny skin she remembered was paler now, but Rafik spent most of his time in a cold, damp basement these days.

While he inched closer to her across the dusty old floor, Rafik's chest pounded with the renewed spark of their bond. Seeing her was like a surge of fire running through his veins that made him breathless, and he placed his hand on his chest to catch some of her magic. He sensed her fury and grief as her eyes burned through him. "I'm sorry, Tessa."

When her eyes locked with his, the room heated with her rage while the Firestarter in her gained momentum. He knew it should terrify him, but he only stared in wonder at his rare creature.

Even in her hateful state, she was beautiful. He didn't care if they all burned; he wanted to gaze upon her at her most potent. She wasn't the kind of beast meant to be tamed. If Rafik had his way, he would take her to a place where she could be free to let every terrible impulse loose. He wanted to witness what she was truly capable of, even if it destroyed him.

As she came to the point of no return, Teddy put his hand behind her head and whispered in her ear. "Shh!" Her hatred-filled eyes stayed fixed on her mate as she collapsed into Teddy's arms.

Rushing from the window he'd been waiting in front of, Rafik shook his head and held out his hand. "No! Release her now."

While he cradled her in his arms on the floor, Teddy looked to him and huffed out a sarcastic chuckle. "She'll kill you, Rafik. She can't control herself when she gets like this."

The sweet strawberries he remembered bathed him as he kneeled beside the twins, and it took his breath away, making him grab at his chest. "She can have my life if it pleases her. Release her."

With the sweat dripping down his face, Teddy did his best to reason with the healer. "That's all well and good, Rafik, but I can hardly release her like this. You see, we feed off each other. If she starts tearing stuff up, I won't be able to help myself. We'll raze this whole place to the ground. There won't be a scorched bit of stone left of the castle when we're finished."

He wiped the sweat from her forehead and shook his head. "I'm so sorry, Sugar; this is a mistake. You're not ready for all this."

"She is ready; you must have faith in her." Rafik took Teddy's hand and pulled it free from her. "If it is my karma to die, then I will go in peace. The Fates will rejoin us in the next life."

Teddy lowered his head to her and kissed her temple. "Tessa, you got to calm down. There are things you don't understand. You can't hurt him; trust me on that."

Tears poured from Tessa's eyes, and Rafik fought the urge to wipe them away when he saw them drop from her chin. As his fingers reached out to her cheek, he hesitated and closed his eyes. "I beg you to let her go. It is an offense to use the dark magic against your own like this. The Fates will curse you for it. Release her now."

"Alright, don't say I didn't warn you." Knowing what might happen if he turned her loose, Teddy tilted his head to the door. "You two should probably stand on the other side of that big heavy door, though. She has quite a nasty temper." Like Rafik, Delia had only read about their kind in the ancient texts, and part of her wished that the warnings would come true as she crossed her arms and shook her head. "We'll be alright. Let her go."

He spoke the words over Tessa, and as she gained control of her body again, she pushed herself to her hands and knees and sobbed into the square stone floor. "You killed them!"

Falling to her side, Rafik hovered next to her and purred into her ear with his soothing voice. "I didn't know he would do that to you, my love."

From the very center of her body, the crushing ache stole her breath as she writhed in pain on the dirty floor and spewed out her ugly words. "You fucking liar!"

He mirrored her movements as she came to her feet and brought his trembling hands to his chest. "We were all deceived. I swear to you."

"You fucking liar!" While she backed him to the wall, she balled her hands up in his shirt, but as he shook his head, she became angrier and more regretful. She didn't know whether to attack him or seek out the comfort of his arms. "You killed them."

While his lips began to quiver, Rafik shook his head. "I'm sorry."

With hate and love pulling her in all directions, she pushed her forehead into his chest, finally giving in to the warm arms wrapped around her. "You killed them."

"I'm sorry." His lips rubbed against her cheek as he leaned into her ear and threaded his fingers through her hair. "I'm sorry."

Gasping back a deep breath, Tessa screamed as she pushed him away into the wall. "No!" She slapped him across his face, and the sting of it went straight to her heart. She realized then that she could never kill him. "No!"

He humbly faced her again and repeated the only words that would ever make any difference. "I'm sorry."

"I hate you." Hissing at him through her teeth like the hate-filled serpent she was, Tessa stared into his eyes, so she knew he heard her. "I hate you."

He understood she wished for a fight, but he would offer her none, and he simply glanced away from the sting of her words. "I'm sorry, my love."

"I hate you!" The thump of her knuckles against his teeth jingled the delicate bottles that lined the shelves. A numbing surge that shot through his nose brought tears from his eyes, and, for just a moment, a stabbing jab of regret ripped through her soul.

Teddy grabbed her in his arms and lifted her off the ground. "Keep that baby-killing monster away from me!" She sobbed into the air as she struggled to free herself from his grip while he dragged her from the laboratory. "I hate you!" While her declarations of hate faded into the distance, Rafik licked the tears and blood from his lip. A washcloth appeared before his face as Delia chuckled. "Well, that could have gone better."

A quivering grin forced itself to his face as he pressed the cloth to his lip. "Truthfully, it was better than I'd hoped."

Looking him over sympathetically, she sighed as she rubbed small circles on his back. "Teddy's right. She needs more time."

The thought of her leaving was too much, and his teary eyes pinched together as he shook his head. "No, please. Convince her to stay, I beg you. I cannot be separated from her again. I don't care if she hates me forever." Delia closed her eyes and sighed as she put her hand on his shoulder. "I'll see what I can do."

In London, Teddy gave Tessa a glass of whiskey and sat down on the coffee table across from her. "I'm sorry, Tessa. I should have told you. I just couldn't think of a way to do it."

Tessa sipped back her drink and rubbed her fingertips across her forehead. "Let's just get the fuck out of here."

Looking down at the floor, he chewed on his lips as he considered her situation. "Tessa, I think you should stay."

A huff of a smoky scoff came from her nose, and she slid her fingers back through her hair. "Are you fucking crazy? I'll end up killing him."

He took the glass from Tessa's hand and set it beside him. "That night that everything happened, Rafik came and gave you his blood and said a spell over you."

She trilled her lips and rolled her eyes away from him, never understanding his constant need to defend Rafik. "You told me all this already."

"No, Sugar. There's something else." For a decade, he'd kept the secret buried in the graveyard of his mind so she couldn't replace it, and it was exhausting. "It was a rite of binding."

Her fingertips rubbed at her forehead as she sunk back into the couch and closed her eyes. She studied all the texts she could over the years, Haldir insisted on it. "Did he drink my blood?"

"Yes." As he sat up straight to face her, he scratched behind his ear in his nervous way. "Billy said the dose of poison you got was so big that even with Rafik's blood, you should have died. Without the binding, you would have. Your life was a gift to him. You got questions, and you hate him, but he saved you, Tessa. I'd be all alone in this world if it weren't for what he did."

She rubbed her hands together and rocked away the pain in her chest. "What should I do? Everything inside me wants to kill him, but all I really want to do is see his face again."

A long breath came from his lips, and he nodded at the best option. "I think you should go back, Tess. I'm not saying you got to forgive him, but you need to replace out if you can. You're more or less stuck with him until the end of time, so you should learn to get along somewhat."

Her lips gave in, and her little childish frown turned down on her face. "He killed Momma and the baby, Daddy. How am I supposed to be able to forgive that?"

If he hadn't been in the foyer with Rafik that night, he would have wanted his revenge as well. His eyes opened wide, and he shook his head before he glanced back to her."I don't know, Tess."

A soft knock came to the door making Tessa roll her teary eyes away to stop her tears from falling and ruining her makeup. "Who the hell do you reckon that is?"

He chuckled out through his charming dimpled smile as he took his chin between his thumb and finger. "Well, if I had to guess, I'd say the old minister. I think she's kind of sweet on us."

With his hands on his knees, Teddy pushed himself up from the table and rubbed the back of his neck as he walked to the door. He smiled when he opened it and stepped back as he swept his arm to the side. "Please, come in, Delia." "Thank you." Tessa stood to face Delia, who came to her with open arms. "Are you alright, my dear?"

She accepted her hug with a grimace and gave her a quick grin. "Yes, ma'am. Just a little shaken up."

The icy shot of Delia's hand on hers made a wave of shivers move through Tessa as she sat beside her. "I'm sorry that we sprung that surprise on you, but we weren't sure if any method would have been any better."

With a quick wrinkle of her nose, Tessa waved her hand in front of her. "I understand. You don't have to apologize."

"There are some details of what happened in Savannah that you don't know that I think may change your mind about Amari." Delia had an uncomfortable chuckle and grinned as she shrugged her ear to her shoulder. "We have to be careful. We mustn't disclose his real identity. Do you understand?"

The narrowed eyes and twisted lips on Tessa's face revealed she didn't as she shook her head. "No, I don't understand. What do you mean?"

The Minister tried to think of a way to explain everything and curled her lips under as she debated on which parts to confess. "Amari's testimony to the council about what happened that night your parents died led to a lot of conflicts. He testified against his own family, and they were all executed for conspiring against Jasper."

Tessa glanced over to her brother, and he nodded. "It's true, Tess."

Even an Elder like Delia couldn't resist the charms of the twins in front of her. She pushed Tessa's hair back off her shoulder and smiled at her delicate face. "It was a terrible thing what happened to you and your family, but Amari lost everything as well. You were three children caught up in a ridiculous old feud. The shame of it all is that I believe Fate brought the two of you together to end it, and that mean old Omar ruined everything."

Delia felt herself falling further and further under the twin's seductive wiles. They were intoxicating individually and damned near impossible to resist when they were together. She pushed herself up and shook the spell of them away as she blinked her heavy eyes. "I hope you'll come back, Tessa. That invitation is always open."

She drank back the rest of her drink, then licked the remains off her lips and glanced over at the Elder witch. "I'll think about it."