Queen of Ruin(Book three of the Immortals Series)
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO THE BANDS

While the thunder rolled outside the window, the cool air from the drafty old windows blew across Rafik's face and woke him as the goosebumps rose on his arms. Tessa groaned at the disturbance, so he kissed her shoulder and pulled the blanket over it.

Taking the watch from his nightstand, he squinted his sleepy eyes and sighed as he laid it back down. He'd received a special order the night before, and it was urgent.

Trying not to wake her, he lifted the leg she had clamped down on his thigh, then slid out from underneath, and she growled like a kitten at its milk bowl when he left the bed.

Looking over her naked body wrapped up in his bed, he blinked his eyes and grinned as he pulled his pants over his underwear and fastened them.

Lost in her womanly wiles once again last night, he didn't get a chance to give her the surprise he had, so he grabbed his cloak from the chair.

The little box was lined in velvet, and when he pushed it open, the shimmer reflected off his eyes that twinkled with happiness at being able to give her the thing he knew she wanted most. He slid one on his finger then found Tessa's hand under the messy bedsheets.

Nervous that it wouldn't fit just right, he gritted his teeth and hoped he wouldn't wake her as he pushed it down her finger. "Blessed be."

Wishing that they had more time to lay together this cold and rainy morning, Rafik pulled on his shirt before returning to the bed and crawling up from the bottom between her legs.

As he placed soft kisses up the back of her calf, she smiled and opened her eyes. "You can keep going. I won't complain at all, baby."

Hitting the soft ticklish area behind her knee, she giggled into the pillow as a shiver ran up her back, and his hand went up her inner thigh.

Once he got to the ridge between her thighs and buttock, he bit her ass cheek and pushed himself up to hover her back. "I didn't think you would ever wake. It's time to get started. We have an extraordinary request to fill today." Rafik lowered himself until his chest grazed her bare back and kissed Tessa's cheek then backed off the bed. "Come, my love. The day is wasting."

She rolled over and trilled her lips, then pushed her fingers back through her hair until something caught her eye. She had more jewelry than she knew what to do with but seeing the gold band on her finger made her tremble. There was rarely a moment that passed that she didn't have something to say, so when she said nothing at all, he worried that he'd made a mistake. "Do you like them?"

Tessa fanned the tears that burned her eyes and curled her lips under as she nodded. She'd seen that same design a time or two.

Written in their ancestors' ancient language, all those married under the Mate Banns have it inscribed on their fingers. Since a different kind of magic joined them, they didn't receive the sacred brand.

The aching burn in her throat began to creep up her body until she was fanning the sensation as it left her eyes. "Yes. It looks like the brand my parents had."

Coming back to the bed, he bent over and kissed her lips. "I wanted to buy you something amazing, but I thought you would like this more. I had them blessed by Delia. I know you wished for something like the brand our parents and their parents wore. I hope this is an acceptable substitute."

Sniffing back her tears, she put her hand on his cheek. "Oh, yes, baby. It's perfect. Everything you do is just perfect."

He kissed the back of her hand and tilted his head towards the door. "We've already missed breakfast. Get dressed and meet me downstairs when you're ready."

As he pulled the door closed behind him, he nearly ran into the housekeeper. "Mrs. Blake wishes to sleep in today." While he hurried down the stairs, she peeked back over her shoulder. Placing her hand on the old glass knob, she leaned in and pressed her ear to the door.

Tessa pushed herself up to the side of the bed with the sheet loosely wrapped around her otherwise nude body while she admired her ring. "Oh, Rafik. What did I ever do to deserve you?"

Hugging herself with her arms across her chest, she rocked herself back and forth. "Mrs. Tessa Idrissi." She grinned, but it was quickly replaced when she curled her lips under in disappointment. "Mrs. Tessa Blake." She waited a lifetime to hear her proper name on the lips of everyone, and she felt cheated. "That's not very pretty at all."

Looking at herself in the mirror that sat above the dresser, she pulled her hair back and gave herself another look. She thought back to the first night she met him and how she wondered if she looked any different.

Isabelle was the most beautiful woman she ever knew, and her father always told Tessa that he could tell how much her mother loved him by the way she looked. He said she glowed like the stars in the sky whenever they were together. Her parents were so in love, and she longed for something that big and sacred.

As she gazed at her face in the dim light of the room, a tear rolled down her cheek, and she wiped it away. For the first time, she understood what her father was talking about because she saw it on herself. "Oh, Daddy. You were right." She had always admired her own face, but this morning she felt truly beautiful. Her cheeks still flushed from Rafik's beard chaffing her as he slid back and forth against Tessa when they made love. Her lips still red and swollen from his kisses. Even the smell of him still lingering on her body mixed with her charming aura and created the most pleasing fragrance she ever had the joy of inhaling.

For the first time since Savannah, she felt safe and loved and at peace, and she knew without any doubt in her mind that she was in love completely.

She smiled at the housekeeper as she passed her in the hall then came down the stairs to the foyer. As her ring hit the newel post, Tessa balled her hand into a fist and brought it to her chest as she walked down the next hall to the dungeon stairs.

Hearing Rafik speedily chop through the plant before him, she pushed the door open and crossed her arms as she crept to him. He glanced up from his work and smiled, then set down his knife and wiped his hands on his pants before placing a kiss on her forehead. "I thought perhaps you went back to sleep."

Pulling the chair out for her, he waited for Tessa to sit then went back to his work. "Delia is having our reception after dinner."

Smiling at the news, she bit her lip and looked up at him. "I know you didn't want it. Thank you for indulging me. I suppose it's a silly thing, but I just wanted everyone to know."

His shoulders shrugged as he shook his head and continued chopping. "No, my love. It's alright. If it makes you happy, I'm happy."

Placing her hand on his wrist, she stopped his movements. "I am happy, Rafik. So happy. I hope you know that."

Removing her hand from his wrist, he kissed it and put it back to her arm. "You seem sad, though. Is everything alright?"

She licked her lips and nodded. "Mmm-hmm. I'm just waiting on the next bad thing to happen. I can't help it. I feel like everything will just disappear into thin air, and, I don't know, I suppose I'm just a little sad about everything we've missed. Like a proper wedding and dating. It's just unfair."

Rafik wagged his finger and clicked his tongue. "The past is gone, Tessa. This kind of thinking robs you of joy. We have lived this way too long. I won't do it anymore, and I won't allow you to either. Every second from now until we are parted, Tessa, only joy."

Pushing his shoulder, she shook her head. "You're too much, Rafik."

"Did you give any thought to Greece?" As he waited for an answer, his brow lifted, and he glanced up to her.

"Yes, fine. Whatever you want." She waved her hand at him and looked over the potion book as she glanced at the ingredients. "What are you making? You haven't shown me this one yet."

He sighed through his nose and threw a pinch of a dark powder in the brewing liquid. "It's a memory potion."

She furrowed her brows and wrinkled her nose. "You mean like to take someone's memory?"

"No, of course not. Although I have a recipe for that, it's a depravity to use it. This is to help repair a broken mind." He piled the chopped leaves on his blade and wiped them off into the cauldron. "The man this is for was in a terrible accident and wished to be made whole."

"A depravity, huh?" She flipped through the pages of the book. "Why's that? What if something awful happened and someone wanted to forget all about it?"

Lowering the lid onto the cauldron, he fanned the steam away and crossed his arms. Looking like a proper teacher at that moment, he raised his brow to his wife. "A depravity because these memories, no matter how horrible, serve to protect us, Tessa. Just look at the two of us. Billy could have easily stolen our memories of what happened, wiped them away with the flick of his wrist."

He pressed his finger to his temple. "But the holes left behind, the lessons forgotten, the irreparable damage to the psyche, they change the person forever for the worse only. They are never the same person again without those experiences. It would be a far more devastating thing than dealing with the pain of what happened to them initially."

"Aren't you so smart?" She slid her arms around his waist, pulled him close, and then rested her face against his abdomen. "I'm so lucky to have such a brilliant husband."

Tessa is a creature of ruin. It isn't her nature to be a healer, despite her love of potions. It wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination to believe she might use the potions for less than good intentions if provoked. "You must think about these things, Tessa. You wield incredible power within you, and you have to be responsible with it."

Looking back at his work table, he waved his hand around at the bottles that lined the shelves. “The potions and spells we cast must only be used for righteous things. Even powers of destruction, such as yours, should only be used for the greater good. Everything that you do comes back to you, this is karma, and if you do this magic with an impure heart, they will come home to you and roost many times over. The cure should not be worse than the curse, not for you or for the person you are trying to help. If I teach you nothing else, my darling one, remember that."

With her fingers crossing an x over her heart, Tessa shook her head and lied with a smile. "I promise, I won't ever forget, Rohi."