Queen of Ruin(Book three of the Immortals Series)
CHAPTER THIRTY -FIVE HOME

"I will." A puff of steam left Tessa's mouth in a misty white cloud when she swallowed down the taste of Rafik's soul as his bloody lips moved with hers. "Tell her I love her."

The lingering sensation of him inside her made the sleeping witch writhe underneath her heavy blankets. The memory of him making love to her took over every instinct that told her he was gone from this world. As his hot kisses moved across her neck, she whispered out to him again. "I will."

When the worst of things came back to her, Tessa's eyes snapped open, and she blinked away the ugly visions.

"I had the worst dream, baby. Please, hold me." Her fingers crept up her arm seeking out the beautiful source of Rafik's hot breath. When she reached the spot, she realized it was only the Savannah breeze sweeping across her arm from the open door that overlooked the courtyard of her parent's Georgia home.

"That wasn't a dream, was it?" The crushing weight of the world came falling over her when she reached behind her and felt nothing but the cool cotton sheets. The muscles of her throat clenched together to choke out a soft whimper, and her hands pulled together against her lips in prayer like the humans do when they're challenged with something too horrific to face alone.

The ache in her throat was like death itself had his hand around her, and Tessa begged him to do away with her now. "Please, I can't. I can't."

Haldir's psychic eyes caught the dim light in her room just right as he leaned forward in his seat, so the grays and blacks of her aura seemed like a shadow monster as they moved up her body and swallowed her whole.

He noticed the soft jerks of her chest under her white blanket from where he sat on the balcony before he heard the throaty sobs spring from her stomach. "Tess, are you alright?"

The cold, wet condensation of his beer bottle splashed across the metal bistro table as he sighed and set it down. The walk across the room to her bed was like a grueling triathlon the way his heart pounded as he approached her. There was remorse to spare when it came to his daughter and merely being in her presence was enough to trigger a response.

Sitting down on the bed beside her, Haldir pushed her sticky hair from her face. In bed nearly a week now, she hadn't talked to anyone, not even Teddy. "How are you doing, Tess?"

She waved her hand in front of her face and moaned as she looked towards the wall, too filled up with pain to speak.

Seeing her so broken was beyond painful, and he didn't have the words to help her, so he pulled her up into his arms. His neck soaked with her tears as she trembled against his chest like a scared puppy.

Haldir kissed the side of her head and swore always to be the one constant in her chaotic existence. "I'm here, Tess. I'll always be here for you, whatever you need."

Her swollen lips and blazing red eyes peered up from his embrace and pleaded with him to understand the extent of her sadness through pants and whimpers. "I killed him, Haldir."

"Tess." Haldir stroked her cheek with his fingers as he did his best to ease her guilt. "You didn't. None of this is your fault."

The fat drops fell from her thick, black lashes as she closed her eyes and tried again. "No, you don't understand." Her lips pulled down in regret, and she whimpered out the ugly truth in halted spurts. "I said the death curse; I killed him." A sudden breath of understanding came from Haldir as he closed his eyes. "Oh, Tess." Pressing his forehead to hers, he shook his head as he put everything together. "If it were me in his place, or Teddy, or anybody else I loved, I would want you to do the same thing. It was a kindness that you did for him."

The self-loathing filled the emptiness inside her, and she pushed away from him. "I was getting my powers back, but I was still too weak to mist us both away, and they let him into my room to say goodbye. I couldn't let them have him." Sniffing back rapidly as her guilt seeped out of every dark space, Tessa's whole body shivered uncontrollably while she stared back into his eyes. "Do you think if I would've let them have him, they would've let me keep her?"

He wrapped his hands around her face and tried his best to stop to the train of thought he realized she was leaning towards. "No, they wouldn't have. Your grandparents didn't do it to punish you; they did it to win their stupid fucking war. Being the last man standing was all they cared about. Nothing you did or didn't do was going to stop what happened to you and Rafik."

Returning to the safety of his chest, she cried into his shirt, and he combed his fingers through her hair. "Whenever you're ready, I'll take you to replace him. No matter how long it takes, we'll replace him."

She rubbed her forehead into his shoulder as she denied herself any hope. "He'll never forgive me."

He rocked her and patted her back as he did when he held her as a baby and tried to soothe her mind. "There's nothing to forgive, Tess. You need to let go of this blame because I promise you that Rafik has none for you. Wherever he is, there is only love when he thinks of your life together."

When her sniffles became less and her body stilled, Haldir pulled away and wiped her tears away with his hands. "You hungry?"

Just the mention of food made Tessa's stomach grumble, and she smirked as she rubbed her hand over the noise. "I guess so. I haven't had much to eat in weeks."

Haldir pushed himself off the bed and motioned to the door with his head. "The cook doesn't start until tomorrow, so I have to order out. What can I get you?"

She flicked him away with her hand as she dragged herself to the side of the bed. "It doesn't matter. I'll be down in a bit."

When his brown leather shoes hit the tile in the kitchen, he lifted his chin to Teddy and grabbed the phone. "She'll be down soon. I'm going to order some food."

Teddy rubbed the stubble on his face as Billy continued his conversation. "Like I was saying, this one is particularly hard to catch. I'm going to have to hire from the outside."

As his hand slid around to the back of his neck, Teddy shrugged. "You should replace yourself a female. He's going to need a woman's attention sometime. When he comes up for air, then, whack!"

Billy chuckled to himself as Haldir hung up the phone and sat beside him at the kitchen island. "Aye! It's a simple enough sounding thing to do. However, our lovely debutantes in Savannah aren't keen on getting their hands dirty." Her bare feet didn't even make a sound as she stopped in the doorway and leaned against the side while she listened to Billy's problem. "I'll do it."

Looking back over his shoulder, Teddy held out his hand for Tessa. "Come here, Sugar."

Sliding into his side, she pulled her blanket around her tighter as he pulled her close against his chest. "I'll do it, Billy. I'll kill him."

A huff of air came from his nose as he shot her a sympathetic grin. "I hardly think it's the time for this. You need time to..."

"I need this, Billy. I can't go on like this anymore." Her bottom teeth scratched their way down her lip as her eyes glanced to the kitchen window where her mother used to water her plants. All she'd wanted for the past ten years was to come home, but now that she was here, all she saw were ghosts of her past. It was unbearable. "I'll go crazy just sitting around here."

Looking into her cold, bloodshot eyes, Haldir nodded as he recalled Daniel's advice to him. If it was death she wanted to deal, he would allow it. The marks were far from boy scouts, and the Fates built her for that kind of vengeance. "She can do this. Give her the job."

Shaking his head, Teddy wrinkled up his nose at the appalling timing of her new occupation. "You can't be fucking serious! No! Un-un. She's not up for that yet."

Her hot hand landed on his chest, and as Teddy closed his eyes, he knew he would never be able to tell her no. "I want this, Teddy."

The warlock's conscience was a battered wasteland of broken promises he made her, and there was little he wouldn't indulge her to make her feel better. Gazing down into her face, Teddy nodded because he would want a proper dose of vengeance if he were in her position. "Alright, but not alone. We'll work together, and that's not up for discussion."

Billy drummed his fingers on the countertop as his eyes moved back and forth between the three of them. "Very well, then. If you're all in agreement, I have quite a few contracts that need fulfilling. This one, though, he needs to go first."