Queen of Ruin(Book three of the Immortals Series)
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN MEMORIES

"Where are you hiding?" Slumped down on Tessa's bed, Teddy clicked his tongue as his eyes scanned the bedroom.

He had searched every corner for traces of her husband, and the one thing she treasured most was missing. It was the one thing he could never let her replace again. "Not in your bag, not in your drawers, not in your closet. Where would she stash you?"

As he lowered himself down into the spot she slept in, he closed his eyes and tried to imagine her lying there. The tingle spread through his fingers as Fate intervened and whispered to his cells to follow them along their cruel path to his ruin. The tight pull on his hand guided Teddy upwards along the soft, white down comforter.

Sliding his hand under the pillow next to him, Teddy's chest tightened, and his heart pounded against it like a lion trying to free itself from a cage. That should have been a warning to the warlock, but his heart was too tattered to hear it. The sting of her grief started in his throat, and as his hand found its way to the book, Teddy's face pulled down into an ugly, pained grimace as the short pants and tears came to him.

Every night he listened to the sound of her anguish through the shared wall that separated them, but tonight those cries would end.

She wouldn't remember her existence with Rafik anymore, but those memories couldn't be erased from the things that were his. Teddy had to clear her life of anything that would bring her pain, and this was the last thing of her husband that remained.

Threading Rafik's potion book's leather straps through their wedding bands, Teddy tied them tight and patted his hands in the air over them. "I'm sorry, Rafik. I'm so sorry for what happened, but I can't let you take her away from me. We'll just have to settle up in the next life."

He flinched as the front door slammed shut and shoved the book inside Rafik's bag of holding. There would undoubtedly be a storm coming, and he thought he was prepared for whatever came next.

"Teddy!" The sound of Haldir's angry, raspy voice rebounded through the foyer as Teddy heard his heavy footsteps pounding the floor. Finding him in Tessa's room, Haldir pushed his chest, sending him stumbling backward. The Viking's face was the deepest pink shade as his temper and fear seeped from his pores. "What the fuck did you do to her?"

Gritting his teeth, Teddy slapped the leather bag against Haldir's chest. "Never mention his fucking name again. It's done."

"Goddamn it, Teddy!" Haldir rushed into the hallway after him as he slung the strap of the bag over his shoulder. "What have you done?"

He stopped, then turned to face Haldir and said it with his arrogant, matter-of-fact tone as he shrugged his brother-in-law away like he was nothing. "I took her memories. He's gone."

Shaking his head, Teddy wrinkled his nose and puckered his lips because even his conscience knew it smelled foul. "She won't remember anything about him; it will be like he never existed."

Haldir's face drew up in disgust as Teddy's words sank in, and he shook his head as he inched closer. This wasn't the first time he'd seen this particular enchantment performed, and he knew it would cause nothing but mayhem. "Teddy, how could you? Do you have any idea what you've done?"

Teddy's lips began to shake as he batted his eyes towards the ceiling and the shrill voice of a scared little boy came from his mouth. "I told Daddy I'd take care of her, and I just keep fucking it up."

He put his hands around Teddy's face as he tried his best to reason with him. For ten years, the boy held in every fear, and they poured from him too late. "Teddy, that wasn't your fault."

His fingers beat into his chest as the tears started dripping from his cheeks to the expensive Oriental rug beneath him. "I promised her I'd protect Rafik, and now she's got nothing." Punching his hand into his chest again, he gritted his teeth at his failures. "Nothing!"

Haldir grabbed Teddy in his arms and held him close as the warlock fell apart in his embrace. "None of that is your fault."

"Yes, it is." Choking back with each breath, Teddy pressed his forehead into Haldir's shoulder and cried like he'd wanted to do since the day his parents died.

Patting his back as the glass from the front door shattered against the wall downstairs, Haldir closed his eyes and pulled away from Teddy. "That's Billy."

His fingers wrapped around the back of Teddy's head, and he stared into his eyes and hoped he would come to his senses. "You've committed a crime, Teddy; they can put you to death for what you've done. Did you know that?" His dead eyes stared into Haldir's as he shook his head. "I don't give a shit anymore. Just take care of her."

The life they led had stretched Teddy too thin, and he had nothing left to give. He was a broken, desperate man trying to hold on to any scrap he could. Grabbing his shoulder, Haldir spun him around. "Jesus! Come on."

As soon as Teddy's feet hit the landing at the bottom of the stairs, Billy threw him against the wall and held him in place with his invisible grip.

Haldir stepped forward and put up his hands, but the old Viking had no power over witches. Other than landing a hatchet in Billy's skull, there was little he could do to stop what was happening to his son. "Billy!"

Shaking his finger at Teddy, Billy looked over to Haldir, and his crazy eyes flashed red as his fury swarmed around the three of them like hornets shaken from a tree. "Shut it, old man. This is between me and this soon-to-be fucking dead wizard."

As Haldir rolled his eyes away, he shook his head and hoped it would be enough to stop the angry Scot. "He can undo it."

The crushing weight of Billy's hold kept Teddy in place as he tried to lift his head from the wall, but without Tessa in his presence, he was no match for the Elder. "No! I won't!"

Stepping closer to Teddy, Billy's white curly hair wove a circle around him as his anger surged through his massive veins. "You couldn't release her now if you wanted to, Teddy. The moment she's free will be like the first day she lost him. She'll relive it all over again."

Teddy spoke out the side of his mouth in defiance to the man he had called uncle all his life. "I'll never release her. You can't make me; it's my spell."

As he hovered over Teddy's face and spittle flew from his mouth, Billy gritted his teeth and spoke through them. "I can't believe how fucking stupid you are." Balling his fists at Teddy's insolence, Billy moved away before he wrapped them around his neck.

Pacing back and forth through the foyer as he decided what to do with Teddy, he stepped back to him and explained the flaw in his plan. A rookie mistake that would haunt him forever. "You only took her memories from the day your parents died, Teddy."

With his arms crossed as he leaned against the hall table, a numbness took over Haldir's chest as an icy sensation ran through his veins. "What are you saying?"

Like a distant clap of thunder, the growl of Billy's anger rumbled through the foyer as he looked over his shoulder to Haldir. "She knows Rafik's her mate. She remembers the night she met him, Haldir."

When he turned his attention back to Teddy, he leaned into his ear. "Instead of knowing Rafik loved her and that he's waiting on the other side, she thinks he's abandoned her, that he doesn't want her. She's a fucking disaster of a heartbroken woman. Good job, genius."

Flicking his wrist as he turned away from him, Billy released Teddy, and he crashed to his ass on the hard floor.

The giant of a man ran his fingers through his hair as he tried to calm himself down. Taking deep breaths as he peeked up to the ceiling, Billy chuckled out at Teddy's horrible choices. "Teddy, you haven't stolen her memories, you just pushed your sister back into that dungeon we rescued her from, except now her mind is her prison. She's trapped, and some imposter has taken her over."

Pointing at him, Billy shook his head as he warned Teddy of the future. "And make no mistake, young man, she will break free someday, and you will reap what you've done to her." Grabbing him by the back of his shirt, Billy lifted him effortlessly to his feet.

"Understand one thing, boys. Whoever Tessa was, that girl is gone now. She's being held hostage in some dark fucking room. Until the spell is broken and she's with Rafik again, she won't ever be whole." Grabbing Teddy's little face into his monstrous hands, Billy gave his final warning to him. "There's a reason we don't use these things, Teddy. Fate will make you pay for this over and over again until you make it right. You've cursed the both of you to a lifetime of blood and suffering. You haven't saved her; you've destroyed her."

Finally having enough, Billy walked to the front door and grabbed what remained of it in his hand. "You'll have to live with whatever you've made her into, that's your penance, and I won't punish you further for it. But if you ever use the dark magic against your sister again, I'll kill you myself."