Wringing out every second they had left together in the quiet mountains of Romania, Tessa and Rafik did everything but sleep in the bed that Teddy offered to give up last night.
In this morning’s light, Rafik caressed Tessa’s belly as he watched her catch the last few minutes of rest before they left for their next destination.
Leaning into her neck, he breathed in a nose full of his favorite childhood memory and placed a soft kiss near her ear. As his musical voice vibrated through it, he remorsefully woke her from her much-needed sleep. “I’m sorry, Tessa, but Teddy is already awake. We should get ready to leave.”
“No!” Her gritty morning voice whined like a spoiled child as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him closer. “Please, love me a few more minutes before we go.”
Climbing on top of her, he hovered over her face and swept her curly hair away. “That is easy for me, Rohi.” He
Whimpering at the hot sunlight that moved across her face, Tessa imagined herself at her home in Greece and breathed deep through her nose as she stretched her arms above her head. The warm, dry air wrapped around her like a warm blanket, bringing a smile to her face. “Oh, thank you. But I thought we were going to Moscow.”The healer was right when he said she needed a few good days of sleep; she was like a new woman awash in soft cotton sheets and fluffy down pillows.Reluctantly opening her eyes, Tessa gradually became aware that she was in unfamiliar surroundings and her smile faded as panic set in when she remembered the last face she saw. “Oh, fuck! They got me.”The bars on the small windows and door made it very clear to her that she was no guest and that, wherever she was, Rafik wasn’t with her. “Where am I? Think, Tess.”“The Alamo.” Closing her eyes, she thought of Norway and tried her best t
“Damn!” Snapping her fingers, Tessa shook her head as she placed her hand on Rafik’s arm. “Hold on a minute. I forgot to get something.”Rafik nodded to her as the clerk asked where they were from and whether they wanted to see his band later. Answering back to him in Russian, Rafik saw the top of Tessa’s head above the aisle as he glanced over his shoulder to check up on her.Blue, dim light like the pilot on a gas stove ready to ignite at any time always shined over her. Today, however, her aura melted from blue to silver to orange, and Rafik knew that they needed to reach the Realm quickly before it was too late. This life they were living couldn’t last much longer; she needed a home to be comfortable in.Before he even heard the window smash, Teddy grabbed Rafik’s arm. “Oh, shit.” As the black mist swirled around their feet, he yelled over his shoulder for his sister. “Alamo, Tessa!”
The rhythmic, forceful knocking against the heavy metal door rang through the village as the giant of a man beat his fist against it. “Open up, Teddy! It’s Billy!”The muffled, raspy Scottish voice echoed through the empty house but reached no one. An aching sensation plummeted through the old wizard’s gut, and he suspected that he might have come to Norway too late. “Teddy!”With a flick of his wrist, the titan flung the door open, and it slammed against the wall. As the blast of icy cold air swept through the room, a loud, throaty snore came from the kitchen.Carefully walking through the simple home, Billy’s eyes darted back and forth across the poorly lit room. He followed the sounds of sleep until he found Teddy on the floor by the sink.When the garbled sounds of a man’s voice in the distance broke Teddy from his slumber, the young warlock tried hard to open his heavy eyes. No matter how he tried to wi
“You were wrong, baby; she looks like you. Just look at those big, brown eyes.” Tessa pushed the curly, black hair off her baby’s face and caressed her cheek with her fingertips. A gummy grin curled up under the newborn’s cheeks, and Tessa leaned in to rub the tip of her nose against her daughter’s.Leaning back on his hand against the dock’s old wooden boards, Rafik peeked down into his daughter’s face then glanced to Tessa. “But that smile is yours, my darling one.”After she inhaled a deep breath of the sea air, she moaned as she opened her eyes. She squinted while the boats in the harbor went out of focus and the sky beyond the horizon began to melt like ice cream into a smudged pink and orange sunset. “This isn’t real, is it?”Shaking his head, he joined her in watching the ships move back and forth on the water. “Not yet, but someday. I promise you.”Her eyes pinched
The full moon outside the window of Haldir’s bedroom glowed red, and a wicked blast of wind like a woman’s grieved howl made him whimper out as a vision started to unfold in his mind. “Tessa. Is that you?”His soft snores kept rhythm with the frogs creaking on the pond outside the Darke castle. The whole world around him was still and calm, yet his heart began to pound wildly in his chest as Tessa’s screams for help echoed in his head. “Bring him back! He’s mine!”That cold, falling sensation between sleep and awake started in his hands and brushed through his chest, settling right in the center where Tessa gripped him with her bloody fist and yanked him into her nightmare.As it sucked him into whatever hell she was living in, he approached the doorway and heard the sound of grunting and a man tugging something heavy across the floor. As the shadowy figure appeared in the hall, Haldir backed away as he saw Rafik&r
“It’s impossible.” His fingers bounced between the bars on the door as King Eli peeked through at his granddaughter. Just a shell of a woman, Tessa lay catatonic facing the wall humming to herself.He shook his head and drew up his face in disbelief as he motioned to the blackened spaces Rafik and the guard once inhabited. “Look at her. She’s pathetic. She couldn’t have caused all this.”“Don’t overlook her abilities for what you see before you now.” With her arms crossed in defiance, Isoke rolled her eyes and shook her head. With one child lost to her husband’s unending grudge, she would hold on to Tessa, no matter the cost. “She is cleansed of her mate completely. Eventually, she will come to her senses and yield.”He cupped her cheeks in his hands and kissed Isoke’s forehead as he reminded her of their past errors in judgment. “We thought the same of Isabelle, but she wo
“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.
The storm beat against the infirmary window as Teddy glared down at the street below. He stood cross-armed against the cool, damp metal frame as he watched the beads of water bounce up off the street under the orange glow of the lamps. When he glanced back over his shoulder at Tessa, he choked out the guilt and shame of it all as he slapped his hand over his mouth to keep quiet. Bent over in agony, Teddy hiccupped back the soft sobs of his contrition for what he failed to do and what he was about to do.Tonight was a blurry mess of chaos, but standing there by her bedside now, Teddy realized he had no one to blame but himself, and it broke him. Everything that followed this moment resulted from sheer panic.