To Defend A Bride (Entangled with the Enduar #3)

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

RA’SA

S now covers the world around us as we travel away from Zlosa. The sun has just begun to set along the horizon, and it’s the first time I’ve felt like I can breathe all day.

The overworld is a torturous place, and I hadn’t intended on ever spending so much time outside of the mountains. However, I had been personally chosen by King Teo to help him rescue his mate—our new human queen: Estela.

I had anticipated our bringing home a handful of humans… but thirty-four?

Enduvida is going to be a madhouse.

After I’ve helped set up camp, I slink away from the bustling movement. The humans whisper to each other, and the elves laugh around the fire that they now build.

It’s all a strange, unwelcome assault on my senses. Trees line the area, and I lean against one, thinking.

I’ve never seen so many humans in one place. They’re flighty and look around like lost ruh’glumdlor cubs, moving between tents, huddling together, and avoiding my gaze.

I never had a problem with the old custom of stealing them and helping them escape their giant masters. But when we stole Estela, I saw them as a curse on our people. Unnecessary risks.

My younger brother Tirin was a hunter, like our late father. The unmasked joy on his face when we learned that Enduares could mate with humans was almost endearing. For a full week, he spoke of nothing else.

“You can find a wife, and we can have a family again,” he’d told me over and over.

He’d hung around corners, looking at the redheaded one who lives in our caves. He watched the queen with rapt attention, even before she accepted the charge to lead us.

And then he went and sacrificed his life for the humans.

For the chance for me to have a family in the future.

I loathe their presence, and to some extent, them. And yet… we need them—I need one to carry on my family line.

Arms crossed and frowning, I watch the human women whose cause my brother died for. A bitter flavor coats my tongue. They don’t even know who he was.

I take in dirty black hair and too-thin bodies. I watch the swell of pregnant bellies, feeling a strange churning in my gut.

Until now, I’ve mostly just worked to corral the women to safety. They are all cut and bruised after evacuating from Zlosa.

They aren’t unattractive—for humans —but none catch my eye.

When Teo found his mate, he sensed her across space and time. She had barely entered Enduvida, and she had no crystal when their mating song started.

Now that I stand on the sideline, I wait for the same thing to happen.

And yet, all is quiet.

I feel nothing.

Frustrated, I shift my position on the tree. I must feel something— anything .

I think of my father telling us the story of choosing my mother. When he saw her, he’d known even before the mating song started.

Perhaps it will be more like the rising of the sun on the horizon rather than a lightning bolt sent to strike me down.

The women continue to move slowly, sluggishly. Their human features are too soft. They are too weak. If they were Enduar women, they would be doing something . Helping with the cooking, the tending, or guarding our camps.

Perhaps it is for the best that I don’t sing for one of these starving women, just as I never sang for any of the Enduar women.

I’ve always been too silent, too serious. Especially after the volcano. Once, I’d tried courting Neela only for her to laugh in my face.

And now even Neela’s mated to a human.

My lips curl.

When I see two elves carrying a heavy pack filled with leather tents, I push off the tree to help them. Unease filters through my limbs as I walk closer and grab onto the pack.

One grins at me with her strange, sharp teeth.

“Not all of you are useless then,” she says teasingly.

I ignore the elf and keep walking—she can go back to the two dozen sisters she brought with her.

After putting down the woven pack, something red moves in the corner of my eye. It’s a stark contrast to the blues, greens, browns, and blinding whites.

It’s the woman I carried back from Zlosa.

I stiffen as I take in her long, raven-black hair and smooth golden-brown skin. They’ve given her a dark cloak to cover the red dress, but it fails to cover the way her hips, soft belly, and rear curve.

My head tilts to the side as a new emotion tightens my shoulders.

“My, you are so strong,” she says—not to me, though her feminine voice caresses my ear. She grins up at Niht, her hands on his biceps as he helps her off a glacialmara .

My fingers twitch as Niht leans in to say something to her, sliding his hand to her shoulder.

Before I know it, I walk toward them.

When I get close enough, Niht stops what he was saying, and they both turn to look at me.

The woman’s smile fades, and I feel her reaction like a blow to my stomach. I am not a friendly person. I do not smile as the other men do.

“Niht,” I say, still looking at the woman. “I think Teo was looking for you.”

The smile returns to her face tenfold, and it’s like my heart has turned into a flint. Something strikes against it, sparking glowing embers to warm my chest.

“But I—” Niht starts.

The mysterious woman in red brushes her hand over Niht’s arm again, clearly still looking at me, and says, “Thank you so much for your help, Niht. I’m sure I’ll see you later.”

More satisfaction floods my body. The cavernous hole inside of me has only grown wider with each death of my people, but now, standing here, it shrinks.

Just a little.

Niht lets out a sigh and walks away.

Alone with the beauty, I get a closer look at the way her hair complements her pretty, oval face. The cold air makes her high cheekbones turn a rich, rosy color. A few jewels hang from her ears and around her neck.My eyes drop to her full red lips, which are still pulled back into a smile around her white, straight teeth.

I wait.

My back tenses.

No song.

I resist the urge to turn and walk away.

“My name is Melisa,” she says, breaking the silence.“Thank you for carrying me last night.”

Excellent, now I have to speak to her. I grimace.

“Ra’Salore,” I say back.

She raises one perfectly arched eyebrow. “Your name is longer than the others.”

My lips press together, and my fists tighten.

“We all used to have longer names like mine,” I say, annoyed at yet another reminder how far my people have fallen.

Her head tilts to the side, and deep brown eyes, the color of dark mead, gleam in the firelight. The flecks of golden sparks near her irises are a world within themselves.

“And why are you the only one now?” she asks casually.

“I find the old ways appealing.”

“Does that include eating humans?” she says with a laugh.

Her mirth makes heat spread up my neck. Though she may be beautiful—again, for a human —she’s rude. She’d turn me down just like the others.

“That was never true. We don’t eat other races.”

The pretty laughter stops, and some of her easy kindness fades. Good.

“So I’ve heard.” She reaches out and straightens the top of my leather armor.

I freeze under her touch, having never made much contact with a woman who wasn’t a healer or my mother.

“Ra’Salore is charming, but I think I will call you… Ra’Sa,” she says as her hand slides from my collar to my arm and lingers.

I stare down at her, emotions building and compacting like the layers of rock beneath our feet.

“That’s not my name,” I say and step back.

She grins and peruses my form. Her smile grows wider, and those molten eyes sparkle.

“No, but I think it fits you well. Do you have a wife?”

I frown and shake my head once.

“No?” She bats her lashes. “I’m shocked. There’s no woman in your life at all?”

Is she mocking me?

“I care for my mother,” I grit out.

She looks surprised and then smiles.

That’s all it takes for me to straighten my shoulders, stretching the tightness, and leave.Might as well follow after Niht and find a task.

Finding King Teo near one of the supply bags doesn’t take long. His mouth is turned down as he surveys all of us. Already, I can sense a speech coming on. He will be particular about the humans.

What do I care? There is nothing there for me.

“My King,” I say. “Do you need anything?”

My leader looks up at me with wild, haunted eyes.

He frowns. “What was that?”

“How can I help?”

“Oh. Hmm.” He sighs. “Could you keep watch tonight?”

I nod. “Understood.”

He’s not finished.

“Gods. It’s all just so awful.”

King Teo rakes a hand over his face, smearing a bit of soot over one of his cheeks.

Conflicting emotions war within me. On the one hand, he’s my king. He thinks of his people, and he’s the entire reason that any of us have survived this long in any semblance of a home.

On the other hand, he can be a real bastard.

He can be impulsive. Authoritative. Not to mention the insufferable favoritism he shows Lord Vann. He doesn’t realize the sway he has over others, particularly the way he was able to influence my brother.

Sure, he never asked Tirin to give up his life. But Tirin trusted him. Looked up to him.

King Teo turns back to me. “What do you think?”

I take a deep breath. “I think we did the right thing by bringing them with us.”

He nods thoughtfully.

“I hope you know how grateful I am for all you’ve done. I know you didn’t want to come,” he adds.

I chew on my lip. “I’d better go eat something and find a spot to watch the woods for the night.”

He looks like he wants to say something else but thinks better of it and lets me walk away.

As I make my way through the other humans, Enduares, and Elves, someone tries to stop me. When I catch a glimpse of Niht, I freeze.

“Friend,” he starts.

I yank my arm out of his grasp. “What do you want, old man?”

“Ho, peace. You are irritated. I see that now.” He straightens and continues, “The woman you were speaking with?—”

“What about her?” I snarl, still feeling the painful pricks of rejection, of knowing that our goddess never favors me to have a mate.

“That is one of the comfort women we’ve brought back. Queen Estela explained to me that she belonged to one of the giant lords.”

I frown. What a vile, disgusting practice.

“Has your song begun?” he asks.“Is that why you watch her?”

Must he pour salt water over this wound? I grit my teeth and then shake my head once, eager to leave.

“Then I just want to warn you to be… careful with your expectations. She is open with me as well. It could be her nature to act interested.”

Irritation builds under my skin. “Niht, we are not friends. Do not concern yourself with my expectations .”

The old man dares to look upset, and I start to walk again.

“Ra’Salore,” he starts.

I turn back and point a finger at him. “I don’t want her. We did not sing for each other. Leave me be.”

My gaze turns back to the fire where the female slaves congregate. Melisa sits with the others, combing through their hair. Her tresses are unbound, same as the other humans.

Enduares keep their hair braided and bound, only letting the strands free in front of family as children or as mates when they are grown.

I should look away from the slightly erotic scene.

The humans don’t share my customs. The raven-haired one probably doesn’t even know what this means for someone like me. But my heart stirs, and my fingers ache to braid her locks.

My eyes widen in horror. Such a strong reaction for someone I haven’t sung for. It shouldn’t happen. She’s small. Weak.

And yet, I give my Fuegorra a few more moments near the group to ensure my mate is nowhere in sight.

The silence cuts deep.