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

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

MELISA

“ W e’ll reach the caves tonight,” one of the elves, Glyni, leans over and says. She’s pretty—really stunning—with long blond hair and labor-hardened muscles. She’s been friendly enough as we walk, chattering about knife skils and gossiping about people I don’t know.

It's a talent of mine to appear interested in anything.

"Are you planning on coming with us?" I say with a smile, conspiratorially bumping her shoulder with mine.

She grins. "I am. A certain azure creature promised me a spot in his bed."

I laugh, and she starts to chatter about just how blue certain parts of Niht are.

Apparently, incredibly blue—like cornflowers in the elven forest. And long. Thick, like some other type of flower she doesn’t bother translating into the common tongue. Not to mention capable of reaching places that could make a woman weep.

None of that matters to me. Comfort women have very few things they get to keep for themselves. When I started working for my master Eneko, I was in pain.

Pain turned to shame. Shame bred anger, making it impossible to do my duty—which meant no food. I had to temper all feelings, at least a little, so I made a rule: no orgasms. Cutting out another intense emotion helped keep my life… well, not uncomplicated, but less complicated.

If I wanted pleasure, I would give it to myself. I was better at it anyway.

I let Glyni go on, occasionally humming my approval and discretely scanning the group for Ra’Sa. He is the tallest of the Enduares, after the king, so it only takes me a few moments to spot him in the crowd. The strikingly handsome features make my heart beat just a little faster.

"You know, they told us to be gentle with you humans. But you're a robust thing. We'd take you back to the enclave where my people dwell if you'd like," the elf says.

A smile tugs at the corner of my mouth, causing my wind-chapped lips to crack. Two small faces appear in my thoughts. Girls back in the slave pens who depend on me.

"That's kind. But I'm afraid I came for what the human queen offered me," I say slowly.

“And what was that?”

“Safety,” I say without hesitation. “Freedom. A future.”

Glyni nods thoughtfully.

“I hear they’re mostly men. So if you truly want to stay in those caves, I recommend you get yourself bedded and wedded before more slaves inevitably are brought back,” she says.

“Rest assured, I’m working hard to do just that.”

“Have any caught your eye?”

Ra’Sa .

“I’m considering my options.”

Lies. It was decided when Ra’Sa swept me onto that strange, crystal snake.

“Regardless,” I start. “It shouldn’t take long. They are all so?—”

"Intense. Yes, you get used to it. All of that attention will be focused on your sheath in no time," she says.

I press my lips together to hold back another smile. "Sheath?" I've heard a woman's sex called many things, but never anything relating to weaponry.

Glyni bites her lip, also trying to contain her mirth. She gives me a brisk nod.

"Well then, besides being long and girthy, I suppose I should ask if the Enduar swords are very sharp?” I tease.

Her feline eyes flick to me, green irises shining in the mid-morning light.

“They’re made of the finest steel I’ve ever wielded.”

"And should I be oiling my sheath regularly to ensure a comfortable home for the blade?"

Glyni breaks first. Secretive laughter bubbles up between us again.

Abi, another comfort woman, appears at our side. She's short, but she's a sturdy thing. Her heaving breasts wobble under the cloak as she huffs.

"What scandalous things are you whispering about now?" she says with a smile.

I throw my arm around her shoulders.

Back in Zlosa, five comfort women allied with each other. We got each other supplies, helped with hazards of the trade, and gossiped while laundering our masters’ clothes.

Abi joined the group a year ago when Juan picked her. She had a rough start. If there’s one thing people hate more than comfort women, it’s a human foreman like Juan.

And yet, she was strong despite what the other slaves put her through. I also like her curious edge.She’s genuine and open. Life in Zlosa never took away the hopes she had for a perfect life.

She was drawn to me early on because I listened to her.

Being a comfort woman is more than just laying on your back. It's about inspiring a certain air of, well, comfort . Around me, secrets can flow more freely. People are uninhibited from being their true selves. The trick is letting people show you who they are without returning the favor.

"We're speaking of men,” I say at last, smiling. “And finding a new home in Enduvida.”

"I already have a home, and it's far away from this miserable cold," Glyni says suddenly. “I just enjoy a good rut.”

Abi sighs dreamily and gazes off in the direction I was just looking in.

Ra’Sa.

A part of me tenses. If she’s set her eye on the troll, that could complicate things.

“I can’t wait to set foot in Enduvida,” Abi says.

“Do you have a little husband picked out?” Glyni says, laughing.

Abi shakes her head. “No, but I have hope."

I relax a little. Too many women invested in the same man creates issues. It's not that I don't want the other women to be safe; it's just that I want that, too.

My head swivels back, and I look at Ra'Sa once more. I know that there are more men back at the caves. But, if there’s anything I’ve learned in the last six years, it’s that I can’t trade current opportunities for future ones.

I think Ra’Sa is interested in me. Thrice, I’ve caught him staring at me from the shadows.

He is strong, quiet, and respectful. He will do just fine. I just have to hope the nonsense with the crystals they keep mentioning doesn’t ruin that.

I keep my eyes fixed on his face for a second too long when he looks directly at me. My cheeks heat, and Glyni's words echo in my mind.

All that intensity. Focused on my core.

A shiver runs up my spine. It’s almost like we are back on that snake-like crystal steed for a second. I feel his phantom hand cover me, and the raging storm inside me quiets.

My core throbs.

Fuck. I think I… want the tall blue monster.

No, no, no, no.

I blink again, swallowing hard, trying to ease myself out of the emotion. In the last three years, I have never once let myself fall apart in front of one of the men I'm servicing.

Now is not the time to start.

Casting him a slow smile, I slow my pace until I find myself standing beside him. The look he casts me is slightly unsure.

Poor thing. He has no idea what I have in store for him.

“Ra’Sa,” I say brightly.

He looks down at me, confused. It catches me off guard, and I miss the stone in the path. I let out a soft sound when I trip, and his hand reaches up and rests at the small of my back.

His hand is gentle and sizeable, but not grotesque like the palms of the giants. He’s large enough to make me feel small, but not so large as to hurt.

I grin and tell myself to get a grip.

“Melisa,” he grumbles after a moment.

“You left early this morning,” I say.

He frowns. “Help was needed while packing up the camp.”

His hand moves and brushes one strand of my hair off my shoulder. I keep a tight rein on my stuttering breath.

“I was hoping you and I would travel together again today,” I say, eyeing one of the beasts they call crystal wraiths we rode yesterday.

He straightens. “We gave the glacialmaras we had to the pregnant humans. And one for the king and his queen.”

I lean into him as I speak, so my shoulder brushes the bottom of his arm. “So chivalrous.”

He pauses, then looks down at me. “Are you well? You stumble often.”

Something shrivels inside of me. “I’m fine.”

His hand reaches out and steadies my back once more. “Niht is nearby. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind carrying you.”

“I might just do that,” I say roughly.

But Niht and Glyni are definitely sneaking every chance they get, and hell if I will be the uncomfortable third party with no desire to participate.

There are no other men besides Ra’Sa. Perhaps I’m rushing this, but I won’t settle for an old or weak Enduar.

So, even though my cheeks heat and my heart pounds, I don’t leave Ra’Sa’s side.

We walk an hour, mostly in silence. I only occasionally glance at Ra’Sa. He isn’t unpleasant to look at, for a nonhuman. It’s as if he was hewn out of the raw earth and sculpted by a master craftsman.

When he meets Wren and Thea, will he be a monster or a friend in their eyes?

“You told me you care for your mother. I think that’s lovely. What’s her name?”

“Mer’Leuel.”

“Very pretty.”

No response.

“Are you looking for a wife among us humans?” I ask, trying to get him talking.

He shoots me a seething look and then ignores me.

I take a deep breath. There’s only one thing he seems capable of responding to. So I swallow my pride and trip again.

“Melisa, you are not well. Let me seek out Niht?—”

“But you are right here,” I say coyly.

He lets out a long breath and slips his arms around my waist. Nothing quite compares to the way the softness of my body meets the hard lines of his. A small flame stokes itself at the bottom of my belly, and I press my legs together, uncomfortable.

“Thank you,” I say.

He doesn’t respond.

As more hours pass, I continue studying him, and he moves silently. I purse my lips, thinking about the best way to seduce him.

When I finally hook him, will he want kisses or for me to trail my hands over his groin and act impressed at the size?

Shortly after being taken as a comfort woman, I was grouped with a dozen other slaves for training. We were all given half a dozen paintings sewn together. They showed twenty-four sexual positions. We memorize them all before being given back to the men.

Some are more appealing than others, but for some reason, almost all of them seem interesting when applying Ra'Sa to the equation.

We follow behind all the men and women, missing most of the views when night falls around us. The evening is gentle, though, with the vast open sky twinkling with silver stars.

I’ve never been anywhere other than Zlosa. It’s sad to miss seeing whatever bits of the world lurk in the inky blackness. But then, we crest another hill, and I ask Ra’Sa to put me down.

When I look at what awaits us, I gasp. I don't mean for it to happen, but I’ve never seen anything like… this.

Beneath us are two glaciers with a narrow passageway in between. Spell lights are bobbing above a thick blanket of fog that dances over the glassy, blue ice, reaching up toward us like floating waves.

For a second, something akin to fear grips me, despite the men and women disappearing into the cloud hovering near the ground. I stop on the road abruptly.

"Melisa?" It’s the first thing he’s said since he started carrying me here.

I don’t respond immediately, transfixed by the landscape.

I take one step forward. "Sorry. It's just a little terrifying."

He smiles gently. Barely a twitch of his mouth, but it makes me feel better.

"It's also beautiful," I blurt out.

"It is," he says slowly.

When I look back up, he's not looking at the misty clouds kissing the massive ice formations. He's looking at me with his eyebrows knit together. He looks away quickly; all confusion fades until it’s like it never existed.

I turn away and start walking, feeling pleased.

He follows.

My lungs slowly remember how to breathe as we move through the passage. Soon, I almost enjoy the thick, frosted air. It is salty. My mind wanders as it combines with the sounds of the ocean outside the ice chunks. The creaks and groans of ice floes help me settle back into reality.

It isn't until we emerge on the other side that I hear shouting and find three elves holding all the humans back. The clash of metal against bone is sharp and unmistakable, as is the screech that fills the air. When I reach for Ra'Sa this time, he stiffens.

“You don't like to see blood," he says, putting his arms around me again.

“No,” I murmur. I tell myself that I stay in his arms because men need to feel like they can care for their women. The fact that he happens to be right here is of little consequence.

It doesn't take long for the hunters and warriors to clean up the situation and for us to be ushered on our way. At last, I see Estela near the front. She speaks with the men who saunter over from slaughtering the awful, gray-skinned beings.

"I should go help," Ra'Sa murmurs.

I look up at him and nod. “All right.”

He hesitates. “Are you… well?”

“Well enough,” I say.

I continue walking when another one of the trolls catches my eye and sends me a smile. I return it, then push further into the group.

He’s not as big as Ra’Sa.

Abi and another friend, Paoli, join me. They excitedly speak with their hands . I just barely catch the signed words, "hay mas hombres." ? 1

Paoli is tall and lithe, with sleek black hair and slanted eyes. Her tongue had been cut out years before, and, like Abi, she has a scar stretching across her face. It's a cruel reminder of the life before, not unlike the scars etched into my arms.

When Paoli joined our laundry group, she and Abi became fast friends—true friends—despite their differences in disposition.

Abi is sparkling wine. Paoli is aged whisky.

I look away from the women as Estela, another woman who called me friend, steps forward.

"How is everyone?" the queen calls in the human tongue.

Some of us respond weakly, others loudly, but we all gaze beyond her to the gleaming golden door leading into the mountain. Shockingly red veins swirl around the doorway, like swathes of red fabric stored within the mountain's stone.

"We’re going to enter now. Though most will be sleeping, some may still come to greet us. Remember, you need not speak with anyone you don't wish to. They will be curious, not aggressive. And I will be there the entire time."

I huff a short laugh. She looks at the women as if they are less eager than their expressions. I don't see a single face that isn't at least a little excited.

Not for the first time, Estela truly looks like a queen—prim and proper and full of firm reassurance. It's not bad. I just don't know if it's necessary.

I let her have her moment as the men move about. When we start walking again, there's a palpable energy in the air—a sweet vibration that starts in the ground and moves through my boots. We fall into a line, and the hunters stand behind us, casting uneasy glances at the shadowy forest to the right.

I take a sharp breath when we approach the cave’s entrance.

A thick smell of damp stone and soft sulphuric fumes hits me square in the face. A faint, rhythmic pumping sound also pounds in the back of my skull.

It's a peculiar place, to be sure, but I smile. Estela had once described golden carvings and large crystals. We haven't seen the crystals yet, but gold lines the hallways as we move down into the city.

I lose sight of Ra'Sa just as Estela stops halfway down the tunnel. She continues greeting and ushering us, but there's a hollow look to her face. When I pass by her, I take her hand.

"Well done," I murmur, drawing her out of her intense focus.

She pauses and looks at me with a broken sort of smile. She urges me forward as her mate, the king, nods at me and wraps his hand around her waist.

Just as I leave the hallway, a song begins to play around us. It feels like what a dozen cascading stars might sound like. When I move, it clings to my skin, engulfing me like water. I am disoriented as blue beings emerge from their neatly designed houses in the distance.

I'm too entranced as my head naturally tilts backward, hungry to take in every detail. Glinting surfaces cause a thrumming in my chest—something hungry for adventure wrapped up in gleaming surfaces of rich purples, blood red, springtime green, and every shade of marvelous blue. The cavern is massive—easily a hundred times larger than any Enduar, as they like to call themselves.

Up to this moment, they were still trolls to me. Ancient, lethal, eerily observant, sure. But also hunters banished deep beneath the earth to hide their bloodthirsty ways while they mine their valuable diamonds.

Now, seeing the way the crystals grow out of the rock and hearing the song of their home solidifies Estela’s stories. These people are the heirs to a rich unseen legacy—one they are inviting humans to join.

For the first time in years, my eyes burn.

It feels safe here. Peaceful. Gentle. It is exactly what I was looking for.

This could be a home for my family, once I get them.

People have started swarming around me, guiding the humans away from the massive bridges and walkways that magically move by themselves. Many go directly for Teo and Estela, but I am left on the fringe.

It’s time to find the man I’m meant to seduce. But before I can look for Ra’Sa, someone grabs my shoulder. A woman with red hair pulls me back.

Her skin is paler than most humans, and freckles dot her nose and cheeks. They continue all the way up to the thick, curly hair spilling out of a style arranged atop her head. When she smiles, there's a warmth that can be felt throughout my entire being.

"I'm Arlet," she says sweetly. "Welcome to Enduvida."