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

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

RA’SA

The Next Day…

I hardly slept last night. I should regret my decision to go to Zlosa, but I can’t. I can’t stop hearing Melisa’s words or remembering what it felt like when she told us about the hell she’d crawled out of.

It haunts me.

So much so that I barely register the motions of the day. I hardly feel it when they take me to the elves to fix my face.

When the queen asked me to cut my hair—an act that an Enduar would only take upon the death of a mate—I gritted my teeth and thought about how human women only want roofs over their heads.

Until an hour ago, I had long hair that any Enduar would be proud of. Now, it is black and falls to my chin.

Comparison can be the thief of joy, but it can also put life into perspective. Traditions, though comforting, must fall to the wayside when so many lives are at risk. I will be a slave, and human slaves regularly cut their hair. The reasons do not matter. I must do what needs to be done.

“Use this. Keep one next to you while you sleep so the glamour will replenish every evening around midnight. Otherwise, you will wake up as blue as the day your mother birthed you, my fiendish friend,” Thorne says.“If you need to call upon the magic outside of midnight, say Blàth.”

My mouth trips on the word as I try to repeat it, and he smiles reassuringly.

He’s one of the only men in the elven resistance, and I’m convinced his leader sent him here to spy on us. I shouldn’t like him.

But… he is helping us—particularly me—so I remain undecided on my loyalties.

His white hair falls in orderly curls around his face, and I eyeball the length. It’s short, just as mine is now.

“Thank you,” I grumble as I take the small sack of pebbles in my hand.

It is small, barely larger than my palm, and the stones inside are practically shards of rock. But the contact causes a buzzing to skitter across my skin.

Elven magic.

I wonder what my father would think about my cutting my hair and using foreign magic. Perhaps he would find it amusing. He had a seriousness about him, but he so dearly loved to laugh.

In that regard, we are different. But laughter has meant little when all that’s left of our family of seven is me and my mother. The first time I laughed in years was when Melisa jumped into that pool after me.

My gaze travels over to Melisa. Queen Estela holds her close. The two of them smile at each other, and I strain my ears to hear the words pass between them, when Melisa turns her head to meet my gaze.

Until now, my heartbeat has been slow and steady, but when I look into Melisa’s unflinching, golden-warm gaze, I feel like I’ve just spent two hours training with the stone benders.

I sweat, my muscles feel strange, and, if I still had my tail in this form, it would probably be swishing back and forth.

When she smiles, it feels like my chest might burst.

Is this matehood?

I listen closely to the air around us, waiting for the access to her mind that comes with a mate, but her thoughts are silent. No song sings to me, and no pain appears on my neck, signaling mating marks.

Melisa turns back to Estela, who hands her a few small trinkets. The glint of a red stone makes me tilt my head to the side.

Red beryl—a healing stone. It matches Melisa’s dress.

My eyes catch on her deep red lips… again. The deep color makes her teeth appear even more white.

I’ve never seen someone wear so much red, and now I know it relates to being a comfort woman. I don’t like it.

Heat creeps up my neck.

Mother Liana comes up the tunnel, interrupting my thoughts to hold out yet another pouch. This one is larger than the other.

“These are speaking stones. I have prepared as many as possible,” Liana says, as I take the bag. “Only send the most important information.”

While putting all of the gifts in my pack, Melisa joins my side.

“Thank you, Mother Liana,” she says, her voice bright and sweet.

It’s almost enough to stroke a smile out of my lips.

Almost.

I turn to look at King Teo. We’ve disagreed on many points within the caves before, but I begrudgingly admit that he isn’t an incompetent sovereign.

Melisa would’ve never accepted no for his final answer. I am grateful he granted me leave to go with her.

He reaches out his hand. “Are you prepared to leave?”

I tentatively take it. “We are. Thank you for your help.”

“It was nothing,” he says.

Melisa gravitates to my side, and I let a few shallow breaths filled with her spiced flower scent fill my nose.

“I am prepared to leave as well. I must thank you, King Teo, for accepting my request.”

Teo’s mouth flattens into a harsh line. “I would’ve preferred other means.”

I agree.

Melisa smiles. “You can thank us when the king is dead, and we are safely nestled back in Enduvida.”

She says the words with certainty, but unease ripples through my body. I hold out my arm, and she takes it without hesitation.

“See you all soon!” she says cheerfully.

While I appreciate her optimism, it feels hollow.

I dip my head toward the crowd and say, “We will return as soon as possible.”

We walk out of the cave, just the two of us.

The sunlight pierces my eyes, as it did the last time I left Enduvida. I was not meant to be out here, looking like a human.

But things change.

We walk in silence until we reach the opening of the icy passage.

Strangely enough, the further away from the cave entrance Melisa gets, the quieter she becomes.

At first, I thought nothing of it, but then I caught her looking back at the mountain’s entrance as if she had forgotten something.

When she catches me, a mask covers her worried features.

“What—”

“Can I carry something?” she interrupts me to ask.

My brows furrow. “It is not wise. The trek to Zlosa is long, as you’ve already seen. I am perfectly fine. You should conserve your strength.”

Melisa bites her lower lip but says nothing more. She steps closer to me as the chill of the ice blankets us. I do not find it much colder, especially since we are out of the wind, but I understand her reaction.

She continues to walk at my side, somewhat subdued. I think of how she’d looked coming to Enduvida—full of wonder. But now that expression is gone and is replaced with a haunting worry.

Glistening blue and white glaciers stretch above us, and the sound of the wind hits the ice just right. It almost sounds like a song.

For a second, I marvel. Then my head turns to the woman at my side. A bitter taste coats my tongue.

I’m taking her back to be tortured.

Why had she insisted? The decision seemingly came out of desperation. But I can’t know for sure—it’s all a part of the mystery that keeps her just out of reach.

Unknown by me.

“When we get back to Zlosa, are you truly planning to go with your master?” I ask, breaking the silence.

She freezes and looks up at me. We stop walking all together, and her eyes quickly shift through different emotions.

“Yes.”

“Why do you want to go back to Zlosa so badly?” I ask through a tight throat.

Her hands bunch in her skirts. “I want to help the Enduares.”

“Bullshit,” I say.

Her face switches from shock to anger. It’s like an entirely different person emerges from the recesses of her mysterious soul.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You want to return to a life you hated—a brutal, cruel life—for people you hardly know?” I press.

She frowns.“You’re right. I don’t know you very well, so I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

“What kind of response is that?”

She glares at me and continues walking.

I clench my fists.

“Are humans truly so fickle? You confirmed you were interested in me just a few days ago. Shouldn’t you want to share your thoughts with the man you desire?”

“Ra’Sa, I don’t wish to speak about this with you. Please, drop it,” she says.

“But I’m saying these things because I want to help you.”

When I catch up to her side, I see her nostrils flare, but she doesn’t say anything more. She just continues walking.

Frustrated, I drag a hand over my face and follow her. Women make no sense. This is why I shouldn’t court one.

The stone was supposed to sing and make this easy.

“Are you worried?” I ask finally when I catch Melisa’s hands grasping at her red dress.

Both arms drop back to her sides. “Not at all.”

Her words have a tang of falsity, but I give up.

If she is nervous or worried, I won’t pressure her with more questions. I square my shoulders and continue to push through the narrow channel.

When night falls, I finally start to relax. There’s something about the darkness that reminds me of the caves. It makes the wide open space feel smaller—almost like an embrace.

I am quiet as I set up our small camp. I clear away snow, lay the bedrolls inside a leather tent, and then return to the ground. As I kneel, I let my hands rest upon my thighs, palms facing upward. The stone beneath my fingers shifts. Each particle vibrates to the same tune as my mind. My eyes see further than the physical world, aided by my other senses. Slowly, I raise a few bits of stone from the frozen topsoil.

While I cannot call upon the earth’s molten rock like Teo, I can heat the stones to make a surface suitable for cooking.

As my makeshift stove is complete, I scoop snow into a pan, pick out the debris, and put in the dried ingredients.

It isn’t until I sit back, the meager meal bubbling, that I look over and see Melisa watching me. She’s curled up in one of the fur blankets, and her eyes sparkle in the dim light.

“Food will be ready soon,” I say.

“So I see. Thank you.”

I nod.

She smiles, and my whole chest warms. After our fight earlier, I’ve been stewing in my distress, but all her nerves and irritation seem to have ebbed away.

“Will we be sleeping in that tent together?” she asks bluntly.

I nod again, trying to hide my racing heart. “Yes. It will keep us warm. It’s efficient.”

She grins. “My dear Ra’Sa, I told you once before: I wouldn’t mind lying on top of you to help save space.”

I sputter. At least she’s feeling better. She was so quiet on the walk here.

“Well, if you really want?—”

“Relax, Ra’Sa. I was merely joking.”

The lightness in my chest falls flat. “Of course.”

She is silent for a few minutes. “While I’m grateful you’ve come to help me, I know how… eager you all are to have mates. I won’t keep you from your future woman.”

My brows furrow, and I refrain from saying the words that have slowly snuck into my head.

She could yet sing for me with a stone in her chest. But that’s madness. To speak it is futile.

“I would never pressure you?—”

“Again, I am grateful you came with me on this trek. Not many men would help a woman who belongs to another,” she interrupts.

I blink. “Belong? You remain unmated, do you not?”

“Correct.”

I meet her gaze. “Then you belong to no one. You are free.”

She tilts her chin up. “I am Eneko’s whore, or did you forget so easily?”

I make a face, but she shakes her head.

“Believe me—it doesn’t hurt me to say it aloud. He plucked me up a year and a half after I was first conscripted to the breeding pens. It doesn’t matter that we escaped; I still belong to him. And I will be every second we are in Zlosa.”

Unless he dies.

My jaw tightens. Killing Eneko too soon would cause the whole mission to fail. But once the mission is done, we will have what we need, and the giant slaver will be all mine.

“If that’s how you feel, then fine. Everyone is grateful for your sacrifice.”

Sacrifice is one of the many things that a man should be comfortable with. Yet, seeing her take on this burden makes my gut churn.

I felt the same when my brother Tirin sacrificed himself for the humans.

No one tells you how agonizing such gifts of self are for those left behind.

Memories of the past swirl as I stir the dried meat into a stew, and silence settles around us.

A small beast emerges from the bushes and bounds through camp, only to stop in front of Melisa. It has strange ears and a white coat. Another one of those mesmerizing smiles graces her lips as she reaches out and pets the creature.

“When we traveled before, Niht was always inundated with animals. It seems they like you, too.”

She nods. “Animals have always come to me.”

I smile.

“I used to work with them before,” she says, almost hesitantly. “I enjoyed their company.”

A part of me wonders if that is true, as so much of her is shrouded in mystery, but she says it with such reverence. I can’t help but believe her.

“What is that one called?” I ask lightly.

She brushes back one ear of the animal and laughs. “A rabbit. Sometimes I forget how much you don’t know about the world outside of your pretty caves.”

“You think me an ignorant hermit because I have little family and no mate?”

I shouldn’t be so bitter, but I am stuck between duty and desire.

It’s becoming agonizing.

She stops petting the creature, and it bounds away.

“I didn’t mean my words to sound so cruel,” she says.

I shake my head. “It is fine. Rest.”

We are quiet for the rest of the night, and when I approach my bedroll, I slip in and put as much space between us as possible.