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

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

MELISA

W hat was I thinking?

Comfort. I sought out comfort in him. It was a mistake.

It hurt so much—not the touches or the kisses. The care. It felt like he was sawing my heart in half with a blunt stone.

Coco and I reach the edge of the tree line before Eneko's cabin. I halt near, leaning against one of the trunks, and sink down to the wolf’s level.

Taking her head in my hand, I press our noses together.

“Thank you, mi amor. ? 1 But I was all right—he wasn’t hurting me,” I say to my little protector, ignoring the knots in my stomach.

“Go,” I pant. “Thea and Wren need you.”

Coco leaves, hopefully returning to the girls, and I put one foot in front of the other. Alone at last, I can hardly breathe. I’m hot and tired and unsatisfied all at once. Pausing and pressing my fingers to my lips, I find them swollen and tender. I feel the spots where his sharp teeth nipped at me. They tingle with the phantom memory of passion.

Twice I've kissed him.

Twice I've nearly tossed myself off the edge of sanity and into the arms of a gentle, attentive lover. He was a way out of this wretched life.

Gods, he cradled my heart like it fit perfectly in the palm of his hand. And then, the pain stopped, and he made me feel so good. In a way I hadn’t thought possible.

The air is still as I trudge through the thin layer of snow and an even thinner layer of ice, but I can't seem to pull myself away from the moments I stood there in front of Ra'Sa and told him to run from me. Confessing where I'd been had felt like sticking a live coal on my tongue.

You are my mate.

He had said the words into my mind, utterly invading my space. Taking up territory I did not give him.

My mind is a dark, filthy place for me alone. There's something painful and unnerving about being so utterly seen and knowing that the other person isn't interested in running away.

I told him where I'd been, and instead, he kissed me.

He held me tight as if letting me go would kill him. He tucked me into his arms as if I was something to be treasured.

He’s never had sex, and yet he fucking ravaged my lips. I still can taste him.

For the first time being with a man, I felt… safe.

Gods. Fucking. Damnit.

Bad, Melisa. Bad.

I press my hand to my forehead to stop the raging whirlwind in my mind. When it doesn't work, I grasp onto my thin dress, looking at the cabin from the trees. I can't see into the master bedroom, but that’s for the best.

I stop, leaning against a tree as my throat closes up.

With the world gone quiet, I still feel the imprint of both men. One very welcome, the other not, but both set against the backdrop of the cut on my arm.

Movement from my window draws my attention. All of the lights have been snuffed out except for one.

I didn’t have a light on in my room when I left. Hibsej had thrown water over the fireplace. A crashing sound can be heard from here, and a slice of chestnut curls cuts into view through the window.

Mierda .? 2

I shove off the tree and run to the door. I grasp onto the handle, bracing myself, and push inside.

Everything is entirely torn apart. Clothes are strewn about, and my meager furniture is overturned. The mattress has been yanked off the bed, revealing where I hid the stone dagger Ra'Sa made me and the crystal that I tried to give to Thea and Wren. Their birthday is tomorrow.

Hibsej stands beside the lamp she's brought. She holds the dagger and the crystal,stares at me like she's never seen anything more awful.

"What the hell are these?" she demands, thrusting them forward. "Who did you steal these from?"

My mouth parts.

“T-they were a gift," I stammer, my chest seizing.

If she finds out where the knife came from, she'll tell the guards, and they'll kill Ra'Sa. There's no way I'll be able to get back to Enduvida, and I will be stuck here for the rest of my life.

Ra'Sa will be dead.

My heart starts to rip itself in half at the thought.

“Why are you here?”

“You left a shoe in my room. I had to walk in and find it near my bed, so I came to give it back to you and found you gone.”

She kicks a chair.

“Is one man not enough for you? Are you sleeping with some other lord?" she rages. "Were you planning to kill me? Or Eneko?"

I shake my head, opening my mouth but only being able to choke.

"Speak!" she barks.

"I-I would never," I stammer.

She narrows her eyes. "Humans are getting ideas about freedom."

I shake my head. "No, I have a life here." She sneers, and I quickly add, "A good life."

"I should have you killed for this."

My limbs start to ache, and I feel dizzy. "Eneko wouldn't allow it."

"He would if I told him that you were planning to kill him." She corners me against the wall, slamming the door shut. "Where were you just now? Consorting with the rebels? Performing witchcraft?”

I hold my short, shallow breaths.

Think, Melisa. Think.

"I was out looking for tree sap to cover the cut you gave me."

When I thrust my arm out for her to inspect, her eyes drop to my marred flesh. The cloudy substance clumsily covers my wound with several bits of bark attached.

She seethes.

"Did Eneko tell you that he's leaving in the morning?" I continue, trying to distract her.

Hibsej grits her teeth, trying not to take the bait. But I see her frustrated curiosity spike.

"For how long?" she says at last.

"He'll be gone for two weeks."

"And did he tell you to come to his bed when he returns?" she asks bitterly.

I look up at her, seeing the wealth of her pain and disappointment. "He did."

Her lips press into a flat line, and her yellow eyes sparkle with pain and rage. She lets out a tortured laugh. She holds up the knife, and her face scrunches up as she bears her teeth.

"The least I can do is ensure you are well-kept until he returns." She grabs my arm, fingers wrapping around the barely bandaged wound.

I shout in pain as she tears the flesh open further.

Ra'Sa heard me when I was panicked earlier. Had I opened my mind to him? If he sees this, he'll kill Hibsej. And then we won't learn what Eneko finds on his trip. I'll ruin everything.

Closing my thoughts to him, I shroud my mind. I bury every image in darkness, and keep him from seeing all of this.

"Hibsej!" I say as she pulls me out of the room. "Where are we going? Wait!"

My panicked voice doesn't reach her ears as she drags me away from the house. The snow pushes up above my boots as I dig my heels in and try to free my hand. Snow melts against my leggings and soaks my socks.

"Shut up. If you wake your master, I'll have to tell him what I found," she threatens.

I clamp my lips together, biting my cheek to distract from the pain in my arm.

When we cross over a path that leads behind the pens, I see our destination.

The pit.

Terror spikes in my heart and forks across my ribs, causing my lungs to stop working.

Two giant guards stand beside a wooden lid in a copse of trees—the lightless pit filled with filth and human waste.

"Please!" I say frantically. "You can't leave me down here!"

A rusted handle sticks up from the wood, and a smell emanates from the opening. It makes me gag.

“I will retrieve you when necessary." Her face is unnaturally blank and still. She thrusts me towards the men. They are both tall, wearing the winter warrior garb. The blunt ends of their spears rest against the ground.

One gives Hibsej a bored look. "What's this?"

She straightens, glaring at the both of them. "She needs to spend the next two weeks in there."

The guard pauses. "Cause?"

"She didn't please her master." Hibsej spits.

The men nod. One lifts the rusted handle.

The smell intensifies by a thousand.

The air is thick with decomposing human waste mixed with rot. The fumes choke me as I am shoved toward the mouth of the darkness.

The butt of a spear rams between my shoulder blades. I tumble through the entrance, and I crash into the damp, spongey ground.

Sharp pain from the impact radiates through my bones. I stop breathing. Save the few moonbeams streaming through the surface, I am surrounded by darkness and can only make out a few glinting surfaces of something wet.

I try desperately not to look too closely, wrapping my arms around my body, despite my stinging flesh.

I take deep breaths through my mouth and close my eyes, trying to ignore whatever lurks in the darkness. I look up to see Hibsej's face, along with the other giants. A short ladder extends down toward me a few rungs.

Not nearly low enough to reach.

"Please," I beg.

She shakes her head, nose wrinkled. "Gods, it smells like shit."

"We'll let it air out a bit," one grumbles.

She waves a hand and then leaves.

“Have a good evening, Hib," one of the men says, but I don't catch her reply.

A few more moments pass when I hear, "That's a comfort woman, yes?"

I freeze, panic rattling my bones.

"Yes," the other replies. "But she services that bastard Eneko. You don't want to taste that."

"Perhaps I might."

"Later."

They grumble something else too low to hear.

I scamper away from the light over something slimy. When I press myself against the wall, a wave of fear washes over me and grips my chest with an iron fist. My heart starts to race, pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat.

I can't catch my breath; it feels like I'm being smothered, and no matter how deeply I try to inhale, it's never enough. Sweat drips down my face, and the tremors in my hands spread to my whole body. Everything around me starts to spin.

I see Eneko's and Hibsej’s faces.

Then Ra'Sa enters my thoughts, followed by my girls.

My precious daughters.

My stomach churns violently. There's no fucking way I'm going to make it out of here. The entrance is easily three times my height.

What is Hibsej going to tell Eneko?

What will Ra'Sa do when he can’t find me?

He spoke to my mind, but I don't know how to do that. But if I could try...

Ra'Sa.

It's just as choked as if I would've said it aloud. Time seems to stretch, each second dragging on painfully. The light streaming in dims. I look up to see one of the giants poking their head in.

“Where are you, little human?” he taunts.

I stand tentatively. But then he starts to thrust his spear toward me. It reaches further toward the ground than I anticipate. Ducking out of the way, mostly out of fear, I slide and trip.

The crack reverberates through my skull as I land on the rotting ground of this stinking place. Then, all of the dim light winks out.