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

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

RA’SA

M elisa doesn’t appear in the morning either.

As the first rays of light begin to paint the sky with a pale wash of colors, I am still scouring through the forest. Two patrolling guards come into view. I press myself behind one of the trees, keeping my back flush with the scratchy, deep brown bark. They pass slowly, laughing to themselves in boisterous tones.

"You hear about the king?"

"The elven king?"

The first grunts in confirmation. "They say he'll return in the next few days."

I store each bit of information. I'd known that there was an official deal made between the giants and the elves, but my fists tighten at the thought of being close to King Arion. He betrayed my king and sold us out to the giants by revealing Estela’s location.

Without him, this war wouldn't have started.

When they are out of earshot, I duck into the hole in the fence designed to keep the slaves in. Many humans are already awake, leaving their homes and shuffling over to get food. That's when I see the den Melisa had been visiting.

The only place I hadn’t looked.

I’d never seen anyone other than her enter or leave. The windows are covered, hiding everything inside from prying eyes.

Had Melisa been here recently? Does she hide there now?

I raise my hand, prepared to knock on the door, and hear a soft bark inside. What kind of creature makes that noise?

A whining sound follows it. Inhuman.

It must be the beast that had interrupted Melisa and me.

Godsdamnit. I never should’ve let her follow a creature with teeth as sharp as a vaimpír.

My mind pictures Melisa lying on the floor, red lips gone pale and golden brown skin drained of color.

Without thinking, I push open the rickety wooden door and am greeted by three pairs of eyes. Two young children are playing with the four-legged beast.

My mouth drops open. They are alone and young . Young enough to need to be supervised at all times.

The girls look up at me from the ground, and the wolf growls.

“Coco!” one of the girls squeals. The same name Melisa used.

The one closest to me stands up in front of her wolf and points a finger at me. "?Quien eres?" ? 1

The creature makes another menacing sound, and I step closer. It doesn't look like a beast who should be anywhere near children.

The girl pointing at me slowly lowers her hand and pushes her hair out of her face, looking more and more fearful. The movement causes me to pause. The defiant curve of her lips, the sleek black hair, and wide brown eyes remind me of just one person.

Melisa.

I immediately drop to my knees as I softly push the door closed.

"Me llamo Ra'Sa," ? 2 I say gently, matching their language.

The two girls look at each other. Twins, I realize—both copies of Melisa.

They both look at me with hard, untrusting eyes.

"Lita está aqui," ? 3 the girl near the wolf says.

I don't know who Lita is, but I'm sure I will find out soon.

"Melisa?" I ask, unsure how to form the proper sentences.

One of the girl's furrows her brow. "?Mamá?" ? 4

The word pierces right through me. As I look at these two girls, realization washes over me again and again.

"?Melisa es tu madre?” ? 5 I ask.

One giggles. "Hablas raro." ? 6

But the other says, "Si." ? 7

Yes.

My head spins, and my heart beats fast. She never told me she had...

"I'm looking for your mother," I say, continuing to talk to them in their language.

They look at each other and frown. The one who isn't a veritable beast tamer steps closer to me and grabs my hand. I look down at her fingers. They are impossibly small.

"I miss mamá . Will you take me to her? She promised to come, but she missed our day.”

The other says, "I can ask Lita again!”

My brows furrow, but I place my hand atop the girl's. "Who is Lita ?"

“Wren, Thea!” someone shouts from outside. A woman joins us who doesn’t look much older than Melisa. She looks like my mate, too. But, whereas Melisa is filled out and full of life, this woman’s hair is tangled and mussed around her face. Deep hollows are in her cheeks, and some dust is scattered from her cheek to her nose, and she hastily wipes it away.

She gets one look at me, and her face twists with fury.

"Get out of my house!" she shouts.

I stand.

"I'm just looking for Melisa."

Her eyes narrow, darkening the circles under her eyes, and she grabs a metal rod from the wall. “I’ll kill you.”

I take my hint and back away, but don’t leave.

The world tilts on its side. Melisa... has daughters. Two of them.

Memories blast at me, filling my thoughts.

“And what if you are mated to one of the pregnant women?”

“I would care for the child.”

“But you would want your own?”

“Yes.”

Then last night…

“You don’t know me… You want a family, and children to carry your bloodline, and a mate … I can’t do that .”

Shit. I’d been stubborn and pigheaded. I’d acted like I wouldn’t properly father children from another man.

That wasn’t true. They were her daughters, and if the stones led her to me, then it was as if Grutabela herself spoke from the stars to bind them to me.

Starling children, as we called them in the caves.

A strange protectiveness flutters over me, growing in intensity before it settles firmly in my chest and demands my attention.

They are being watched by that woman.

She raises her weapon.

“Wait!” I cry. The woman thrusts the metal rod at me. I reach forward and grab the metal. “Are you all right?”

She spits on me. “I will be fine once you leave us alone.”

“Melisa,” I say again. “Where is she?”

Her sharp gaze dulls. “I have no idea where she’s gone. But we haven’t seen her in days.”

I suck in a deep breath. “But you are her family?”

The woman barks out a bitter laugh. “We are bound by blood, nothing more. She does not live in this house, and I do not care where she is or what she does.”

My gaze scans back over the creaky home, and the girls are confused at my presence. Her daughters. I look back up. Her mother.

The faces of my sister and mother flash before me, and something scratches at my chest, tearing holes. When I look back around, I see little food, but everything else seems to be tended to.

I want to stay.

But the men in the yards need me. If I don’t help chop, I risk them looking for me. They could discover me and ruin the mission. Everyone in Enduvida would suffer, and the men who I’ve helped save would die too.

“I will leave,” I start, and the woman relaxes. “But I will return.”

Melisa’s mother watches me go, and I have to physically pull myself through the door and away from the house.

My thoughts race. Melisa had been telling me all along—she had children. And I’d acted like an idiot.

Tirin. He wanted me to have children. I wanted someone to give his name to… But these girls had names.

Wren. Thea.

I’d heard their voices. Seen their small bodies. They didn’t need someone to tack a dead man’s name onto their heads—they needed a new life. Just like their mother.

Grutabela and Endu as my witnesses, I was going to give them that.

The further away I get, the more that I worry. Something isn’t right.

My senses tingle when the sound of paws pad behind me.

I whip around to see the gray beast. Sharp teeth are bared at me, and I narrow my eyes, only pausing because Melisa cared for the thing.

Frustrated, it catches up and stands at my side.

“What are you doing?” I ask, as if it can understand me.

It doesn’t close its menacing mouth, but it tilts its head to the side and whines. Its ears flatten to the side of its head, and it turns in the opposite direction.

I do not understand its grumbling sounds and continue on my way.

It trots next to me and breaks away as I exit the trees into the lumber yard. I look back at the creature.

It watches me.

I turn away and stand in the regular slave lines, but find other men whispering quietly as the guards bring in the racks of tools on carts. I let out a long sigh and glance between me and the other men.

Rodrigo is one of the men speaking to the others he surrounds himself with. I look away when his amber-brown eyes flick up at me and let my ears tune into his conversation.

"The whore's in the pit," one of them says.

Another hums. "So, Eneko is gone, and he didn’t want her wandering. Shame.”

Flames spread across my skin. Dozens of questions swirl. Why is she in the pit? What is the pit? Is that why she can't speak to me or hear me?

One of the giants notices the unusual chatting and puts a hand on his whip in warning.

"Quiet!" he calls.

Everything goes silent. I barely hear the giant’s speech as they drone on, so I force myself to get my tools and go to chop.