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

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

RA’SA

W hen I finish, it’s nightfall. I go back to the forest to look for this ‘pit.’ Darting behind trees and around different shadowy corners, a beast emerges from the trees.

That same damned creature.

“Coco?” I say, using the name Melisa and her daughters used.

The creature’s ears perk up, tall against its broad forehead and narrow snout. It whines. Moving its head again.

My heart softens. “You wanted me to go with you earlier… to get to Melisa.”

The beast stamps its foot on the ground.

Dropping to my knee, I hold out my hands for the beast, allowing it to smell me.

“Thank you,” I say, noting how it looks at me with deep, suspicious eyes. When I move too fast, it bares its teeth and backs away.

I stand, following behind it. It leads me down the hill, away from Eneko’s house and the slave pens, and then, passing a few more trees. I see two giant guards standing by two bars sticking out of the snowy ground.

A wooden lid and a foul stench are shadowed by the trees that backdrop the scene. Inhaling deeply, I sort through the smell of filth, excrement, and rotting food.

Under all of it... there it is. The sweet smell of cinnamon and roses.

I stumble, causing a sound to come from the tree I've been hiding behind.

The giants' heads snap in my direction, eyes squinting to see through the low, snow-covered branches.

"What's that?" one asks as the other approaches me.

Melisa?

I look for her through our bond. But there is nothing.

An idea sparks in my mind as I look down. A stone sits near my foot. I ease into my magic and out of my skin, sharing just a drop of my power with the stones scattered under the snow. Grabbing a hold of them with my mind, I cast rocks upward.

They shoot in every direction, raining through the trees.

"Fuck!" one of the giants yells.

They both start running away from my hiding spot. The sound of their roars and the readying of their weapons is like music to my ears.

I race forward as soon as they run into the trees and grasp onto the wooden door. I push it up, causing more of the miasma to blast me in the face. Immediately, I jump inside, crashing into the bottom of the pit as the lid slams shut behind me.

The crash makes me wince, and I wait a few moments after, trying to locate them by feeling through the vibrations of their footfalls, but they remain dispersed in the forest.

My eyesight is better than that of a human, and it's easy to see my mate laid out across the slimy ground. Fear slices through me. I fall to my knees at her side, feeling for her pulse.

It flutters against my finger, though her skin is clammy.

Melisa?

I speak quietly into her mind. I fit my hands under her and slowly try to draw her up.

"Melisa," I say, shaking her gently.

The smell of blood gets stronger.

Is it from her ribs? They should be mostly healed.

Perhaps her arm? But it has scabbed over nicely too.

Her chapped lips part, and she makes the smallest sound I've ever heard. Wrapping my hand behind her head, I slide her onto my lap and brace her neck protectively.

She's weak.

My thumb strokes the side of her head, and I look around for something—anything—that would help revive her. She's been down here for two days with nothing to eat, likely unconscious. I pull her as close as possible and try to remain still as I try to devise a plan.

At last, around midnight, I move. Shifting away from her.

My team wanted me to go drinking with them, but there’s no way I’m leaving this pit.Not tonight.

My instincts war between desiring to be at her side and finding some way to improve her condition. As I stand, I reach deep into the layer of rock beneath us and start to rearrange the stones. I cannot move the depths of the earth as King Teo can, but I can clear away a scum-free area for her to lay on. She's cold but not as chilled as she would've been above ground.

This stinking, disgusting pit cannot account for much, but it can protect her from most of the elements while keeping her near the warm layers of stone. And for that, I am thankful.

Once she is arranged in the clean spot, I take one of my glamour stones and cover her with my sad excuse for a coat.

When I look over at the exit and the short ladder that is too far up for a regular human to reach, I crouch down and sense along the stone for the exact location of the men. I'm surprised to find them still gone.

That means I can stay with her longer. I am filled with something akin to ease.

Drawing her back into my lap, I let out a deep breath. Anyone could find someone like Melisa beautiful. But what we have is something much sweeter. To care for her in sickness is an honor.

The lingering scent of blood begins to fill the room seconds before she moves in my arms. She lets out a soft groan, and I freeze. As still as I can be, I look down at her, blinking twice as her sleeping form animates. For a moment, I worry.

Will she fear me?

Best to move slowly.

She moves again, and those lovely, deep brown eyes blink open. Even though confusion knits her brow, her gold-flecked irises dilate.

Her soul knows me before her mind, and that touches something deep in my being.

"Ra'Sa," she says, voice gravelly from disuse. "You're here."

Those three words are sweet.

"Of course, I'm here. I told you I would always be near.”

She tries to swallow and winces.

"What day is it?"

My eyes burn as I stroke her cheek.

“It took me two turns of the sun to find you.”

"Fuck. Wren and Thea's birthday." Then she lets out a pained noise. "Fuck. Fuck! "

Panic shoots through my body.

"What is it?" I demand. “Does your wound still bother you?”

Her hand goes to her midsection, and she barely sits up before doubling over my arm. I stroke her back, brushing her hair to the side.

“No. I’m going to—“ She cuts off with another noise. "Bleed."

I draw her closer as she starts to shake in my arms.

"Where? What can I do?"

She lets out a frustrated noise. "Do you know nothing of women?"

I blink.

"My arm and ribs are fine. These are my monthly courses. They are irregular... but I bleed. It is starting." She grits out.

My brow relaxes. I know of such things. Enduares tend to bleed once or twice a year, and it is painful like this. But it also comes with increased attunement to their powers.

I peer at her as she curls up into a ball. Melisa doesn’t look like any divine gift shines down on her.

"How can I help?" I ask, starting to feel something much worse than worry: helplessness.

She shakes her head. "Need to... relieve myself."

I nod, draw her up, careful not to press against her midsection, and leap toward the ladder that leads out of the pit.

She protests, but I shake my head as we climb out. I pull her towards a thicket of trees as fast as I can to keep her out of sight. She needs to remain in a place where no one can see her.

"I'll get caught. I'm supposed to stay here for the next week at least," she hisses into my ear.

"Fuck that," I retort, using the word she loves so much. "Tell me about Wren and Thea."

Her mouth parts. Then, her mask slides into place. "I don't know what you mean."

I take a deep breath. "Your daughters. I met them."

A fury I've seldom seen brushes across her features, and she pushes against me, with puffs of white clouds coming between us.

"What are you getting at?" she demands.

"Melisa, I am your mate. Your daughters are?—”

“Do you mean my sisters?” she asks, voice hard.

“They called you mother,” I say, confused.

Her eyes go wide, frantic. “They did?”

I nod.

“They—I…” she stumbles.

I take her hand. “It’s all right. I know.”

A long breath wooshes out of her. “No one else can know.”

A word Melisa said earlier returns: Birthday.

When I went, they were sad that she hadn't visited. A pang goes through my heart—for Melisa, for what she is forced to do, for being pulled so far away from the young girls, and for the two little ones who live with that strange woman.

“Why do they stay with your mother?”

She looks away, silent for a while. “I… am not a good candidate for motherhood. But I was forced to have them. I suppose I could’ve stopped that, but then I found out, and after the grief and the worry, something flickered on in my heart. I was protective. I wanted them.” She frowns, as this makes her feel ashamed. “I knew there were two.”

Her hair shifts around her, disrupting the stillness of the night. She looks so defeated.

“Your mother doesn’t seem to care for them well.”

She looks at me. “She used to do a better job.”

“Is that why they are with her?”

She sighs. “If I don’t tell you, will you just rummage through my mind?”

The shock must be apparent on my face because she shakes her head.

“In the slave pens, if you fall pregnant, they tell the man. Sometimes, he lives with you; sometimes, he spends part of the time with you. I couldn’t do that. So I worked. For as long as possible, wrapping my stomach, wearing loose clothes, and keeping hidden. There was never enough food. I was weak and thin. And then, when I had them, I didn’t rest.”

She hides her face. “I worked with animals. Not men—at least not yet.”

I watch her, listening closely.

“Eneko picked me. He offered food for my family—a perk for whores. There still wasn’t enough to eat for the four of us. Griselda’s joints were always swollen. So I said yes. I left them as crying babes to join a man’s bed.”

I blink. “My gods, Melisa.”

She peers up at me.

“You did your b?—”

“Don’t. Don’t lie to me and tell me I did my best,” she closes her eyes and looks away, as if it could hide away all of her shame.

It doesn’t matter that it’s wrong.

"Your secret is safe with me."

"Promise me, Enduar," she says, looking back at me sternly. "You say your kind always keeps your word. Swear it."

"I swear it upon our matehood," I say softly.

She nods, then shifts her weight from one foot to the other and curses under her breath. A second later, she twirls her finger. "Turn around."

I do and focus on something else as she sneaks away to empty her bladder. While continuing to keep my distance from her, I count the days until Eneko returns.

On the one hand, having her awake is a good thing. On the other hand, having her awake and having him return any day worries me greatly. I drag my hand over my face when I hear her curse again.

I turn back, debating whether I should say anything as I approach.

"Are you well?" The smell of blood grows thick.

"Stay away," she demands.

I pause. Biting my lip. Then I reach and tear off the mostly clean shirt under my coat. I begin tearing off the hem.

"Stop that," she says from her spot beyond the tree. "I have clothes back at the cabin.”

"But you can't have them until you return. Take this," I hand out the strips to her, waiting for her small hand to reach out and take them.

A moment passes. " Mierda . Gods damn it all."

"Melisa," I insist.

"Fuck! Fine," she says, snatching them away from me.

I listen to the sounds of night until she emerges. Her face is pinched, and the corners of her mouth are downturned. I unhook the gourd on my belt and hold it out for her to wash her hands.

“Better?” I ask.

“I could be worse,” she replies.

"I tended to you," I say. “While you slept.”

Her chest rises and falls as she grits her teeth. "Why?"

I can't believe it. "Why? Was I supposed to let you rot in the filthy space?"

She lets out a frustrated breath. "You need to be more careful. If someone had caught you?—”

From behind us, the laughter and footsteps get louder and louder. I grab Melisa and hold her close, expecting her to resist but pleasantly surprised when she melts into me. The tenderness of the small action makes my heart swell.

"She's down there... waiting," a solo giant slurs to no one.

I angle the both of us so we watch him as he moves toward the space at the entrance of the pit. Something sour coats my tongue like the sweetness of poison. It’s the giant who whipped me and executed my fellow slaves. He peels back the lid I'd carefully replaced and sticks his head in.

"Come out, come out little whore. Eneko's nowhere to be seen, and I'm ready for a rut!" he calls into the space.

I freeze at his crass words, my arms turning into a steel cage around Melisa.

"Where are you? I'm ready to sink into your soft little quim. Eneko shows you off too much for his own good,” he continues to ramble drunkenly.

Melisa is still. Her heart races. Then she lets out a shaky breath.

“I’ll be right back,” she says.

“No,” I fume.

This haughty woman, the one who teases all and flirts with every man, the one who appears as an open book, could hide secrets, fiercely protect what she loves, and... be afraid. She was afraid of these men.

If she thinks that I wouldn't defend her honor, she's a fool.

I can kill a man easier than blinking. I've done it.

For the first time, she looks up at me with large, terrified eyes. Her eyebrows are drawn together, and I smile at her.

He'll find I'm gone, she pants. I have to go back. I have to...

Not this time. I can't save you from everything, but I will save you from this.

I feel her fear thicken through the bond.

I can handle this. Do you trust me? I plead.

Those beautiful eyes meet mine again. I stroke her soft skin and snarled hair. She finally says the one word that sets me free.

Yes.

Then stay here and close your eyes.

A flood of emotions open to me, but her thoughts shut. I slide away from her, and her eyes close tightly. I fashion a sword from the ground beneath my hands. Stones swirl into a thick, sharp edge, perfect for lobbing off the head of a giant.

The warrior lowers himself into the pit, sealing his fate as a dead man.

Confused sounds come from deep within the ground.

The heat of anger blocks out the chill of night, and I feel the way that the ground beneath him gives and moves in time with his steps. I whisper to the stones, telling them of his sins. Of his ugly, pathetic excuse for a life.

When I land on the ground behind him with a thud, the stones reach toward me, their old friend.

"What are you doing here?" I growl. My spell light illuminates the space.

He turns to look at me, then staggers back.

"You. What the hell are you doing here? Where's the whore?"

The giant’s eyes land firmly on the sword in my hand. His eyes widen to the point of bulging out of his skull and his hand feebly goes to that whip on his hip, which carries the blood of gods know how many beings.

"Before you die, you should know you disgust me," I say calmly. "And no one will mourn your passing."

He protests, but I raise the sword and slice. It sings through his flesh, relieving the body of his enormous head. It falls to the ground, onto the spot I had cleaned for Melisa. I reach deeper into the ground, feeling the drain on my power as I let the stone take him. It opens and encapsulates him with ease, but I'm left panting in the end.

The long hours, the worry, and the lack of sleep while tending to Melisa all weigh on me, and I sag to the ground.

Ra'Sa?

It is done, Ruh’flor.

The sweet tones of her voice caress my mind. Her voice could call me back from death itself. I do not know how I ever existed without her presence.

I let out a deep sigh and reach toward the ladder, only to stumble and then sag back against the ground.

"Ra'Sa!" She calls, coming down with me, and fixing the pit’s cover back into place.

She draws me up into her arms, but I'm barely aware. She lacks my strength, but her soft curves pressed against me is enough.

“What’s wrong?” she asks.

“Too much magic. It’s been too long since I used so much,” I say, swallowing to ease my bone-dry mouth.

She makes a frustrated sound, then brings us both on the ground. “Lay your head on me. Close your eyes.”

Obeying her words, I rest my head onto her lap. Instant relief soothes my aching head.

“You shouldn’t have killed him,” she mutters.

I take a deep breath, enjoying her scent. “What man would I have been if I hadn’t?”

She lets out a long breath. “I don’t know what was wrong with me. He sounded drunk—I should’ve just flirted with him. It would’ve been over quickly and?—”

“Stop that,” I say. “You don’t need to do that again. Not for you, and not for me. You are your own person now.”

“I thought I belonged to you because of our matehood,” she replies.

My head throbs, and I wince. “You belong to me if you wish it. I will never force you.”

Her hands brush through my hair, but she is quiet.

“Thank you, Ra’Sa.”

“My brother was willing to do anything for others. I felt the need to watch over him, too. I hope, in time, you come to see what he never did,” I murmur against her lap.

She strokes my hair again. “And what would that be?”

“That you don’t have to carry everything alone. We are in this together.” The words slip from my lips, and my eyelids hang heavy. When I try to look up at her, she pushes my eyes closed.

"Rest," she says sternly.

My heart races, keeping me awake. I can’t leave her and can’t stay.

So I wait for her to sleep.

Once her body relaxes under me, I kiss her forehead, apply my glamour, and use what’s left of my strength to leap toward the wooden lid. Once out, I check for the sun on the horizon. I find the sky blotted with the inky moments before the dawn chases away all of the black.

The other guard never returned.

I let out a long sigh. It’s time to go and help the others.

I adjust my half-torn shirt and rush back to the slave barracks.

When I arrive, Abet is already awake, though he still lies on his bunk. His eyes narrow when he sees me, and I cast him a confused look before brushing my gaze over the men just starting to rise.

When I sit down, Abet makes a displeased sound in the back of his throat.

"Where were you?" he murmurs in the human tongue.

I look at him with my own narrowed eyes. "Why?"

Then he purses his lips. " They wanted you at their meeting. They will be displeased that you didn't come."

Unease ripples up my back, but I don't say anything more. I’ll need to speak with Rodrigo. Surely, there will be another chance.

“What the hell happened to your shirt?” Abet continues.

I purse my lips. “Do you know where I can find another one?”

He sits up, nods, and grunts. “Fine. Let’s get moving.”