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

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

MELISA

NOTE: There is a serious trigger warning in this chapter. It begins immediately and you will see a ** when it ends.

" P lease Eneko," I beg, shaking with the cold as he stomps over to where I am curled up against the wall.

Ra'Sa bellows outside.

The sound slices through me, tearing apart my heart.

It was too soon. Finally, I had tasted love. I'd found exactly what I was looking for. I almost got it all.

Eneko rips me away from the wall. I scratch at his skin with my fingernails. Flesh tears, and blood pools across his shoulders and neck, but he laughs.

"I've spent weeks waiting for you. I wet my cock on some whore in the mines. The whole time, I was waiting to be back to this room. I return and find you betraying me. You'll regret this every day that I let you draw breath into your lungs."

His spittle rains over my face and then he throws me onto the bed, hard enough for my head to crack against the wall. I cry out as I’m laid bare before him. I grasp for anything, wishing I had the stone knife that Hibsej stole from me. There is nothing within reach.

Eneko's hand hits the mattress next to my head. Some of his blood drips on my unclad shoulder, and I flinch as his other hand presses my other shoulder down into the bed.

I kick, ramming my foot into his balls.

He grunts, pressing down harder. Too hard. My body bends under his weight, and something pops near my collarbone. A flood of pain rushes through me.

"Ra'Sa!" I scream.

Eneko slaps me, then covers my mouth with his hand.

"Enough. Be still, or I will kill your family."

Every attack halts in place, and I lie there, helpless.

He reaches for his pants.

"Fucking whores,” he mutters as he pulls on his ties.

My mouth opens, and I prepare to scream. Only a sob comes out.

I close my eyes, thinking of all the times that Ra'Sa told me to look away. Damn him. Damn him for sparing me pain for a short while.

Damn him for making me love him.

The pressure on the bed around me shifts, and I squeeze my eyes tighter.

A whirring sound cuts through everything, and the pressure is lifted.

My eyes open at the exact second that Eneko turns back to the door. Something large and jagged crashes through the front part of my room. Wood splinters and sprays, and I duck into the bed, rolling over and grabbing a pillow as pieces spray all around. Something cuts across my back. I cry out.

Then, a meaty thud rattles the room.

**End of Trigger Warning**

I look up to see Ra’Sa bathed in silver moonlight. It shines down on him in thick beams. It’s almost unnatural, with his hands stretched forward and palms up as he commands a flurry of stones. They swirl around him like the whirlpool we use to clean clothes. The wind whips his short, silver hair against his face, and the stone in his chest glows bright like a fire.

Nudity equates to vulnerability, but for a god like Ra’Sa, I don’t think the rules apply.

My head turns to the side. I behold a giant ripped apart by the wood and stone. He's covered in blood, and parts of him have been reduced to a gory pulp. I gasp, and his chest rises.

Eneko lives.

"Ra'Sa," I sob, pulling the blanket over me. Stings and cuts cover my body, and it hurts when I step off the bed, but I don’t stop.

Stay there, he commands through our bond.

He cast his hands to the side. The stones fall, thudding in the snow, and he walks towards me.

Hewn from stone himself, beautiful as the finest sculpture, he walks right in front of Eneko.

Ra'Sa looks directly into the eyes of the foreman.

"You are pathetic," Ra'Sa says, voice full of venom.

Eneko wheezes and then chokes on his own blood. I watch, shaking, as he says, “I should have killed you when you brought her back to me.”

My mate sneers. “I should’ve killed you the second I saw your ugly face.”

Eneko spits blood. “The cause of the humans will fail, troll, and the giants will reign for a thousand years.”

"You're wrong," Ra'Sa says. "You will fail. You were born of the god of war and will die by his fiery blade. Only this time, you will not rise from the ashes."

His words ring like a prophetic song etched in rock.

Then he hesitates.

"Melisa," Ra’Sa coaxes, breaking me out of my shuddering revelry.

I meet his eye, terrified and shaken from everything that happened. His hand reaches out again—the stones on the ground stir.

“It is your right to kill him if you wish," he says.

My heart stutters in my chest.

"What? You won’t do it?”

Ra'Sa shakes his head. “I would if you ask me. But I have tasted your anger and felt your fear. I think… you deserve revenge.”

I look at the blade, then look at the dead guards just outside before returning my gaze to Eneko.

Kill him.

Kill the man who plucked me out of the yards and forced me on my back. Kill the man who hurt and tore at me, subjecting me to a life of ridicule and humiliation.

The words swirl around me, and then, adrenaline rushing through my veins, I take the blade.

“I’ve never killed… anything,” I say.

My mate straightens. “Then you will take this blade and free yourself forever. No more anger, no more fear. Let his death herald your future."

I blink, step forward, and take the weapon.

Ra'Sa makes a deep, rumbling sound, and the stones around us quake.

As he had that first night in Enduvida, Ra’Sa begins to sing. His chest puffs out, and he lets out one long, sustained note. It bounces off the rocks around him, a rough, guttural cry. It is like the strike of a drum.

Freedom.

I raise the blade. I think of everything he taught me. To slash and swipe. To plunge deep through the ribs. I think of every time Eneko had used me. Each memory flies before me in rapid-fire succession. I'd done it all to save my family, but let the pain and anger mount.

And now... freedom lies before me.

"Melisa…" Eneko wheezes.

My hand strikes quick and true, plunging the stone blade straight into his throat.

He makes a gurgling noise, and I push away from him with a loud cry. Eneko slumps forward. I watch the life drain from his body as his blood flows from his wounds.

Ra’Sa’s hand pulls the knife from his throat and hands it to me as he wraps his arm around me. I hiss as the cuts along my body burn.

"You're hurt," Ra'Sa comments, tearing off the blanket, keeping my body free of the chill settling in my bones. I shake in the intense heat, fueled further by the spiraling adrenaline.

He looks furious at each wound, but I shake my head and push away from him and toward the closet. I start pulling on my warmest clothing.

"Where is Hibsej?" I ask.

He looks at me grimly, and I see her sons’ faces. "Did you kill her?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think so."

Fear spikes in my heart, and I pull on the clothes, burning cuts and splinters be damned.

"Dress and take me to her," I demand.

Once clothed, we sprint around the side of the house. A rasping breath breaks through the still night.

I see a giant woman lying near a tree. Hibsej. Her chest rises and falls, and I dash to her side. The front door of the house is open, and soft sobs are coming from inside.

"Fuck," I curse. I turn back to Ra'Sa, "Get them to stop crying. And ensure they don't wander to the backyard. I will deal with Hibsej."

Ra'Sa frowns but follows my instructions.

Alone in the snow, I cross to Eneko's widow. I kneel next to her, rubbing feeling into my now gloved hands just as snow begins to drift down from the heavens. My breath clouds in front of me, as does hers. I shake her arm roughly.

No wounds, but she doesn't move.

"Come on, you stubborn bitch," I say, shaking her more vigorously this time.

At last, she stirs, and her eyes flutter open with a start.

I press my knife to her throat as she looks at me with unnerving precision. She snarls, and I position the blade at her chest.

"Easy," I say. "Don't move too fast, or you'll hurt yourself."

She snarls, but eases back. Her eyes frantically scan the house—the open door, the scattered wood visible at the back of her home.

"What have you done? Where is the troll?" she rages.

I consider answering her questions, then bite my lip. I could kill her. Leave her sons orphaned, as so many humans have been wretched away from their parents and families.

She watches me with the same hatred I feel. It melds and sears together within me.

"You killed Eneko," she says at last, her brow softening.

“Yes, I did,” I say.

She lets out a bitter laugh. “Let me guess, I’m next.”

My throat aches.

Her eyes close, cutting me off from the conduit of pure agony. “Very well. What does it matter? My husband is dead."

In that moment, I know I can't be like the giants. I had been so sure I was always willing to do what was necessary for my family. For my future. But I’ve changed.

"Enough mourning,” I hiss. “We both know you were married to a devil. You need to take your sons and leave Zlosa."

Hibsej’s eyes blink open.

“Eneko gave us food and a house. What will we do now?" Her chest moves quickly.

I think of how I felt the day the twins were born. How lonely and awful I felt looking down at the two wrinkly infants in my arms. The path ahead for me had been murky, riddled with mistakes, shame, and pain.

"You will do what you must," I say to her, removing the knife.

For a second, she looks like she might kill me. Then her anger and ire drain from her, seemingly all at once.

She shoves me off her, and I fall back onto my stinging cuts. The chill shocks me.

Hibsej stands tall.

"Urdort. Relmos," she calls and charges into her house.

I clamber to my feet and approach. My face burns from the cold as she grabs and packs what she can.

Ra'Sa stands in the sitting room, watching her as well.

It doesn't take long for her to drag the two boys out. Relmos holds a large sack, and she carries Urdort in her arms.

She sneers at my mate, but then she looks at me and her face softens.

I almost expect her to say something, but her mouth remains shut.

Ra'Sa growls at her, and she hurries away into the woods.

I watch her go. The emotion that greets me is… relief—relief like water after days without drinking. Relief like night after a day of burning heat.

Ra'Sa comes to my side and folds me into his arms.

“I didn’t realize just how soft your heart could be,” he murmurs.

Flakes still fall from the sky, glittering in moonbeams and catching on the evergreen needles.

“Neither did I.”

We are silent for a time, but my mind races. Eneko is dead. The realization sinks in, and then sours.

“Fuck, the papers Eneko brought back from the mines,” I all but shout.

Ra’Sa rubs my uninjured arm. “Peace, Ruh’flor . They are inside. Scattered across every surface.”

This is good news. I look up at him, then stare at the house. So many memories. We’re so close.

But my chest tightens and my eyes burn. Perhaps it’s the fact that Eneko’s dead, but I can’t seem to move my feet.

“I… can’t go in there. Never again.”

Ra’Sa nods. “You must, for a little while. It is too cold for you to be outside. Give me a little time, and I will take you to a hiding place we’ve been preparing so I can tend to your wounds.”

I watch the snowfall and look back at the cabin.

"What if someone else finds us?” I say.

Eneko's cabin was far enough away from the slave pens that we would have time.

Ra'Sa shakes his head. “There will be no more guards for a while. I know their patterns. Just let me send a message to King Teo, then we may leave. Tomorrow, the slaves will riot. And we will begin our trek home. It will not matter."

I look up at him. “Take me with you.”

His brows furrow, so I don’t allow him to respond.

“We need to get my family. And I need to warn the comfort women."

He looks down at me, wary. “Very well, but we must run.”

“I can run well enough.”