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

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

RA’SA

W e run toward the slave pens as fast as my legs can carry me. The air is charged with electricity as I whip past trees. Some of the branches hit me in the face, scraping against my little Melisa’s skin, almost demanding that I slow down and reach some common sense.

But I can't stop.

Not until I warn my king. Not until we get Thea and Wren.

Ra'Sa , Melisa says to my mind. I can’t keep running. I’ll stop back here. Come and get me when you are ready to go for the girls.

I swallow hard. My skin burns against the onslaught of cold.I’m comforted to know she’s not far behind.

Stay hidden. I’ll only be a moment.

When I draw close to the slave pens, my chest constricts. I stop, gasping for breath near one of the trees, and lean against it.

It’s Melisa’s presence in my thoughts and the need to return to her that makes me push off of the bark and head to the fence. Once easing through the hole, I find the new hollowed out rock where I'd hidden the stones.

Through my magic, I can feel the weight of hundreds of humans in this place, and the guards moving through the area. My brows furrow. There are two more than usual.

Did they find the men I killed?

No. All hell would be boiling over if they did. It must be a change of the guards.

Rolling my shoulders, I command calmness to settle over me like a blanket. We’re so close.

I remove the snow-covered rock with my magic and reveal the small bag of magical stones. My hand brushes rough fabric as new vibrations skitter over the ground.

Steps.

My head snaps up, trying to make out the figure that waits for me in the shadows.

I stuff the speaking stones into my pocket as Abet appears. The tension that had been coiling inside of me eases like a serpent unraveling.

"Amigo," ? 1 I say, straightening and brushing my hands over the front of my dirty, threadbare shirt. Grateful I had reapplied the glamour.

"Rasa," he says gently. "I thought that was you."

I let out a long breath, allowing the air to cloud in front of me. An invisible thread tugs me backward toward the trees where I left Melisa.

Make this quick, I urge silently. My soul longs for the comfort of my family, small and fragile, safe in my embrace before all hell breaks loose.

"What are you doing out so late?" Abet asks.

I cast him a strange look. "I needed to relieve myself."

Abet nods thoughtfully. "That's strange because you never came to bed."

The chill from the ground spreads up my legs, freezing my muscles.

"Why do you care?" I ask.

He shakes his head.

"Things aren't safe tonight. I've been hearing all manner of strange things. You should go inside and sleep."

I look at him, watching the way he shifts his weight from one foot to the other.

"I'll be in soon," I say uneasily.

Something cracks in Abet’s face. He swallows thickly. Then he opens his mouth and lets out a yell.

“HE’S HERE!”

Time stops.

Half a dozen pairs of feet I didn’t sense pour out from around the men’s sleeping quarters. My head whips left and right before settling back on Abet. He backs away toward the building.

The betrayal is swift like a dagger. The truth unfurls before me, each revelation mocking the friendship I’d believed in. Realizing that I have been a fool is almost more unbearable than the act itself. Nothing is left but a hollow ache where trust used to live.

"What the fuck is going on over here?" one of the giant guards shouts.

Melisa. Thea. Wren. Must protect.

My eyes lock with the shortest of the group. His lips curl back, and he charges.

Magic sizzles in my veins, still hungry after what happened at the cabin. It beats to the aching of my Enduar heart. Eagerness has the ground fracturing and cracking into large, icy chunks. They lift, ready to destroy.

The wind of the movement almost blows me back, but shoots of earth come up to brace my legs.

Once steadied, I cast it all forward.

The boulders crash into trees, knocking down the enormous ancient elms. The giants tumble. Bones crush and flatten against the ground.

The fence falls.

New stones, much smaller and more precise, wait for my command. My head throbs. The rush from using the magic is wearing thin, but the gem in my chest glows brightly.

Dozens of fractured shards slash at flesh, cutting and slicing to the bone. Blood sprays out of the wound at a giant’s neck.

I watch with grim satisfaction as giant after giant dies before ever hitting the ground.

Another throb wracks my skull, and pain flashes hot over my skin. The brightness of my Fuegorra makes me close my eyes as another wave of dizziness crashes into me, and I sag to the ground.

As I shift, my skin burns and prickles like being scraped with dozens of pine needles. I stare into the snow, gulping as much air as my lungs can hold. The Fuegorra emits a long, sustained glow as the gossamer threads of my power weave together.

Songs are spun from thin air, reverberating off snow crystals and boulders alike.

I am a beast let free.

Two more giant warriors try to approach, but they are sliced and dying on the ground in mere moments.

For a second, all is quiet.

My chest rises and falls as the world spins around me.

And then, from beyond the now broken barrier of the fence, Melisa approaches. Her light steps mix with the music.

Worry spears my heart.

The slave pens are far from the palace and soldier barracks in the upper city, but soon, a new shift of giant warriors will come and find the carnage.

We will not have long.

The stones I bend tell me that more humans are approaching. Turning to look at the large den behind me, I see them peering at me from behind the corner of the building, and then—emboldened when I do not move—they step out.

"You... you are one of them," a woman exclaims. Murmurs break out.

"Troll!",

"Enduar!"

"The human queen! She told us someone would come."

"?Por la libertad!" ? 2 someone else shouts.

Fragments of the common and human tongues fill the air, each person speaking too quickly for me to understand. People move and rush around the bodies of the massacre.

My head spins as dozens of voices fill my ears and mix with the rush of battle. My mate surprises me with her yell.

“?Callense!" ? 3 she shouts, pushing up to a sitting position.

The crowd begins to go silent, but I don't miss how some sneer at Melisa. One woman lifts her chin, spitting toward my mate.

I'm too hot, too volatile, for this right now. I cross the distance and stop before the woman, towering above her. Most shrink back at my approach.

“Do that again, and you will be cast out,” I growl.

The woman’s throat bobs. She opens her mouth and then closes it, clearly trembling.

“For-forgive me,” she stammers.

“Say it to her,” I command, gesturing back to Melisa. She stands in the breeze, cheeks red and hair unbound.

Everyone holds their breath, watching as the woman grits her teeth.

“My apologies,” she says, dipping her head.

“Use her name,” I growl. “Melisa.”

My mate casts her displeasure through the bond but the woman lets out a long breath.

“Melisa, forgive me. I will never spit on you again.”

I nod, satisfied. Melisa however frowns. She is oddly quiet.

One of Rodrigo’s men steps forward. Felip. He had accompanied me to the meeting. His mouth is downturned as he takes a deep breath.

“Ra’Sa,” he calls.

"Where is Rodrigo?" I ask, scanning the crowd.

"He was murdered in his sleep," Felip says.

I suck in a breath.

I think of Abet, and the scenes from earlier in the night make sense. He waited for everyone to return from the meeting and killed each one. He would’ve killed me had I given him the chance.

Another traitor.

“Then you will stay with me.” I have questions, but there is another human I search for. I turn back to the broader group, my stomach dropping. “Nicolás?”

My blond haired companion pushes out from the group.

“Rasa!” he calls, slightly horrified.

I breathe a sigh of relief. “You live!”

He grins. “Unfortunately.” Then his smile drops at my blue skin. I see him survey my Enduar form, eyes still full of disbelief.

“You come, too. The rest: go to the gates leading into the slave pens and begin to construct a barricade. It will not keep the giants out for long, but it will alert us to their arrival. Those too young or feeble to fight should gather anything that could be used as a weapon.”

Most scramble, moving through the area and bustling over the bodies of their slavers. Melisa joins my side, sliding her arms around mine. I pull her close, embracing her.

Felip clears his throat, and I pull away.

"What would you have me do?" the man asks.

"Find the others of your group in these pens. Any others dead?"

“Everyone who attended the meeting save you and me,” he admits, and I take a deep breath.

“Why weren’t you harmed?” I ask.

“I left to visit my partner,” he says.

I search his face for signs of deception and see none. But I had been foolish before…

“Are you lying?” I demand.

“No.”

“Where is your partner?”

He turns back and points to one of the women sprinting across the way.

“I can get her if you’d like,” Felip says.

Time is not my friend, and I have little choice but to ask for help. Hell is coming either way, let’s hope Felip doesn’t herald it.

“No, that’s fine,” I grit out. “I need you to find El Lobo. Take him to burn the giants’ barracks.”

He nods but lingers, looking at Melisa. I remember the things he whispered with Rodrigo and their cutting team. My blood heats.

After a minute, he says, “I didn’t know she was yours. “ It sounds like an apology.

Melisa, however, is not impressed.

"It shouldn't fucking matter if I was his or not," she snarls at him, gripping my arm tighter.

He tightens his lips, nods, and then turns and leaves.

“Forgive me again, Ra’Sa… and Melisa,” Felip says before hurrying away.

Nicolás remains, and I give him a sad look. “Melisa, this is Nicolás. We worked to gether in the lumber yards.”

She nods. “Hello.”

“Hello,” Nicolás nods back, but his eyes scan the carnage behind the den. I wonder if he looks for Abet.

“I didn’t know about Abet. I swear,” he says softly, still not looking at me.

I frown. “I didn’t either.”

Nicolás’s eyes meet mine, and I find them full of determination. “What do you need?”

“Deep in the woods, past the bodies, there is a cabin. We will send the women there. Go, prepare the space. I will meet you soon,” I say.

Nicolás nods and then makes his way into the forest. He steps carefully over the remnants of the fence, past the bodies and the blood.

I wonder what he thinks.

"Ra'Sa,” Melisa whispers, pulling me away from my thoughts. “I am sorry about your friend, too.”

When I look at her, the song hums between us. Insistent and strong.

“Thank you," I say, holding her close. I stroke her soft hair. She folds into me. It eases the strain on my body.

When I look up at the horizon, it has already started to turn pink and bright. Dawn approaches.

It brings danger—a colossal task.

Her hand strokes my arm.

I take a deep breath of her scent. Then another.

The song increases. It sings of our matehood—our divine blessing long since repressed by the magic that molded my face into a human’s. From loss, abundance will emerge.

"Do you hear that?" I ask.

She looks up at me and nods, almost smiling. I kiss her softly, savoring the feel of her lips.

I take another deep breath, taking in the moment, and then let go.

I will fight, and I will win. For her, for Thea and Wren, for Tirin. My mother. My sisters. My father’s legacy.

“Let us go and get the girls.”

The walk to Griselda's house is filled with the bustle of people scavenging, tearing, and moving. A lump forms in my throat when we reach that small house on the corner next to the elm.

It unexpectedly reminds me of the day we left Ruhsavida.

Melisa notices and looks up at me. "What is it?"

I take a deep breath. “I was alive the day the volcano started to smoke. My father worked for the king; he told us to leave. My mother, brother, and I ran, and we survived. But… I do not know if I can see Thea and Wren and then stay behind to help the humans.”

Melisa holds my hand. "This isn't goodbye."

I nod, eyes burning. "I will make sure it is not."

She smiles, kissing my hand before she pushes open the door.