lily harper 04.5 - the bladesmith by h p mallory Read Free Book Online Page B

not be enough. “Ye moost drink plenty,” I continued. “As if ye were parched an’ Ah was ah fountain.”
    “I understand,” she said but did not appear to be very pleased with my instructions. She said nothing more but pressed down on the blade until it ruptured my skin. Then she pulled the knife toward her before dropping it back on the ground. The pain was present but was nothing compared to the throbbing agony I had experienced when she released Donnchadh’s impurities from me. Almost immediately a river of red surged up from the wound and began dripping down my hand, splashing on the cold stone ground.
    “Drink!” I barked as she immediately brought her face to my wrist and wrapped her lips around the wound. I could feel her gentle suction as she pulled at it with her tongue, but I knew it would not be enough. “Soock harder! Ye moost swallow in mouthfuls!”
    She began to draw on me harder, pulling at my wound with an intensity that caused it to burn in such a way that promised she was doing it correctly. “Verra good,” I crooned as I closed my eyes.
    Donnchadh was not the only mystical part about me. Yes, he was responsible for my immortality, but he was not responsible for the Druid magic that was my heritage and had been with me since the day I was born. My Druid magic was an inherent part of my eternal self, that part of me that worked in unison with the laws of nature and the otherworldly. It was raw, uncultured and uncivilized. My magic danced with nature, with the flora and fauna realms and understood the innate reasoning within the natural order.
    And now I called on that ancient Druid understanding to help me reach Lily. Just as I was of the earth, the air and the sea, Lily was the same. I had always known she shared some intangible oneness with me from the moment I first laid eyes on her when she and the silly angel approached me in the Dark Wood to forge her a sword. There was something in the energy that surrounded her, something that brought me back, that reminded me of the past, long before I had ever polluted myself with Donnchadh. I was never certain just what that oneness with Lily was, but even so, I was convinced of its existence nonetheless.
    Yes, Lily was connected to me in some way. Though the mystery persisted as to how or why, the fact remained. In the beginning of our association, I tried to deny it. I found the familiarity I felt towards her disturbing and sought only to silence it, to continue living the lonely existence I had created for myself. But there was something about her that would not allow me to release her. This uncanny feeling was only deepened when I forged her sword and handed it to her. Upon touching it, she immediately saw Fergus Castle, the castle belonging to my family since the fourteenth century. Of course, after she received the image of Fergus Castle, I knew she had come into my life for a purpose. But that purpose was still shrouded in mystery, still unknown to us both. It was enough, though, for me to assume the role of her protector and her friend.
    “I cannot swallow any more,” Persephone announced as she interrupted my thoughts and I felt my eyes pop open. “I’m seconds away from vomiting.” She pulled away from my wrist and gagged before cleaning the blood from her bottom lip.
    “Nae,” I responded as I fervently shook my head.
    “I cannot,” she started.
    “’Tis nae enough tae provide ye the immortality ye seek. Ye willnae git mooch other than an oopset stomach,” I responded, a little more harshly than I had planned, but Lily’s safety relied on Persephone swallowing more of my blood. Thus it was crucial she continue.
    “How much more?” she demanded as she coughed and then craned her head upward in what appeared to be an attempt to avoid vomiting.
    “Yer immortality is comin’ tae ye at ah mooch smaller price than Ah paid fer mine,” I answered with no amount of apology. “Boot at the rate ye are goin’, ye willnae git