Persephone (The Lily Harper Series Book 4) by H.P. Mallory Read Free Book Online

an’ whatever other sproutin’ shit your caveman over there whips up for us. If it goes on much longer, my stomach’ll think I’ve joined PETA.”
    “God forbid you might actually eat something healthy,” I said with a playful smile.
    “Nah, there’s no point,” Bill responded as he shook his head. “It’s not like all this exercise an’ health food did anythin’ for my assgut anyways.”
    “Um, what?”
    Bill immediately stopped walking and turned around so his back was facing me. Then he lifted up his shirt. “I’m so fat, I’ve even gotta second belly hangin’ over the back o’ my pants. See it?”
    “Yep, I do,” I said, not really sure if I was supposed to congratulate him or commiserate with him…
    “That’s what I call my assgut,” he announced with a final nod. He dropped his shirt back into place and hopped a few steps in order to catch up with me again.
    I said nothing, but simply smiled up at him to let him know I had no words.
    “Speakin’ of, you think I could fit on there with you?” Bill asked while eyeing my platform accommodations with sudden interest.
    “No,” I answered resolutely, severing any ideas he might have had. I half wondered how much longer the contraption would hold up as it was. “I think it’s nearly ready to collapse.”
    “Fine, raft hog,” Bill retorted glumly.
    “Ouch!” I yelled a half second later when the platform suddenly rammed into a rock, or something equally obstructive, and came to an immediate stop, slamming one of the branches right into my lower back.
    “Whappened?” Bill called out, his eyes wide.
    Tallis immediately stopped walking and turned around before dropping both of the leather straps he was using to drag me behind him.
    “Ye all right, lass?” he asked in a worried tone, and I just nodded, ignoring my back that was burning like an SOB. Tallis leaned down and gripped me beneath my knees with one arm while putting the other around my back. He lifted me up only to set me down, feet first, on the ground beside him. He rotated me slightly, so my back was facing him before inspecting the damage. I was glad I was dressed in yoga pants and a sports bra. It made accessing the wound easier without any clothing to get in the way.
    “Yer skin is poonctured,” he announced before I heard the sounds of him fumbling with his sporran again.
    “Shit! She’s a bleeder!” Bill exclaimed with awe.
    “Is it really bad?” I asked as I turned to face my guardian angel.
    “Yeah, looks like it’ll need stitches,” he answered. He was studying my wound pointedly, as if he were a doctor offering a diagnosis.
    “Ye will be fine, lass,” Tallis announced before giving Bill a discouraging glance as he continued to fish through his sporran. “Dinnae listen tae him.”
    Seconds later, Tallis started rubbing something gritty and cold on me. “Ow!” I yelled as soon as the wound began to sting.
    “Shh, lass,” Tallis crooned in my ear as he patted me on the back of the shoulder … somewhat awkwardly.
    “What is that stuff?” I demanded, deciding not to pay any attention to the fact that Tallis and I didn’t seem to know how to interact with each other when everything we’d said earlier was still hanging in the air.
    “’Tis ah balm that will stop any infection froom takin’ root an’ spreadin’,” Tallis explained. “Withoot it, the branch would infect ye, an’ ye would sooccumb tae ah nasty fever an mayhap, even death,” he added from where he stood behind me.
    “Well, whatever it is, it really hurts!” I ground out, as tears filled my eyes when the stinging became almost unbearable. After a while, I figured I had to suck it up and just deal with the pain. The alternative wasn’t exactly something I welcomed.
    “Aye, ’tis the salve fightin’ the seeds o’ infection,” Tallis clarified.
    I felt him gripping me by my waist before he dropped down to a squat and started blowing on my burning skin. His breath immediately soothed