Read lily harper 04.5 - the bladesmith for Free Online Page B

could not die, yet he could still feel pain. It now appeared that was exactly what must have been happening.
    “What would you like me to do with him, my queen?” Saxon asked. He unceremoniously led the angel by a chain, which was wrapped around the angel’s throat.
    “Return him to his cell,” Persephone answered. She made no attempt to look at either of them. Instead, fastening her eyes on mine, she unlocked my cell and showed herself inside again. “And then I require your assistance in here,” she told Saxon, who was busily interring the angel inside his quarters again.
    “Why dae ye feel obliged tae torture him?” I inquired, nodding my head in the direction of the angel’s cell.
    “How is that any business of yours?” she responded snidely.
    “Are ye hopin’ tae break him? Tae git information froom him?”
    “No,” she answered quickly. “What information could I possibly hope to get from him? He’s a fool.”
    I shrugged, because she had a point. “Then why bother wit’ ’im?”
    “To make him shut up!” she railed back at me angrily, as if she objected to having her actions questioned, “and because his insolence infuriates me!”
    “Aye, it infuriates meh too, boot ye dinnae see meh beatin’ him,” I finished with a shrug.
    “Then you are far more patient than I am,” Persephone answered with no amount of apology in her tone.
    “Ah dinnae believe his insolence is the sole reason ye despise him so,” I continued.
    “Oh, really?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest and regarding me with an irritated expression. “Then what do you believe the reason is?” she asked. Saxon appeared at my cell door, standing just behind her. It did not escape my notice that he still refused to so much as look at me. The man was a born coward; that much made obvious by his inability to look me directly in the eyes. He was afraid of me. Even now. Despite my being chained to the wall with my hands and feet bound, he was still afraid of me.
    “Ah believe ye hate him because he is Lily’s friend,” I answered simply. “An’ ye want naethin’ more than tae weed oot everyone an’ everythin’ that has, or had, anythin’ tae do with Lily.”
    She looked at me sharply for a few seconds before a smile appeared on her lips. “You always were a very astute man,” she said with a quick nod.
    I felt it wiser not to say anything more, but something burned from deep within me that would not allow me to stay quiet. “Then what o’ meh?” I demanded.
    “What of you?” she repeated as she frowned in obvious confusion.
    “If ye seek tae destroy any an’ all reminders o’ Lily, whit aboot meh? Ah loove her too, sae will ye try tae break meh, jist as yer tryin’ tae do wit’ the angel?”
    After hearing the word “love” leave my tongue, Persephone’s expression dropped. It was immediately replaced with what I can only describe as ire. Her eyes narrowed and seethed with an anger I had not seen within them before. “You are serving me in your own way,” she announced between clenched teeth as she glared at me, a rush of color shadowing her cheeks. “And once I have what I need from you, then, and only then, will I decide what your fate should be.”
    I nodded without saying anything more. I had already said too much. I needed Persephone. She had to bleed me in order for me to regain my strength. I also needed her to ingest my blood so I could help strengthen Lily. Taunting the woman could only make matters worse.
    “Saxon,” Persephone said to get his attention as she handed him the blade. “I will release the pulley; don’t take your eyes off him.”
    “Of course, my queen,” he answered robotically. He slightly dropped his chin in a sign of deference that made me want to strike him.
    Contrary to what they both seemed to believe, I did not want to fight them. I was still so emaciated and weak from malnourishment, as well as Donnchadh’s increasing strength, that any attempt to oppose