“I am well,” Vale lied. He ripped another strip of bleeding plant-meat off his deer half, then paused. “And you?”
Ivy blinked in surprise. She was sweating again. Hopefully from the fire. But from the sweet scent wafting faintly off her in a way that had nothing to do with the stains on her dress, Vale doubted it.
However, if Ivy was feeling the pollen’s effects again, she did not show it. She smiled again, her soft cheeks gleaming in the firelight.
“I’m fine,” Ivy said, avoiding his eyes. “Thank you.”
Six
Ivy wasnotfine.
The pollen fever was taking over again. She thought it had “worked its way from her blood,” as Vale had put it. But here it was, heating her skin and filling her with want.
Another pulse of lust shot through her, making her gasp. At least, Vale had left her to wash the blood off. He had invited her to join, but Ivy had waved him off and said she was still eating.
Ivy patted the fire out with the remnants of the firewood he had broken off for her and stood. Her vision swam, making her stumble against a tree.
“No,” Ivy told herself, as if she could force the pollen to stop from sheer will. “I won’t do this again. He already fixed it once. He—he brought me food, and gave me his nest! He’s done enough!”
Another explosion of lust burst through her, so intense it made her curl over with a whimper.
Something brushed her bare foot. Ivy looked down to see something strange: an ivy vine studded with roses. Like it had combined her namesake with the rose that pollen plant hadlured her in with, the same roses it had showered her with while she was waiting for Vale to come back with the root-deer.
Ivy nudged the ivy-rose vine with her foot. “Are you doing this on purpose? He doesn’t evenwantme!”
The strange ivy-rose vine curled around her ankle. At first, Ivy thought it was restraining her, like when she was splayed out in the nest. Then the pressure eased, and Ivy realized it was a strange, thin hug.
Ivy teared up. She didn’t want to hurt this place. And the more she spoke to Vale, the less she wanted to chain him. But she would have to move past it, right? For the sake of the Circle.
She pushed away any thoughts of the void, sickened and pale, while her uncle slid an enchanted collar around Vale’s neck. Then she straightened and headed for the weak rumble of the waterfall.
It’s fine, Ivy assured herself as she walked along the riverbank, strange dark grass tufting between her toes.You’ll stay away. Maybe he won’t notice.
She came to a stop at a pile of black robes.
Vale stood naked under the waterfall with his back toward her. There were miles of pale blue skin visible above the river water, which only rose to his shins. She could see every inch of his strange, bony back, the barely-there curves of his ass, his strange whippy tail just above it. He should have repulsed her. But she found herself entranced by the water running over his skin, muscles shifting so visibly every time he moved.
Another pulse of heat made Ivy hold back a moan. She squeezed her legs together, as if that would stop the warmth pooling between them. She wanted to touch him so badly. She wanted to feel his hands on her again, those clawed hands curled dangerously around her thighs?—
Ivy forced back her thoughts and considered the river. The waterlookednormal enough. Surely it would be okay to wash in.
She gathered her dress, lifting it over her head and forcing herself not to feel self-conscious as the air touched her skin. It was just like bathing with the Circle. Except they usually separated that by gender, unless they were truly desperate.
She waded into the river up to her knees, sighing in relief as the cool water rushed over her flushed skin. Then she dropped her dress in, wishing for soap.
But as soon as she started rubbing at the stains, something strange happened. They vanished. The water carried them out like they were never there.
Ivy held up her sopping dress, shocked. The voiddidlike her, she supposed. Apparently, that translated into rivers that washed her clothes as well as the palace staff.
She should have taken the dress back to the riverbank. Started washing the grit and sweat off her own body. But she couldn’t stop thinking about Vale, who was under the waterfall just out of view.
She wouldn’t look. Shewouldn’t.
Another wave of pollen-heat surged through her. She clapped a hand over her mouth to muffle her moan, but it wasn’t enough.
“You need it again,” came Vale’s gruff voice.
Ivy hugged her wet dress to her front and turned.
