Vale ignored it. He took a step toward the pool, intent on finding Ivy’s mortals and demanding answers. They had to be the cause of this. Theyhadto.
But another one of Ivy’s desperate moans drifted through the trees. The branches even parted to show him the way, shuddering with effort.
Vale glared at the tiny cracks surrounding the pool. At the white spots bleeding into it, threatening to spread its rot into every crevice of the void. He needed to fix this. But if he lost his only assistant— If he lostIvy, his only visitor in centuries, who smiled at nightbeasts and giggled at the vines that stroked her cheek and worked almost as hard as he did?—
Vale growled and turned, stomping down the path the void had made for him. He would take care of his assistant. Then he would abandon his needless bone thicket clearing and teeth-lily weeding and find a way to fix his damn void.
Ivy was slumped against the ground when he returned. She had tried crawling after him, he realized. She truly did want to help, even if she was stricken by an illness the void had forced upon her.
Ivy stared up at him, her eyes wet. Her hips worked against the ground, but she ignored them.
“The… void,” she said, her voice thick. “I felt it. It's in pain.”
“It is no more hurt than usual,” Vale lied. He bent down, letting her hot, sweet scent wash over him. “Butyouare in incredible pain.”
Ivy pushed herself up on trembling elbows. “I can… If you need to go, I can…”
Vale could hear the need in her voice. If he left, she would only worsen. And if he was honest with himself—which he had been, lately, to a worrying degree—Vale did not want to leave. He was too busy to consider what he wanted these days. But thanks to her infuriating presence, he knew enough of himself to realize that he wanted his assistant almost as much as she wanted him.
Vale picked her up and straightened, shoving her against the same tree he had pinned her against before, watching her gasp and writhe as her legs dangled high off the ground. Then he ran a claw down her gauzy dress, ripping it down the middle until it fell off her in halves.
Ivy moaned, grinding against him even as her face contorted in worry. “My dress!”
“The void will fix it,” Vale growled. “The void poured all of itself into you, even though it sickens every day. You strange,frustratinglittle gift.”
He hoisted her up the tree and wound his long tongue around her breasts, laving them until they were dripping.
“So confoundinglysoft,” Vale continued. “Every time, I have to hold myself back from sinking my teeth in.”
He pressed his fangs around her left nipple. Then he let the pressure build until a bead of blood welled on the underside.
Ivy’s chest heaved under his touch, gorgeous moans dripping out of her as heavily as the slick between her legs.
Vale licked up the small drop of blood, imagining he could taste the pollen. He felt crazed with her scent, even before he had tasted her. Her sweet, delicious heat and the small, sour fear buried underneath.
Despite the fear, Ivy canted her hips against him. “More! Please, more.”
“It will hurt,” Vale warned.
“The pollen is already hurting me,” Ivy gasped. “At least give me the hurt Iwant.”
Vale rubbed his lips against her neck, feeling the blood pulse underneath her overheated skin. He could use his tongue. But he did not know if he had the willpower to deny her like he had that first time. Even smelling the pain drifting between her legs, her tiny hole aching after days of satisfying her pollen-lust, was not enough to deter him.
Not when she whined for it like that.
“There is a spell,” he told her again. “I can go to the mortal realm. I have a brother in Anderfel?—”
“No!” Ivy grabbed his antlers, her eyes puffy with needy tears. “Vale, don’t go. Take me right here. Please, I need it.”
Vale stared at her, bowled over with the force of his desire that washed over him as he said his given name instead of that confounding title that she had given him. He had spent so long convinced that he no longer wanted anything, surviving on so little food and sleep and company that if the light-motes were around, they would have worried for him. But here was the evidence pumping through him, as undeniable as his own heartbeat: he wanted. He wanted Ivy so badly, his mouth watered with it.
“Say it again,” he demanded.
Ivy spoke instantly. “Please.”
He shook his head, feeling her small hands flex around his antlers. “No. My name. Say it.”
“Vale,” she gasped.
