Christopher barked a hoarse laugh. “Hells! They didnotexaggerate about your power, Skullstalker. You are every bit as deadly as they say!”
Vale yanked a useless, unadorned arrow out of his shoulder and growled. “You poisoned my void!”
“Shepoisoned your void,” Christopher corrected with a sweaty grin. He danced backward, his staff trained on Vale’s face.
Vale dodged the fire spell that Christopher had aimed, then lunged, grabbing Christopher by the throat. It would be so easyto snap his flimsy neck, but he held himself back. If he weren’t so thirsty for blood, he would have yanked that infuriating vial off so it would stop swinging for once.
“FIX IT,” he roared.
“I…” Christopher scrabbled at Vale’s claws around his throat. For some insufferable reason, he was still grinning. Like this was all some adventure and not his last day on earth. “I can’t! She’ll tell you!”
Vale glanced down.
Ivy stared up at him, her plump face pale. For once, her blood was not a temptation.
Vale brushed her hair out of her face. “Does he tell the truth?”
Ivy’s brow wrinkled. “I… I think so. He never said anything about an antidote.”
“There is none,” Christopher choked, still dangling from Vale’s fist.
Vale grunted. Then he raised Christopher higher into the air, ready to crush his puny throat.
“Wait,” Ivy croaked. “Don’t kill him.”
Vale did not take his eyes off Christopher’s reddening face. He was still smiling, although it was slowly stopping as consciousness drained from him at the lack of oxygen.
Ivy touched Vale’s chest. “He’s my only family.”
Vale entertained a vivid fantasy of crushing the mage’s throat anyway. Then he dropped Christopher on the ground, letting the man wheeze and gasp.
Vale trod on his staff. It snapped, making Christopher cry out hoarsely.
“It does not matter how weak I am,” Vale growled. “I will kill anyone who enters my void without my permission.”
With that, he turned to leave.
“You cannot escape us,” Christopher yelled hoarsely. “Soon you will be so weak you won’t be able to do anything but bend to our will!”
“And then I will die with my void before you can take back your precious castle,” Vale growled. “Outstanding work, mortal.”
He stepped into the dirt circle. But before he could will them back to his void, Ivy spoke up again.
“Wait,” she said, sitting up in his arms. It looked like a significant effort, her head wobbling before she straightened. “Let me talk to him. I can— I can talk him out of it.”
She did not sound certain. But shedidsound determined.
Vale looked at the blood staining her dress. He did not know how much blood mortals could lose. But she was still talking and moving, which meant he had time.
“I will let youtry,” he allowed.
He turned cautiously back to Christopher, who was still lying on the ground, massaging his throat and cradling the broken top of his staff, which still had the annoying vial attached to it.
Christopher snorted when he saw his niece staring at him. “So, you seduced the monster after all, hmm? You were always so dedicated to my cause.”
“There are many things you can use for weapons in the void,” Ivy said, her hand pressed just above where the arrow was inside her. “Just take them and go. You don’t need to bind him.”
Christopher sighed and rubbed a hand over his sweaty forehead. “Given that you collapsed from a single crossbow wound, I take it he hasn’t made you a god.”
