“No,” Ivy tried, wiping her bloody arm with her stained dress. “I’m focused. I can work!”
The Skullstalker ignored her, striding through the strange, thick foliage.
Ivy hesitated. This was no ordinary forest. Every plant was unfamiliar, dripping shadow or dust or shining from the inside out. There were trees made of bones and, alarmingly, a decaying frog climbing placidly up a pulsing tree. Everywhere she looked boasted new, unnatural features.
Part of her was fascinated. But it would be more fascinating if she were simply reading about this place instead of being dropped in the middle of it. This place was not used to mortals. What if it hurt her?
The Skullstalker stopped, turning back to look at her expectantly. “Come.”
Then he vanished through the dark trees.
Ivy clenched the vial in her pocket and looked back at the silver pool behind them. She would remember its location and find her way back. Shehadto.
Ivy hurried through the trees after the Skullstalker. Shadowy leaves brushed her skin, but they did not sting or burn likeshe had been expecting. They simply brushed past like regular leaves. When the dripping shadows touched her, they dissolved on contact.
Maybe her uncle had taken pity on her and suggested the assistant idea, she pondered as she followed the Skullstalker through the bush. Maybe that was what he’d whispered to the Skullstalker at the end. The idea warmed her heart. Her uncle was not a sentimental man, but hedidcare about her. Even if he had been awfully distant since he’d been banished from the royal circle and had to make his own.
Ivy was so busy admiring her horrifying surroundings that she didn’t notice the Skullstalker had stopped until she ran into him.
“Oof,” she said, grabbing the Skullstalker’s robes on instinct. She let go immediately, mortified. “Sorry! I didn’t mean to. I won’t do it again.”
The Skullstalker peered down at her curiously. Ivy smiled as wide as she could, trying to look like she was too useful to eat.
“You apologize a lot,” the Skullstalker said finally.
“Sorry,” Ivy whispered, then winced. “I mean—shit. I’ll stop.”
The Skullstalker cocked his head at her again. He had moss on his skull, Ivy noticed. Dark green moss climbed his cheekbones and even parts of his antlers. But his robes were untouched, no moss or dirt or even leaves spotting the dark material, which looked like it was carved from nighttime itself.
Ivy almost wanted to touch it. But the Skullstalker’s fangs stopped her, not to mention his long claws and threatening height. He could rip her to pieces in a second if he wanted to.
But if hedidwant to, he was restraining himself. Which was… nice? Certainly a relief. For Ivyandthe Circle, who were counting on her to do something very important as soon as the Skullstalker turned his back.
The Skullstalker reached up. Ivy flinched again, unable to stop it. But the Skullstalker only picked a glowing leaf hanging above her head and slid it into his mouth, chewing neatly.
He took her injured arm and leaned over it, opening his jaw. His tongue lolled out. Ivy stared, her cheeks heating. His tongue was solong. Long and pink and oddly alluring in a way she had never considered before.
A thin stream of glowing leaf-spit dripped from the tip of his tongue. Ivy tensed, but the green spit washed over her cut with a pleasant numbing sensation.
The Skullstalker rubbed the leaf-spit into her wound, spreading the tingling numbness. His fingers were cool and smooth, his claws retracting. Ivy’s skin prickled in a way that had nothing to do with the healing herb he was rubbing into her. She couldn’t remember the last time she was touched so gently.Thiswas the dreaded ruler of the wilderness void?
“What is that?” Ivy asked.
“Soothepine,” the Skullstalker explained.
He lifted her arm, examining the cut. The bleeding had stopped. So had the glow from the soothepine.
“Thank you,” Ivy whispered.
The Skullstalker looked up, as if remembering that her arm was attached to something. He dropped it, standing back.
“As I told your uncle,” he said, “none of these plants have been used on your kind.”
“We will gladly take whatever you can spare,” Ivy replied. She touched her arm wondrously, mesmerized by the healing cut. It looked like it had been healing for weeks, not minutes.
The Skullstalker took off again. Ivy stumbled after him, looking behind her and trying to remember the path back to the silver pool. They hadn’t been walking far; surely she could find it again.
“I’m so grateful to you for keeping me as an assistant,” she called as she followed the Skullstalker through the thick leaves. “I love plants. Truly! I am even named after one. Ivy.”
