“Ivy,” the Skullstalker repeated. His guttural voice made her shiver. It took her a moment to recognize his tone: he didn’t sound familiar with the plant.
“Do you not have ivy in your void?” Ivy asked cautiously.
“No,” the Skullstalker said.
Ivy thought that would be the end of it. But after several seconds of following him, the Skullstalker asked, “What is it?”
“It’s a vine,” Ivy said hastily. “It’s…”
A clinging, strangling, invasive species that people want to get rid of, whispered a voice in her head that sounded alarmingly like the bullies who tormented her back when she lived in a castle with her uncle. The memories were hazy; she left the castle so young, stumbling after her uncle as he swore vengeance to the royals who unfairly banished him.
“Beautiful,” Ivy continued softly. She cleared her throat. “What’syourname?”
The Skullstalker was silent for so long that Ivy thought she’d offended him. But before she could apologize, his fanged mouth opened.
“Vale,” he said gruffly. He sounded surprised, like he hadn’t expected her to ask.
“Vale,” Ivy repeated, sinking into a deep curtsey. “It’s an honor to meet you.”
The Skullstalker—Vale—said nothing. Ivy sweated, staring down at her bare feet. Did she displease him? Maybe he would eat her after all.
He won’t need to, she reminded herself.Not if you prove you’re worth keeping.
For a month, at least. Then the Circle of the Jeweled Fist would come back for her. And more importantly, him. But only if she did what she came here to do.
Ivy straightened and gave Vale her best smile, which was admittedly still lacking. “What would you have me do first? Whatever you need, I’ll do it!”
This didn’t make him happy either. If anything, Vale only looked annoyed.
“I suppose I will show you to the eastern rib-thickets,” he said slowly. “They grow new bones every day.”
“Bones?” Ivy asked faintly.
Vale lifted his head to the shimmering sky. “You will not find your mortal plants here. Will this disturb you?”
“No,” Ivy said, too fast. “Like I said, I love plants! Even if…”
She trailed off, her gaze catching on yet another decaying frog. Despite what the rot might suggest, it was happily climbing a strange, bony tree trunk.
Before she could assure her new master of her devotion to these nightmarish plants, a sharp, bulbous jawbone on the end of a vine darted out of a nearby bush and swallowed the rotting frog whole.
Ivy couldn’t help it: she shrieked.
Vale didn’t react in the slightest as the vine slid back into the bush, pulling its chewing jawbone with it.
“If you cannot handle this work,” he began.
“I can handle it!” Ivy blurted, heart racing. She needed to do thisnow. She might not get a chance otherwise.
She patted her dress, ignoring the vial her uncle had sewn into the side. “Oh, no! I-I must have dropped my ring in all the fuss. It’s my uncle’s, the only thing he gave me to remember him by! I need to retrace my steps and look for it… Please, I beg you, give me two minutes to search!”
Vale’s tail flicked in annoyance. Ivy waited, sweat dampening her bloodied dress. He had taken the time to heal her wound. Surely, he didn’t want to eat her before she hadproventhat she was unable to do the work?
“I’ll come straight back,” Ivy blurted. “Then I will serve you with all I am. I swear!”
Vale’s face betrayed nothing. The part she could see, anyway. She wished she could see under the skull mask, but she suspected it would be just as expressionless as his mouth.
“You are very dedicated,” he said finally. “Would you truly sacrifice the rest of your years to toil in a Skullstalker void for your people?”
