Ivy startled. Was that acompliment? She couldn’t tell. He didn’t sound impressed, just… curious.
Ivy tried to come up with something to say. Nothing came to her. She had been so busy obsessing over the plan, she had never thought about why she was doing it.
“My uncle asked me to,” she said finally.
It sounded mortifyingly childish. But it seemed enough for Vale, who stood motionless for several agonizing seconds before inclining his head.
“Two minutes,” he said. “Hurry. Mortals do not have enough time to waste.”
“Oh! Thank you!” Ivy sank into a clumsy curtsey and rushed off, sprinting back through the dense bush. For a moment, she relied on plants she recognized from their walk—a bush made from grasping hands, a tree dripping with spikes. Then she noticed something on the ground.
Footprints. Dark and wispy, emanating shadow into the air. She wassureshe hadn’t left footprints earlier. But here they were, leading her back.
Ivy ran faster, her dress sticking to her slick skin. Was the void leading her into a trap? Was it all a trick, and theSkullstalker would be waiting for her at the pool, ready to devour her?
The wispy footprints ended at the silver pool they had surfaced from. Ivy looked around wildly, but no Skullstalker was watching. No heavy footsteps behind her.
Ivy bit her lip. Then she grabbed the bloody section of her dress, ripping open the secret pocket she’d sewn shut this morning and fishing out a vial. She uncorked it, careful not to get any of the viscous pale liquid on her fingers. Then she dropped the vial into the silver pool. It bobbed twice, then sank.
For a moment, nothing happened. Ivy’s heart fell, and she imagined being truly trapped in this void for all her years, never seeing her uncle again, failing the Circle?—
The silver pool began to froth. Pale liquid bubbled up to the surface, the vial’s contents emptying into the pool from underneath the surface.
The silver pool roared to a boil. But just as fast as it started, the liquid settled. All was calm. The pool looked like it had when Ivy had stepped out of it.
Ivy fiddled nervously with her bloody dress. Would this be enough to weaken the void? Would it be enough to weaken Vale? Her uncle had assured her it would be. That poisoning the portal would, in turn, poison the void, weakening the Skullstalker enough to control him when the time came. But it had never been done before. How could he be sure if it had never been done?
She had faith in her uncle. They needed more than a Skullstalker’s horrific plants to reclaim their place in the palace; they needed aSkullstalker. One month from now, the portal would be so weak that the Circle could march right in and bind him.
Ivy just had to buy time until then. If she was killed before the month was up—by Vale or by his brutal, beautiful void—itwould all be worth it. She had done what she came here to do. It was all worth it for the Circle, and for her uncle.
So why did she so desperately want to live?
Ivy shivered and turned back the way she’d come. Time to reunite with her new master and convince him she was worth keeping around.
She only made it two steps before something caught her eye.
A rose. Sitting right next to the pool, so large and red, she didn’t know how she hadn’t noticed it before. Its petals were lush and shiny, the only spot of red in the dark forest. And it reminded Ivy of something… What was it?
The scent hit her then, washing any attempt at remembering away. Ivy gasped in shock. It wasgorgeous. The best thing she’d ever smelled. She had to get closer.
She swayed toward the rose, narrowly avoiding stepping into the silver pool as she leaned in. The rose was even more perfect up close. And something was swelling at the center…
Ivy didn’t have time to wonder what it was before it burst. Golden dust exploded in her face.
Ivy stumbled back, coughing. She wascoveredin it, gold dust dripping from her circlet braid and sticking to her dewy cleavage. It was even in her mouth, tickling her throat as she coughed.
Something growled behind her.
Ivy whirled, still wheezing. Vale loomed behind her, so silent she was sure that he’d seen her poison the pool. Surely now he would eat her.
“You have been sprayed by a heatbloom,” Vale snapped, annoyed. “This might delay our work.”
Ivy coughed and rasped, “I can still?—”
He cut her off. “How do you feel?”
Ivy coughed again, wiping at her face. “What? I feel?—”
