I’m left shaking uncontrollably, even though I’m not cold anymore.

chapter twenty-eight

The faerie is gone. I reach over the puddle of iron between us to brush the statue’s face, but it doesn’t react. It’s just a statue now.

“Well, that didn’t go as expected.”

I jump at the voice behind me, whirling around to face Gossamer. Even freed from his stone form, he’s completely colorless, from his long white hair to his bare feet. His eyes look almost blank, the irises barely tinted gray. He examines his long, pointed nails in dismay before looking up at me.

It feels like meeting eyes with a tiger through a cage, knowing the thing before you could rip you apart without any effort at all. My heart thuds against my ribs painfully. “What do you mean?” I say, trying not to look afraid. “I-I freed you.”

Gossamer’s mouth twists in a half smile, and he paces to the statue, forcing me to stumble out of his way. He moves like a liquid, lazy and smooth. “I said I’d return to my own devices as soon as I was able,” he murmurs, tracing his fingers over the statue. Examining it like he’s looking for a hidden message. “Did I say that would make me able?”

No. He didn’t say that. It was a trick—of course it was a trick. That’s how faerie deals always go, and I fell for it like an ignorant child. “What—” there’s a pounding in my head that’s difficult to think around “—what do you mean?”

Gossamer circles the statue, twisting around at awkward angles. When his eyes return to mine, he wears an apologetic smile that doesn’t look right at all on his not-quite-human face. “I don’t think you’re going to like this,” he says.

“Like what?”

“It’s hard to say.” He slinks around the statue and leans back against it, which is unsettling, to say the least. His eyes sweep over my face and my strange getup, calculating. “I mean, after such a long imprisonment, so much has changed. How could I...”

I’ve never known a faerie to be this awkward, this indirect before. All without telling a single lie. “Just tell me!”

His face scrunches up, and he gives in. “I’m not at full strength. I don’t have my own physical form to return to.”

My heart drops, even though I don’t fully know what that means. It’s just the way he says it that makes me feel a little dizzy. “So...?”

“So I’m not truly free yet, it seems.” Gossamer’s form flickers, and he slips straight through the statue as though he’s made of nothing but air. “Which is to say, I have a new prison.” Suddenly, he’s nose-to-nose with me, his icy eyes boring directly into mine. The same chill from earlier creeps over my skin like a layer of frost as he reaches up to tap my temple with one gentle finger. “In here.”

My knees wobble as I try to back away. I feel like I’m going to be sick. That can’t be true. “No,” I say. “No, I released you. I... You can’t—”