While I’m distracted, something breaks through and slashes my leg. I kick it off, but I can feel the blood dripping into my boot. It should hurt, but I’m not thinking clearly enough to feel pain. There has to be another way out. This can’t be it.

I see a flash of pale skin between the trees, and someone screams Gossamer’s name again. They’re closing in.

A creature with the head of a stag and the body of a man turns from Briar’s corpse, blood staining its nose. Its eyes lock with mine as it sniffs the air.

I nudge Raze with my foot. “Wake up.”

He doesn’t stir.

“Raze, please.” The sound of tears in my voice draws some of the creatures’ attention, and I have to stop and take a deep breath. An imp buzzes around my head, dodging every swipe of my knife, tugging my hair and nipping at my shoulders.

Another small, spidery creature crawls up Raze’s leg and over his back.

“That one’s venomous,” Gossamer says. His voice is lazy, but I can see the way his eyes scan the trees, watching for more Unseelie knights. “Better not... Ooh, too late.”

I kick the spider away, and blood sprays from where it’s already bitten Raze. His eyes fly open and he gasps for breath, struggling to sit up.

A faerie on horseback charges toward us through the trees.

The stag-headed man stands and staggers in our direction.

Raze starts to shake violently.

“I need a portal,” I say. My hands shake with fear, but my voice is steady. “Same conditions as last time.”

“Gossamer!” someone screams again.

Gossamer flinches at the sound, and I know that he needs this just as much as I do. This is safe—as safe as it can be. “I can’t do that.”

An arrow whizzes past us.

“Yes, you can! You make a portal, and I’ll give you use of my magic for the duration of the spell. We’ve already done it once!”

Gossamer puts a hand on the back of my neck, nails just barely pricking the tender skin. “I can’t,” he repeats. “I can’t make an unequal exchange, and your need for a portal now is much higher than it was before. Which means the price has gone up. Offer me something else.”

An imp bites my arm, and I rip it off and throw it as far as I can. Raze gasps for breath. Blood runs down my ruined sleeve, drawing attention from the monsters gathered around Briar’s corpse.

“Now!” Gossamer shouts. His voice has turned harsh in an instant, and I can’t tell if the emotion in it is fear or urgency or greed. We’re running out of time.

“Anything,” I say, before I can stop myself.

I expect Gossamer to crow in victory, to taunt me, to say something. Instead, he vanishes, leaving nothing but an icy breeze at the back of my neck.

But he’s not really gone. I feel him, in my head, in our hands. They move like they did in the other faerie forest, sweeping in a gesture both familiar and strange.