Page 38 of Pearls of Salt and Sacrifice

“Or the boy, in this case,” Rency said.

Reva shot him a quelling look, but for once he didn’t look as if he meant to poke fun at her. Instead, he looked weary to the bone.

“I’m not bewitched,” she said, still focused on Rency. “I am in complete control of my faculties.”

“Oh, aye, love, I’m not saying you’ve lost your mind. I’m saying you’re going to lose it if you try to turn your back on your little siren prince. The Sea Song will call you back, no matter how far you try to run. And that’s not the worst of it.”

“There’s more?” She couldn’t keep the stunned horror out of her voice.

“Rency.” The sea pirate’s name on Jareth’s lips held a note of warning. “She’s heard enough.”

“Oh, I don’t think so. She’s just getting warmed up, aren’t you, Reva? Tell him you want to—”

“Oy, Captain!” someone bawled from up in the rigging. “Ship on the horizon!”

Rency’s head snapped back, and he launched himself toward the forecastle. “Which one?”

“I can’t tell—wait! She’s flyin’ the flag of Etthan, Captain! It’s the Perseus!”

Reva had hoped the sighting of her flagship meant this nightmare was nearly over, that Cassandra had sent Captain Dren to bring her home. But Rency wasn’t the self-proclaimed prince of pirates for nothing. He knew his way about the seas—and when he was getting along with his ship, he seemed unstoppable.

Somewhere in the outskirts of Seriposa, he successfully lost the Perseus. Using the small islands and dangerous shoals to both obscure and hinder pursuit, Rency guided the Andromeda out of sight.

Reva stood at the window in the captain’s cabin, hoping against hope that Captain Dren would see through Rency’s trickery, but night fell, and no more sails appeared on the horizon.

Something soft and moist pressed against her wrist. She looked down to see Calix peeking out of her pocket, his eyes on her as if asking a question. She smiled and patted him on the head with two fingers. “I’m okay, little fellow.”

But she wasn’t.

He burrowed back into her pocket, purring so loud she could feel the vibrations against her thigh.

A knock echoed from the hallway, but she ignored it and remained at her post. But her unwanted guest persisted until she barked an irritable, “Well, let yourself in then! The door isn’t locked!”

The door creaked open, and feet thumped against the floorboards. She turned to cast a scathing remark at her captor, but it wasn’t Rency’s swaggering form that filled the doorway.

It was Jareth.

She whipped her face back to the port hole, her heart hurting at the sight of him. “I don’t want to see you,” she said quietly. “Please, leave me.”

“Reva, we need to talk.” He sounded haggard, and under other circumstances she may have felt pity for him. But he didn’t deserve her pity.

“I have nothing to say to you. I’ve made up my mind, Jareth. I’m going home, one way or another.”

Wood creaked behind her, and she imagined him gripping the back of the chair, leaning his weight against it. “You may have nothing to say to me, but I have more to say to you. I need you to understand why I used the siren kiss on you.”

“I know why. You saw me in a moment of vulnerability and took advantage of my weakness. You used my accident to try to steal my throne.”

“I don’t want your throne, Reva. I never wanted that.”

She braced her forearm against the wall and stared out into the black night. The hiss and low roar of the ocean rose from beyond the small hole in the wall of the ship. “What else could you want? Why else did you crawl out of the sea and ruin my attempts to save my people?”

“Because…because you aren’t the only one trying to save his people.”

Her breath hitched in her throat.

His people.

She didn’t miss the use of the masculine possessive. Still, she remained frozen at the window, her spine rigid and unyielding. Whatever his excuse, it didn’t give him the right to bind her to him without permission. What kind of a monster did that?

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