Page 48 of Pearls of Salt and Sacrifice

“Please, don’t.”

“I have to. Because if I don’t speak now, I’ll lose you forever. I’ll never have another opportunity. This is my one and only chance, Reva.”

Reva forced her eyes open. She owed him that much—to look him in the eye when she broke his heart. “I don’t know what to say to that,” she said gently. “I don’t know where I begin and where your magic ends. You’ve got me so twisted up, Jareth. What you’re asking…it isn’t fair.”

“No. It’s not.”

“And if I were the sort of princess who stood on the beach and let others fight her battles for her…perhaps my answer would be different. But I’m not. You know that as well as I do. What I want can’t factor into this. If I was free to choose what my heart wanted instead of what duty demanded…perhaps things would be different. But I’m not that kind of princess. You need to let me go.”

Jareth turned his face away and slid his fingers down her arms before withdrawing and leaving her aching and chilled. Once again, he was only doing what she’d asked him to do, so why did it feel so wrong?

“I will do what I can for your people, Jareth. I can at least offer temporary sanctuary for the elderly and little ones who are most in danger. But beyond that…”

It had sounded like a good plan when she thought it, but as she formed the words, a new sort of pain stabbed at her heart.

She was going to walk away from this and marry Felix. Had she lost her mind?

Because, in spite of everything he’d done, she couldn’t shake the feeling that if anyone were to stand beside her on the day of her coronation…she’d want it to be Jareth.

Not Felix. Not Rency. Just Jareth.

Someone who would fight beside her to save people…not watch as they died alone.

“This is the only way to ensure the safety of my people. I can’t risk war on top of food shortages…” she said out loud, for herself, for him. “What I want can’t matter.”

Jareth’s face snapped toward her again, and he swayed as if he might reach for her again. But he didn’t.

She doubted Felix would ever show such restraint or respect for her wishes.

Reva steeled her spine and squared her shoulders. She searched inside herself for that feral queen Jareth said he saw inside her, the one she wore as a mask to hide the fragile girl she really was.

But this time, it couldn’t be just a mask. She needed to be that queen.

“Please.” Jareth searched her face as if she were the last gasp of air in Rhuin. “I-I want to kiss you so badly right now.”

Heat warmed her cheeks as her heart thundered against her rib cage. “You’ve already kissed me twice,” she reminded him hoarsely.

Were these emotions even hers?

Or were they the result of his siren kiss?

He inched closer, his fingers twitching at his sides. “Is that permission?” A flicker of hope gleamed in Jareth’s sea-green eyes.

And for one desperate moment Reva almost said yes. It would be so easy to pretend, even for just a moment, that nothing else mattered. That she was a girl, and he was a boy, and there weren’t any kingdoms between them.

But that wasn’t fair to him, and she’d never been one to embrace fairy tales.

“Take me home, Jareth,” she said around the suffocating lump in her throat. “And—and please don’t kiss me ever again.”

Jareth recoiled, squeezing his eyes closed as he half-turned away from her. She could see his fingers clenching and releasing at his sides in frantic motion, and she’d never hated herself more than she did in that moment.

She couldn’t watch this anymore. Spinning on her heel, Reva pressed a fist against her mouth and stumbled toward the door, her sandals slapping against the stone floor.

This was the right thing to do…to sacrifice her own happiness for her people… Then why did it feel like it wasn’t only his heart she’d broken but also her own?

Belen and the guards still waited for her beyond the door. The elf princess took a step toward Reva but faltered as she took in Reva’s twisted expression. Hopelessness stole over Belen’s delicate features, and she drew herself up as tall as her small stature would allow.

“I see,” she said quietly. “The decision’s been made then.”

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