Chapter 194

"Sorry, but I’m not giving up on Jareth. No way." Isabelle Ryan’s sudden shift caught Henry Brooks completely off guard. His face froze mid-reaction, like someone hit pause on his entire system. It took him a long beat before his thoughts crawled back into order. "You—" He tried to speak, but Isabelle cut him off straightaway. "I've loved Jareth for as long as I can remember. Not just some puppy crush—I mean real, deep love. Deeper than anyone else could feel. I know, you probably think some twenty-year-old girl couldn’t possibly know what love is. But let me tell you straight—I care about Jareth more than anything in the world, even more than my own life." Her voice didn’t waver. She stared directly at him, her usually gentle eyes now filled with firm resolve and a kind of quiet fire. Henry’s heart sank fast. Whatever he thought he’d braced himself for, it wasn’t that. He stared at her—veins going cold, complexion turning pale—as if he’d just witnessed a car crash in slow motion. It t