“Choose, Jareth,” I said softly. “Between me and her. Do you want an evening with your mate or do you want to take care of your assistant?”

Jareth looked from one of us to the other.

Luvena waited with a smug smile.

I stood firm.

He knew choosing her would destroy his carefully built image.

His jaw tightened.

“Fine,” he said stiffly. “I choose you. I always choose you, Shara.”

Then he looked at Luvena. “Stay home.”

“Whatever,” Luvena said with a cold laugh.

She turned and stormed up the stairs.

***

The cruise should have been beautiful.

The lights of the city sparkled across the dark water. The food was perfect. A violinist played gentle music nearby.

But Jareth was not truly there.

His body sat across from me at the table, but his mind was somewhere else. He barely touched his drink. His leg bounced nervously under the table.

Every few minutes he checked his crystal communicator, hiding the screen beneath the table.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked while cutting my steak.

“What? No. Everything is fine,” he muttered. “Just work messages.”

I knew exactly who he was talking to.

He was messaging Luvena. Tracking where she went. Begging her to behave. Probably promising her anything she wanted.

Suddenly, his crystal communicator buzzed loudly on the table.

He grabbed it immediately. In seconds, all color vanished from his face.

He stood so quickly that his chair scraped loudly against the floor.

“I need to leave,” he said.

“What?” I set down my fork. “Jareth, we have not even had dessert. What happened?”

“Luvena,” he said quickly. Panic filled his voice. “She went out anyway. She is at a bar in the city. She says some men are bothering her. She’s scared.”

“Just call the pack guards,” I said calmly as I sipped my wine.

“No. I must go myself. She’s terrified.”

He was already moving, pulling on his jacket with shaking hands.

“I am sorry, Shara. I will make it up to you. I promise. Just finish dinner. The driver will take you home.”

He did not wait for my reply. He did not even kiss me goodbye.

He simply turned and rushed off the ship, desperate to rescue his mistress, leaving his Luna alone in the middle of the ocean.

I watched him disappear. But I did not cry at all.

I felt nothing.

Slowly I finished my wine, enjoying the deep flavor. Then I raised my hand to call the waiter.

“The bill please,” I said calmly. “And pack the dessert for me.”

***

When I returned home later, the estate was empty.