“And what if she did hear?” Jareth’s voice rose with stress. “What if she demands a separation? Do you understand what happens then? The alliance with the northern packs depends on my stable mate bond. My grandfather will disown me if a scandal breaks now. I will lose everything.”
“So your wealth matters more than us?”
“I care about our future,” he snapped. “And our future requires power and money.”
I took a slow breath and forced a confused smile onto my face before walking into the room.
“Hey, why so noisy here? What’s happening?” I asked lightly.
Both of them jumped.
Jareth turned around quickly. His face looked pale and sweat covered his forehead. While Luvena looked furious, her arms folded tightly across her chest.
“Shara,” Jareth said as he rushed toward me. His expression held panic and relief at the same time. “Shara, thank the Moon Goddess. I thought something had happened to you.”
He grabbed my hands. His palms were damp.
“I have been calling you for an hour. Why was your crystal communicator off? Where did you go?”
I blinked at him with innocent surprise.
“My communicator?” I said softly. “It must have run out of energy. I forgot to charge it last night. I am sorry. Did I make you worry?”
“Worry?” he said. “I was losing my mind.”
His eyes searched my face carefully, looking for anger or suspicion.
“Celene told me you came to the tower. Why did you not come to my office? I was in a meeting but I would have ended it for you.”
“I did not want to interrupt,” I replied calmly. “Celene looked very stressed and she said you were busy. I only came to leave the blueprints.”
“But where did you go after that?” he asked, narrowing his eyes slightly. “You were gone for hours.”
I paused.
I allowed the silence to stretch just long enough for his heart to race.
“Oh, something important came up,” I said casually. “I went to visit a lawyer for unbinding decree.”
The room fell completely silent.
Jareth looked like someone had punched him in the stomach.
“What did you say?” he whispered weakly. “Unbinding decree? Shara, what do you mean? Are you leaving me?”
I watched him carefully. The fear in his eyes was not fear of losing me. It was fear of losing his inheritance.
Then I suddenly laughed.
“Oh, look at your expression,” I said, playfully tapping his arm. “Do you want a severance, Jareth? Is that what you are thinking?”
He blinked in confusion.