Sarah, Jareth and the amazing Labyrinth world do not belong to me. They are not my creations but I have enjoyed visiting with them for the purposed of my story.

AUTHOR NOTE – This is my first Labyrinth fanfiction. I look forward to your reviews.

Shades of a dream

The throne room was empty, almost dark, lit only with a few tapering candles, the corners vanishing into their own shadows. When he stepped into the unsteady light I thought that one such shadow had taken form. I looked up into a finely sculpted face, shaped with all the evidence of his royal bearing. Bowstring mouth, chiselled jawline, jutting chin, high brow, the features were perfect but the mismatched eyes marked him apart from kings or men.

Such a beautiful face, such a beautiful man, standing tall and straight and utterly still. My heart actually fluttered, a proper mid-beat skip that made my breath catch. The Goblin King reached out a hand and though he had not spoken, it was acommand just the same. Unable to take my eyes from hs face, I gave him my own, his fingers closed over mine and the flutter turned into a giddy quiver.

I knew his touch, the way his skin felt warm, his palm slightly rough but pleasantly so. He was so familiar to me, I knew the way the light fell on him, burnishing the blond hair to shades of gold, the way the oddly coloured eyes glimmered with humour or darkened with desire. I knew the way he dipped his head when he smiled, the way a little crease furrowed between his eyes when he frowned, the way his teeth caught his lower lip when he was lost in thought.

Tonight, Jareth's face was set in harsh planes, his eyes like hard jewels. His back was rigid, his step on the stone the only sound, a merciless soundtrack. He was a stranger, guarded, silent and grim. The castle seemed to hulk around me, vast, hushed, a mute witness to the unflding events playing out this night.

It was a night of frosted stars, of air that carried the first kiss of coming winter. It was a night when everything seemed sharper, keener as if the world had become more real. I was aware of that, even as my own world careered rapidly away from every reality I knew. There was only his hand holding me to time and the here and now.

He led me to his private quarters, stood to one side to allow me to precede him into the room. When he followed, his steps fell slowly, a lion stalking its prey and a sense of the very walls closing around me made a feeling close to panic rise in my chest and I closed my fingers into tight fists, made myself remember to draw a breath.

"One chance, Sarah. I will give you one last chance to change your mind."

Jareth's words floated to me on a silken whisper, his breath ruffling strands of my hair. He was standing behind me and I turned and lifted my eyes to meet the strange green and silver gaze. I shook my head.

He looked like he had been carved from marble, unbearably lovely, yet almost painfully aloof.

"Precious thing, you are trying so hard to seem fearless. But you are afraid. Are you not?"

I wanted to deny it but the lie would not form. Instead, I steadied myself on my feet, braced my own shoulders and somehow managed to keep my eyes steady on his.

Without another word, he turned, walked away, lifted his cloak from his shoulders and draped it over the arm of a chair close to the door. He kept his back to me as he opened the button at his throat, loosened his shirt at the neck.

Then he was facing me again, walking towards me quickly and with a determined purposeful stride, always with that remote expression on his face. There was no recognition or warmth in his face, for all he appeared, we might as well never have met.

I swallowed, embarrassed that it sounded unusually loud in the stillness of the room. Then, in one swift, dizzying movement, the world spun, tilted and I was looking at the honeyed wood of the floor. As I caught my breath I realized I was lying across his lap, his knee hard beneath my stomach.

"You should know better than to defy me, Precious. But you will learn."

Jareth's arm circled my waist, holding me firmly in place.

When his other hand landed on my rear, it was the sound that I was aware of first, the smack shattering the quiet around us. Then, a strange and completely alien heat spread and I gasped aloud.

Before I had the chance to process anything further, his hand connected again and I squeezed my eyes closed, willing myself to calm. I could feel him holding me but the thing I was most aware of was my own loss of control. He was the Goblin King but he had never made me feel powerless. Now, helplessness crashed over me and in response, hot tears came like a scalding tide to my eyes.

As the rose, they seared my throat and a ragged sob broke free, the only sound I was capable of making.

As suddenly as I had found myself up-ended over his knee I was set back upon my feet and a furious Jareth stood before me, gripping my shoulders and looking down at me with eyes that flared with the heat of temper.

"You said you were ready!" his tone were shocked but the expression on his face, like his voice, was an accusation.

The raw anger did little to stem the tears that were now in a humiliating full flow. They flowed down my cheeks and my colour rose as mortification burned even hotter than my misery.

"You said you could take it! You looked scared witless a few minutes ago but I thought it was an act! You little fool, why didn't you tell me the truth?" he demanded.

In response, I made an inelegant sniffling sound and he huffed out an impatient breath.

He drew me against him, circling me in his arms and letting me rest my head against his chest. As if a curtain had lifted I was suddenly back in a world known to me, where Jareth's arms felt so right around me and his chest was hard beneath my cheek, his scent enveloping me and driving away everything else.

"I thought that I was ready. I had this scene all worked out and the way I dreamed it, well, it was fun and hot. But then, it was real. Jareth, even though you were right here, I could feel you... you were also far away and that really was frightening," I said.

My explanation didn't seem to make sense, so I clung to him, just enjoying being held and feeling close to him.

"Everything you've ever dreamed of isn't that what I promised you, precious thing?" he whispered.

The spanking scene had been my idea. It seemed like such a daring thing to suggest, I felt incredibly brazen and seductive when I told him about my fantasy. He the Goblin King and I, the disobedient subject facing his wrath. He the master and I the wench he could do with as he pleased.

As I had imagined it, the role playing was harmless fun, what I had not been prepared for was that he would be good at it! How silly, I thought now. He was the giver of dreams, that he would play his part expertly and flawlessly was something I should have known.

"Jareth, that's what you give me, every day. Even now, when I have made a fool of myself , you are worrying that you have hurt me. I have been so stupid. I'm sorry."

I lifted my head and looked into his frowning face, happy to see his expression lightening, his mismatched eyes warming deliciously.

"I thought I had mortally wounded you, the way you carried on," he said .

I blushed hard.

"I'm sorry," I said again.

He cupped my flaming face in his hands and looked down at me, a playful smile playing on his beautiful mouth.

"Wasn't all this to-do supposed to be about getting you into my bed?" he rose a shapely eyebrow.

Thought I wouldn't have believed it possible, my face burned hotter and he laughed, a lovely, refreshing sound of genuine enjoyment.

"Precious thing, I have a few ideas of my own about that. You haven't seen all of my moves yet, it might surprise you to learn," he growled in a low, mischevious voice.

I smiled into the dancing eyes.

"Really?" I lifted an eyebrow at him, my arms lifting to circle his neck.

He lowered his head, locking my eyes to his, silver and jade spinning their own magic around me.

His lips lingered just above mine, his breath on my skin, his fingers twining in my hair.

"Ah Sarah, everything I've done, I've done for you," his voice was so low I could barely make out the words.

"This, this is only forever. And it begins with…."

His words drifted to silence, his head tilted, he drew my earlobe between his lips.

"Begins with?" I gasped.

He lifted his head and looked in my eyes.

"A kiss."

He was the Goblin King, I was his to command and I thanked the stars for it.