Prologue

Sarah snuggled closer to Jareth and earned a grin from him while his eyes were still closed. She enjoyed the calmness that their time had bought them. He laid in her bed with his arm folded under his head and didn't mind her draping herself across his chest. Today she was still wearing her bra and underwear, but that was rare. Once Sarah had pushed the physical boundaries, Jareth had been willing. She didn't mind, she'd never been able to think about anyone but him anyway.

The amazing thing about Jareth's magic was that despite their constant talking and their ability to get louder when the occasion called for it, no one ever heard them. Jareth had always made sure of that. Sarah could say and do anything she wanted and her parents wouldn't hear. It certainly helped not having to explain to her parents why she had a man in her bed when she never dated. Not a boy from school even, a man... well sort of. Jareth hardly counted as that either, he was Fae from the Underground, a fact that only made Sarah like him more. It was his fascination with her that she didn't understand. Generally he was very physical, and he had taken many of her firsts including the most important one, but he was also genuine. When he kissed her it wasn't just about her body, he knew her. Knew her entirely, and accepted all that she was, letting the personality spice up the otherwise repetitive nature that was sex.

Now that she was eighteen and about to turn nineteen, she understood why so many people raved about sex. Sex with Jareth had changed their relationship. Not just physically, but something happened when she had sex with him, everything she felt was amplified. For a while she wasn't certain if she could trust it, but as the newness dissipated and the emotions didn't Sarah had found herself blissfully in love with the Goblin King.

She knew about his temper and his foul moods, but she was privy to the sides of him that few other people saw. She could see the sides that he himself had barely been aware of, and had successfully hidden from the world. He was capable of being tender and loving in ways that she hadn't dreamed of. Though he was demanding, she found that he demanded and played games for things that he wanted and she learned how to play the games so that they both won. She learned how to beat him at his own game and he both loved and hated her for it. Often he found himself pausing simply to look at her, hardly being able to think about who he had been before he'd known her. By giving away a small part of her pride and calling for him she'd opened up herself and the world to him.

His intensity sometimes daunted her, because even after all this time she wasn't really understanding herself at all. She'd learned many lessons from his labyrinth, and though it helped in making her grow up, she hadn't been a woman yet when she'd called to him. He hadn't been pleased to see her, but behind the anger there was a thirst to figure out the woman she could become. It seemed that overnight she became a woman. One night she was asking him to dance, and the next her sultry curves were coming to him for a passionate kiss. This little slip of a woman had given the Goblin King a solace, and a comfort.

As the grin spread across his face, Sarah leaned up to look at him. Then his voice sounded as he, too, opened his eyes to look into her green ones.

"Finding what you want, princess?"

"Nope..." she teased.

He grinned more and leaned over to tickle her sides, "You'll pay for that..."

Sarah rolled quickly away and set to defend, "I'll give in, for a kiss?"

He grabbed her wrist, "Terms accepted."

Then he pulled her body against his and crushed his lips to hers. Her hands went automatically into his hair as a surprised whimper escaped her mouth that Jareth caught in his.

"Jareth?" She asked when he pulled away.

"I'm sorry... I've got to go, the sun is rising..."

"Do you really have to go?" Sarah said as she hugged him to her.

"Yes." Though he didn't seem happy about it, and he hugged her body to his, savoring the way she felt against him.

"When will you come back?"

He smiled and stroked her face before he pulled away, "Always when you call me, Precious."

Sarah watched him pull on pants before he disappeared from her room with nothing but his scent to help her remember that he was there at all.

Queen Layna sat in her room looking into the mirror, using it to see her daughter and ex-husband. She reached out to touch the mirror even though she knew that she wasn't going to be able to touch them. One tear fell from her eye before she could stop it.

The knock at the door, however, pulled her from her emotions and she straightened herself as much as she could. Being Queen had its advantages, no one would dare say that she didn't look perfect, "You may enter."

"Your Majesty?"

"Ah, King Jareth. I'm glad that you found time to come to me so quickly."

"That's the nature of your position, Your Majesty, but I am flattered that you ask for my presence alone."

"Don't flatter me, Jareth. What have you been doing in the Aboveground?"

Jareth looked up into her eyes, he refused to let her see that he was startled by her question. He hadn't been aware that anyone was watching him let alone the Queen of his people. It hardly made sense for her to care what he was doing so long as he didn't become lacking in his ability to run his lands.

"My free-time activities hardly have anything to do with my abilities as a King..."

"I've been down that road before, Jareth. Whoever she is, she isn't going to want you to leave when you have to."

"She's well aware of my responsibilities, you need not worry about my lands. As always everything is in order."

"Jareth, I am not kidding. Humans aren't good for the Fae royalty. She's going to get you in trouble, and despite your attitude you have always been one of the few kings that I enjoyed the company of."

Jareth snorted, "Your Majesty. I hardly would group all humans together, some of them have a grave understanding of sacrifice."

"And what of Love, Jareth? You can hardly bring her here and marry her."

"Do you think I don't know that, Layna?"

"It seems that you are forgetting."

"I have not, and will not make the same mistakes that you made. You decided, Layna, what was important to you, and you left your daughter to the humans because you didn't want her to have to grow up in this harsh world. What makes you think that I have forgotten what abandonment does to children? Don't blame me for my choices with regards to humans because you cannot accept the mistakes that you made..."

"How dare you?"

"I am the Goblin King, Layna. I was never simply one of your subjects and you know it. If you'd wanted someone in your council that would roll over and play dead, telling you exactly what you wanted to hear then you would never have picked me."

"You are in my council because of your ability to see things from a different perspective, little King."

"Exactly, My Queen," he started with a mock bow, "You picked me because of my views. Trust in what you see and let me live my life."

Jareth didn't dare tell the Queen the name of the human with whom he spent his time. The Queen could very well take away his rights to see her, block her from his view or capture the wishes that Sarah made before he could hear them. He wasn't stupid. The Queen didn't think that going Aboveground was good for rulers—they got distracted. As she once did. She went aboveground and fell in love. She even had a child. No one knew the child, Layna was good about keeping those kinds of secrets, but that was about 20 years ago, when Layna's sister had still been here to help rule. Layna had been summoned away from her human family after the death of her sister, and Layna chose to leave the human world and take her responsibilities here. She'd been a sad but fair queen, and though she was nearly never alone, she always seemed lonely; every elegant movement had held the pain of her heart even as she tried to hide it.

"Be careful, Jareth. This path only ever hurts."

"Thank you for your advice, Queen Layna."

Layna watched as the Goblin King turned on his heel and pridefully walked out of the room. He seemed so young compared to how old she felt. Despite her outward beauty, Layna knew that she was getting old. She could feel the time beginning to pull on her. She didn't want to believe that it was true, but it was time to go and get her daughter, time to tell her daughter the truth about who she was. She should have done so before but she hadn't had the heart to break the bonds that her daughter had made to the human world as a child.

Layna appeared just outside the door of their house, The Williams.

She knocked and waited until Robert answered the door.

His voice stopped in the middle of a greeting when he actually looked at her. For a moment they just looked at each other, both thinking about all the many things that they'd wished for in the past. Both thinking about what they wished was possible. Neither voiced any of their thoughts, but they hardly needed to. All it took was one word.

"Layna..."

Had his wife heard, she would have been angry. He'd needed only that word to convey that he still loved the Queen and she needed only to look up at him for him to know that it hurt her to be away from him. They'd made their choices and now they had to deal with them.

"Robert... I-"

But he couldn't listen, he knew what she was here for.

"I'll get her, come in. Have a seat, I'm sure you know where things are. I'll be down in just a moment."

Robert ran up the stairs to retrieve their daughter and Layna sighed. She pushed away the pain in her heart and waited.

"Sarah, this is Layna."

"Hi."

"Hello, Sarah."

Sarah sat down and stared at her father, who immediately left the room mumbling, "Excuse me."

"Sarah, do you read fantasy books?"

"Yes, but-"

The Queen didn't want to wait for her to think, she needed to know that answers quickly and the truth... Sarah wasn't who she thought she was, and it was about time to see if she was ready to become something bigger than she'd likely ever dreamed.

"What do you think about them?"

Sarah smiled for a brief second, "I believe that some of them show us our dreams..."

"Dreams of what?"

"Being Fae, having the King, and living happily ever after," Sarah grinned and looked away.

Layna could only smile and get right to the point. "Well, you have the being Fae part already."

"Pardon?"

"I am Queen Layna, of the Fae, and you are my daughter..."

"No, my mother died when I was... Oh my God. You live in the Underground..."

"Yes, I do... how do you know about the Underground?"

"I am Sarah, the Champion of the Labyrinth."

Queen Layna flinched and closed her eyes... 'Poor Jareth...'