Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, although I'd happily snog Jareth within an inch of his life given half a chance. :)
Warning: Mature content as always…. This chapter contains LOTS of language, a smidgeon of Dark Jareth and consensual violence.
Notes on Comments: Loving the comments gang…please keep them coming! :) Replies to reviews are at the end.
TIES THAT BIND
Ch. 21
Jareth paced his study in frustration, pausing periodically to look into the crystal sitting on a pedestal on the desk. In the clear orb, he saw Sarah, chained to a wall in a secluded dungeon, and she was crying.
It was the tears of desolation that made his heart ache for her – and for himself. With a deft twist of his wrist, Jareth made himself ready for the confrontation that must happen. In mid-stride he was re-clothed in the King's Regalia, something Sarah was familiar with from her confrontation with him in the Labyrinth, and her recent punishment. He hated that she might come to see his armor as a precursor to pain, but there was no helping it. It must be done.
The knock on the door tore him away from his own frustrations with the situation in which he now found himself.
"Enter Torvik," he snapped, watching with ever darkening eyes as the raven haired fae entered, trailed by his faithful assistant.
"Good morning, Sire. I made the preparations in the lower dungeon as requested, but was concerned when you did not arrive as expected," noted Torvik, upon bowing to the King.
Frowning, Jareth acknowledged Torvik, "I was otherwise occupied with unfortunate business, but will see to that prisoner this morning."
"I also noticed that we have a new prisoner, Sire?" questioned Torvik, his voice like a darkly haunting melody.
Raising an eyebrow, Jareth pinned him with a steely glare, "What have you been doing snooping in my private cells, Lord Torvik?"
Torvik dropped his gaze, it would never do to let the King know that he had accessed his hidden dungeons without permission. But Torvik had been curious when he heard the King's magical signature in that area of the dungeons and went to investigate. He was intrigued to find the enchanting creature he had last seen in the King's own bed, chained to a wall.
"Merely checking that all was as it should be, Sire. I was surprised that a new 'guest' would be acquired so suddenly and without preparation," came Torvik's smooth reply.
"Unless I am with you, you are forbidden to enter my private cells," Jareth snarled, swooping close to Torvik and lifting him upward by his shirt. "If you so much as breathe on her without me being present, I will personally deliver you bound and gagged to the satyrs for the rest of your natural life. Have I made myself perfectly clear?"
Torvik's eyes shot wide in surprise, as he gagged from the hand that closed around his throat. Never in his many years of service as the Dungeon Master to the Goblin King had he been forbidden to access a prisoner. His curiosity piqued, he wanted to know what was so special about this particular prisoner, as it was unheard of for the King to imprison those he took to his bed – even those he found infinitely displeasing escaped with their lives. What was so different about this human?
"Abundantly, Sire," Torvik gasped, rubbing his throat after Jareth dropped him.
Jareth returned to pacing, his frustration returning with force.
"She is my responsibility. All you need know is that she is the Lady of the Labyrinth. She is to be treated with the respect that belies her station, but she is also afraid and that makes her very dangerous to all but me…"
'And perhaps dangerous to me before all of this is over,' he thought sadly.
"Sire, I fail to understand. Why would the Lady of the Labyrinth be your prisoner?"
"She is not a prisoner," came the curt reply, "She is the future queen and in my cells of her own free will."
Torvik looked at his King, astonishment written on his face.
"In the meantime, I want our other guest to be pliant when I speak with him later today. I think it best to reintroduce him to Alander this morning," the Goblin King continued. "But keep an eye on them. I want him alive and Alander is… frustrated and may get more carried away than usual."
"As you wish," muttered Torvik, before taking his leave.
With a frown, Jareth steeled himself, muttering, "Gods be with me." He snatched up the crystal on his desk and flipped it into the air, disappearing as it vanished with a faint pop.
Sarah didn't know how long she had been crying, when the Labyrinth spoke to her.
-Sarah, Lady of the Labyrinth, think carefully, what is it that you fear?
Sniffling, she stopped mid-sob. What was she really afraid of right at this moment? She knew Jareth was coming back at some point, and she wasn't afraid of him. She was afraid of what was coming.
I'm afraid of what the punishment will be.
- Why fear what you cannot control. Master what you can.
But I have no control over this.
- Look to yourself.
Sarah gasped in understanding, wondering why she had not seen that before. While she couldn't control the outcome, she did have control over how she responded. That is why when she heard Jareth's step echoing down the corridor, she did not panic. At the sound of his distinctive footsteps, Sarah drew herself up despite the chains and prepared to greet him as a queen should – head up, calm and regal.
When the door opened, she felt a momentary twinge of fear seeing him sweep into the cell in full Goblin King Regalia, but she kept the feeling in check by thinking of how he had taken care of her last night. She would pass the trials he imposed as any queen should, with grace. She would be worthy of his love and being his queen.
Jareth entered the room, the door slamming shut with a clang as he leaned against the wall, eyes dark as she surveyed the naked woman in chains – his Sarah. He had expected tears, or to see fear in her eyes and was intrigued by her quiet and calm demeanor.
"No tears, Sarah?" he drawled silkily.
Sarah deliberately shook her head. "I can't control what is happening, but I can control myself," she replied, her voice quiet as met his gaze, her jade eyes flickering with determination.
"We will see how much control you have by the end of today, pet," he murmured darkly.
Flicking his wrist, the chains that bound her were released and she was able to stretch her cramped muscles.
"The things that happen while you are down here will address your faults, for that is what they are Sarah. However, this is not a one-for-one situation. All punishments address all three of your faults: disobedience, behavior and control. Do I make myself clear?"
Sarah nodded silently, never taking her eyes from his face, although the cold look in his eyes chilled her heart, momentarily making her doubt his love. She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut, nibbling her lip instead.
"Yes, pet?" he inquired, giving her leave to speak.
"How long will I be down here?"
"That depends on how quickly you learn to control yourself. It might be a few days, it could be months. The longest I know of took 12 years and many scars before the lessons were learned, but they were much younger than you and had grown up with magic so they already knew how to control it, they just didn't want to. You have a fair way to go."
Jareth watched her carefully to see if this might drive her back to tears or at least make her afraid. He was pleased to see her eyes flicker deep green and the determination he saw in them seem to intensify. With luck she wouldn't go through the 12 years of hell he did. The Fates were fond of irony in their love-binding of the fae, and this was no exception.
Coming close to her, kissed her forehead softly. She was shocked to feel his hands at her throat, as he clasped something cold and hard around it, clicking it shut. Raising her hands she looked at him in wonder.
"A collar, pet. It will serve to bind your magic should you attempt to use it to harm me, do you understand?
"Yes, but I would never…"
He silenced her with a tender kiss.
"My love, before this is over, you will most likely try to do me harm, if not kill me. Luckily for both of us, I am not so easy to kill."
The thought that she might try to hurt him brought a lump to her throat as she fought against the burning tears that threatened to spill from her eyes. She loved him. She knew that now. Surely she wouldn't try to hurt him?
Gesturing with his hand, a dark form slid from the shadowed corner of the cell into the middle of the room. On closer inspection, Sarah saw that it looked like a vault horse from her gymnastics lessons. She felt his firm grasp as he steered her toward the narrow end of the apparatus. Feeling pressure on her back, she bent over, laying her torso along the top of it and relaxing into it.
Sarah fought not to flinch as Jareth bound her ankles to the end legs of the apparatus, blushing as she trembled instead. As he bound her wrists underneath the top of the horse, she worked to keep her breathing slow and even. 'Control the things you can,' she repeated the words of the Labyrinth in her head.
She had been flogged when tied to a similar apparatus at Club Libertine early in her experiences there and she knew this would be very different to her last punishment at Jareth's hands. That had been an exercise in pleasure and pain, this was sure to be just pain, as the way her body was positioned made all of her muscles taut, which she had learned from Siobhan increased the pain level, exponentially.
"Are you ready to begin, Sarah?" Jareth asked, his voice cold and emotionless.
Nodding, she shut her eyes, trying her best to remain calm, although the lack of emotion he was showing worried her.
With a snarl, he gripped her by the hair, "I can't hear your head rattle, girl. Answer."
"Yes, Sire," she gasped, tears stinging her eyes.
Jareth smiled wickedly as he heard the title slip past her luscious lips. He had hoped being more forceful might push her into the needed headspace and it had. She was ready.
"Since you are so fond of foul language, this is your chance to let fly. I want you curse to your heart's content, pet. Words that would make your father furious and a sailor blush. Repeat them if you wish, there will be no reprieve for creativity. If it makes it easier, you can call me names, I care not," he sneered, his eyes carefully watching her to see if she would flinch, pleased when she didn't move a muscle.
"As with anything, there is a catch, precious. Each time you curse, you will be struck. That is the punishment. It will last until you learn the lesson. Do you understand what is expected and what will happen?"
Nodding she whispered, "Yes, Sire."
"One more thing, pet. If you attempt to use magic directed at getting free, stopping the punishment or worse yet, directed at me, the collar will be activated and the magic will rebound onto you, then the punishment will start over and keep starting over until you can keep control of yourself and your magic," Jareth continued, his voice low with warning.
Sarah felt something caress her lips. Startled she shifted trying to get away, her eyes wide, until she realized he was holding the leather flap of his crop toward her. His head came toward hers, until his lips were next to her ear, so close she could feel the warmth of his breath.
"Kiss it, pet…then we can begin."
With a deep breath, Sarah did as she was commanded, softly pressing her lips to the crop that she knew would soon be bringing pain.
She heard the backswing and yelped as she felt the blow connect with the flesh of her ass. "Shit!"
As soon as she cried out, another blow landed. "Fuck!"
The blows were faster than he had done before and felt harder. Within several strokes, she was in tears, squirming. Soon, she was cursing not because she had been instructed to, but because it hurt, badly.
Jareth worked to keep himself in check as he dealt each blow, he needed to keep the level of intensity consistent, for the moment at least. He didn't want to trigger her emotions too quickly, but seeing how quickly she was brought to tears, he was sure it wasn't going to take too long before she had problems coping.
Sure enough, within 15 minutes she had switched from general cursing to cursing at him.
"You bastard!" she howled as yet another blow landed on her already scarlet ass.
The next blow was greeted with an inarticulate string of cursing, "fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!"
Within minutes of this, he heard the hum as she screamed at him, railing at him with each stroke. Steeling himself for what he knew was coming, he heard the hum increase, accompanied by a blue glow that enveloped her hands. Ordinarily, those who were new to magic needed to move their hands to trigger the flow of energy, as a testament to the power of the magic Sarah had combined with her anger due to the pain, she didn't even need to move. When she screamed next, her hands discharged the energy.
As soon as the energy left her, her collar was triggered. Jareth watched as the magic rebounded and hit her, making her shriek with pain.
Slipping the crop back into his boot, he moved toward her head, kneeling down to her level as she whimpered and cried. His gloved hand moving to glide through her hair, caressing her as she sobbed.
"Sarah precious, I warned you what would happen if you attempted to use magic," he said, his voice gentle and soothing. "You have got to get control. You said it yourself, you can't control what is happening, but you can control your reaction."
"But I didn't do it!" she cried. "I don't know why it happened."
"Pet, it happened because I drove you to being angry with me. You let the anger control you instead of you controlling it."
Crying harder she peered at him, her eyes scared again.
"I don't know how to control it. What do I do?" she begged.
Jareth smiled at her, pressing his lips to hers tenderly.
"That is the first step, pet. Ask the right questions to get help. In order to control it, you have to know what it is you are actually feeling and why."
Sniffling she nodded, as his gloved hand gently wiped away her tears. He caressed her cheek as he looked at her. Putting her through these trials was not how he wanted to spend her first weeks as queen, but it had to be done.
"My love, think hard. What are you really angry about? Are you really angry at me?"
Sarah considered this, then shook her head.
"No, I'm mad at myself for failing you, for being unable to control my mouth or my impulses."
He nodded and kissed her again. "Precisely. So control the anger by accepting what you are really angry about and dealing with it."
Jareth rose, unclipping the cape from his armor and tossing it aside, before slipping the crop from his boot once more. Without a word, he held the crop out to her, watching as she pressed her lips upon the leather without being told, accepting that the lesson would begin again.
Replies to Reviews
quaintlullabies: I'm with you…love me some Dark Jareth *droooooool* Not evil per se, but situationally dark.
insensitive: Well, she is only being punished for the language because it is kind of a cultural faux pas Underground and reflects badly on the kingdom. I love the fact that you put yourself in Sarah's shoes…you rock or I'm doing the right thing in the writing. I feel the same way though.
Labyrinthian: The story has developed differently than the smut I originally thought it would be…and I can't say I'm sorry for that. Wait until later chapters, more action, balanced by smut and romance. Yay! :)
Zulia & Margaria: Yeah…what Jareth has to do next is not going to be pleasant. The real question is whether Sarah will understand or will she grow to hate him.
Serena24: You are right about the relationship aspect – punishment should only be dealt when neither party is angry (mind you, that isn't the way it is done in all bdsm relationships, but I don't want to get on my soapbox about that ;) As to Alander, HisNibs is forbidding me from commenting on how he plans to use Alander….which makes me a bit nervous.