Chapter Twenty Six
Sarah raised her hand to knock; Jason opened the door as her fingers met the wood of the heavy framed side. She startled. Before her stood a man, one that hadn't been there even the month previous. Jason had gained muscle, and his face had a sudden maturity that she knew had to do with his training. He wasn't her spoiled, selfish boy any longer. He smiled.
"Mom. Come in." He swung the door open wide.
"You wanted to speak with me." Doubt clouded her voice.
She stepped in, hesitant, looking around at the changed room. Many layered carpets in rich wool lay on the stone floor. Art, probably priceless, hung on the walls. Furniture of teak and mahogany spread out in the space. It was luxurious, masculine, and bespoke of Jareth's approval of him.
He nodded, his face proud, though his brows narrowed with worry. "Yes. But first, I want to know how you are. I heard you were…" He slid a hand behind his neck, rubbing at the skin there. "Jareth said you had warranted punishment. Nothing too bad, I hope?"
His words were carefully executed. He acquiesced about her imprisonment. Though as her son, his shame of it overrode. Yes, he had changed. Once pliable, he had become strong; Jareth's kind of strong. She wasn't completely sure she approved.
She shook her head. "No. Nothing too bad." Just enough to make her fury and scream. But she would never reveal that, reveal how weak she felt when no one came to let her out.
He pulled a chair up near. "Come, Mom. Sit down."
His politeness stunned her. It hadn't been too long ago that he had used his strength and height against her, backing her against the wall. He seemed a different child.
He didn't procrastinate in what he chose to say. He cleared his throat. "I have something to tell you. Something vital to me."
She fought a smile. So formal. He sat on the edge of the bed, his hands braced between his spread knees. His stance casual, though his words were not.
He looked her in the eye. "Linia and and I are going to move in together. We'll stay here in the castle for the time being." He didn't ask. He told.
"Jason, you're only twenty—"
He smiled, looking suddenly rakish. Looking so much like Jareth. "I met my bond-mate. I won't be separated from her." Confident, his blue eyes bright when he spoke the woman's name. He loved her. The thought stunned.
Sarah sputtered. "Are you sure?"
"Very." He smiled. "There's no room to doubt it."
"I didn't know you believed in such a thing."
"Don't you?" His eyes watched hers, glinting with a touch of humor.
Sarah mused. "I don't know." Except when she was braced against Jareth, his body deep inside her. Except when she could hear his thoughts as her own. Except-
He reached for her hand. "Mom, I'm happy for you, when you decide that you do." He smiled, his body rocking back gently. He gave his approval; it helped, but solved nothing. He added, "Jareth is a better male than I gave him credit for." Giving her the leeway to concede—to agree with him. To brush aside her fears and her pains of having it be true.
She shook her head. "You don't have to say that, just because—"
"I'm not." His voice, sharp. "Though he is my father, in every sense."
"You have a father." Desmond…
He bit back, her objection making him stark in his reply. "I had a presence in my life. He wasn't—" He stopped, composed himself, then continued. "I have my true father now."
"Jareth would glorify in hearing that." Her tone wry.
Jason grinned. "I have wanted to slit his throat in his bed longer than you can imagine, to kill the male that wouldn't own up to me." She shuddered. Jason smirked. He looked so much like him. "Did you think I never suspected?" His eyes narrowed.
She shook her head. "How could you? There was no way you could have known."
He tried to explain, to convince. "I always knew I was different." He frowned and she mirrored, the concept foreign to her sensibilities. "Always. But since coming here, I feel alive. Mom, I feel like I'm home."
His words gutted her. "No."
She trembled. She didn't want to contemplate losing her son to Jareth, who would covet and preen and override all interactions with Jason. Just for spite. Just because he could.
Jason's face grew dark. "Don't even think like that. He wouldn't."
She startled. "What?"
"My father is honorable. He wouldn't take me away from you." As you took me away from him… His thoughts shot vividly out at her, though silent in reproof.
She wondered how he knew her innermost turmoil, then realized maybe her expression gave it away. Or perhaps Jason was more powerful than she could have imagined.
"Jason," she said, her voice soft. "You don't know him like you think you do."
"I know he loves you." His brow tipped up, a dark replica of Jareth's. His words pained. If he believed that, he was already lost to her.
She shook her head. "No. He doesn't."
"Do you love him?" Hopeful. Stubbornly trying to draw her out.
She thought of how Amr had asked that same question. "I don't know."
He jumped up, pacing the room. "I wish you would—"
She knew how dangerous his wishes could be. Enough to drive her back to her haunting. Enough to steal him away from death. She shivered. "Don't. I will make my own choice with this."
His face grew abashed. "I'm sorry. I just—"
Sarah held up her hand. "I know. It would make everything easier. I just have to know if it's right for me."
"Mom…don't you feel it, tugging at you? The soul-binding? It hurts, at least until it's complete. Why fight it?"
She rubbed at her side. It did hurt. The problem was, she didn't know how to complete it, or if she even wanted to.
Sarah drew back to the matter at hand, bracing herself against his perception. "I like Linia. I'm happy for you, Jason."
He grinned. "I thought you'd fight me more on this one, Mom."
She sighed. "It wouldn't have mattered even if I did. We are in a different world now, with different rules. I can't say I comprehend this soul-bond, but I accept that you do."
Jason kept her for a while, talking, showing her his weapons and trophies. She pulled open the door to leave when darkness hinted in the air.
He paused her by the exit. "Mom, what do you know of the Prophecy?" His head cocked to the side, studying her. He knew, perhaps? Or he was just being coy…
She stopped. Her hand almost pulled to her throat in reaction to his carefully nonchalant question. "I read something about it in one of the old manuscripts. Why?"
He shrugged. "Lin keeps talking of it."
Sarah already knew the words by heart. She mouthed them, her jaw tight, as he spoke them aloud.
"Mortal and Immortal will rise to carry the kingdom. To make peace, where there is no peace. A child will rise. A child will fall. Grace comes to the winner of the Illuminated prize." His voice touched with awe. "It's pretty cool, right?"
She hesitated. "What do you think it means?"
He tucked his chin down in thought. "The general seems to think it speaks of you, Mom."
"Me?" Yes. She knew that's what he believed. It was why he wanted her to read that book, to see her future displayed like a ware on a market street.
He nodded. "Yeah. And I think Jareth thinks so, too." That, stunned.
She said, slowly, "Because of my run in the Labyrinth."
"Yep." He opened the door wider, hanging on the edge of it. "Don't let it bother you. I've found this place has all kinds of weird stuff going on."
She fought to smile. For a moment, Jason sounded his old self. "Yes, I know."
They hugged, his arms tight about her. "Be brave, Mom. You are meant for this world, too."
She paused, unable to breathe. He believed. Once she had believed, too. "Have a good evening, my son." Formal, as he had been. She had to let him go, and the feeling alternately made her so proud of him, and so very sad.
He smiled, that half-quirk of his upper lip that had made all the girls in her world want him. Like his father's. She turned to leave, a caught sniffle in her throat.
He shut the door behind her. Jareth was already waiting out in the hallway. To return her back to her imprisonment. Back to her suite of shame.
He uncrossed his arms. "Pleasant stay, my queen?"
She moved past him. "Yes."
"You are angry."
She stopped. "No. I'm sad."
He reached for her, to comfort. A strange reaction from him that made her pull back with faint alarm. She shook her head; she couldn't bear it, his solicitude.
"Not here, Jareth."
His eyes burned as they looked on her. "Of course. I differ to you." He took her arm, his grip held tight.
"Let's walk." He commanded, his tone gentle.
They rounded the corner before he spoke. "Sarah," he hesitated. "I may have been hasty with my rage."
She glared, though it was more from practice than want to hurt. "You locked me in my rooms. For a week, Jareth."
He flinched. "Yes. I thought it best to keep you away from me."
"I would have stayed away gladly if you'd only asked."
He turned to face her, his fingers lightly stroking her skin. "I miss you, Sarah."
His sincerity reached her. She sighed. "How long must we do this?"
His head tipped in question. She explained. "We fight. Make up, fight again. It's exhausting."
"It is our way."
"You mean the way of Immortals." For once her tone held no condemnation. To fight weakened her, and she needed all her strength to survive.
He grinned. "Yes. I willingly would have you join us."
Jareth had never mentioned the possibility to her before. Her eyes flicked with wary. "How?"
"It is a simple matter. You simply have to accept your station, my sweet." His eyes were tired. He felt it too, the constant pull and push of their interactions. An unnecessary strain.
"That is no answer." Tart, without meaning to be.
"It's true. Our son gave in without alarm."
"What did you have him do?" A wisp of panic set in, dissipated. He would no sooner hurt Jason than he would hurt…her. The thought stunned.
Jareth spread his palms. "Nothing. You are keen to attribute such horrors to me. Jason wanted his soul-bond complete. There is no question what he chose."
She gasped, comprehension sneaking in. He continued, "You have long played coy, and I didn't want to take you before you were ready." He stroked her cheek. "You were so young when you arrived. Think of all the years you would have missed, not knowing death could reach out and touch you at any given moment."
"I left. That's how you weren't able to get your Immortal hooks into me."
He laughed, but it held no humor. "I have tried many times since you have returned, my sweet. How you resist me."
Her eyes flooded with tears. "I hurt, Jareth. I hurt all the time."
A revelation. But perhaps one he expected. He leaned over and tenderly kissed her cheek. "I know, my sweet. I know."
He took her hand, fingers intertwined. She held on. She held on like he was her lifeline.
And maybe…he was.