A chapter of a decent length that skips around a bit, but hopefully a good prelude to the wedding chapter... and here you were hoping it might be this one... shoutout to my loyal reviewers: Sarah Rose 29, notwritten, soulwritr16, AnneSilverfire, gabielel, Helena Alexandra, and envygreedgreenthunder. Remember reviews remind me to write faster, so spread the love!

Chapter 26

In the time it had taken Ondine to say those three words, shouting had become silence and Jareth had gone from looking at Jocelyn, Geoffry and Ondine to staring down at the table where he rolled a crystal pensively across the stone surface. In his mind, Jareth could still feel the fury of the Underground as it radiated through his Labyrinth and he tried to fathom what was happening.

"Ondine, I—" Geoffry tried to speak, but no words would come and Ondine simply hid behind the curtain of her blue hair.

"We didn't know you had a child, Ondine." It was Nemesis who spoke now – drawing everyone's attention to her presence for the first time.

"It was only about twenty years ago when she was born to my consort and I. I hid her presence for fear of judgment by the other rulers – none of you ever had an illegitimate child. I was afraid others would think me a slave to my own domain." Jareth shook his head.

"Ondine, none of us are perfect –"

"Spare me, Jareth. I've heard your speeches before. Jareth lifted his gaze from the tabletop to confront her, but she looked so absolutely broken that he merely stopped and sighed. For her part, Jocelyn looked ashamed and saddened as her mother went to pieces. For the first time in the hundreds of years that Jareth had known her, Ondine was crying – crystal-like tears spilled from her eyes. "I loved your father, Josie. I am not a slave to lust – I loved Charlie more than anything."

"Charlie. I remember that name. He was wished away to me – and chose to remain in your kingdom."

"He never became a siren. He was never given immortality. Even though I loved him and I begged the Sea and the Underground to let me keep him! He died! He grew old and withered and died and I was left alone! So don't talk to me about imperfection. He was perfect. He was mine." Jareth was at a loss for words – nothing seemed sufficient even though he longed to find something – anything to ease her mind.

"If I'd known, Ondine –" Geoffry's words were cut short as Ondine waved him away.

"You didn't know. It's over. It's done." With that, the Siren queen rose to her feet and stormed out. Jareth watched as Jocelyn, seemingly forgetting about everyone else at the table, clamored to her feet with such force that the chair toppled behind her and ran out after her mother.

"So, My Love, apparently you are now a family therapist." He saw Sarah lean up on one elbow out the corner of his eye. He was lying on his back beneath his black satin sheets, his eyes half-closed as he gazed upward at the mirror mosaic. She reached up and smoothed the frizzes of blonde away from his eyes and he turned to her, running his hand down the length of her body from her neck to her hips as he drew her closer.

"So it would seem." He leaned in and touched his lips to hers as he nudged her back onto her back. "I didn't do a very good job of it though, I'm afraid." He said, pausing above her.

"Could anyone have done anything?"

"I suppose not." Jareth whispered, allowing Sarah to pull him back down toward her lips. Somewhere in the castle, a bell tolled the hour – midnight – and Jareth smiled as he broke the kiss. "Today," he whispered, "is the day that you will become mine."

"So it is." She whispered. A coy smile played on her lips, but as Jareth kissed her again, he saw something there in her eyes that sparkled brighter than any crystal and he drew her into his arms and held her, his hands relearning every part of her ever-changing Fae body. It was the last time he would hold her before she would become a queen and he intended to take advantage of that in every way possible.

"You know, Jareth," He heard Sarah's voice in his ear as his lips made their way down her throat. "It's bad luck to see the bride before the ceremony."

"Oh, it is now?" He silenced her with his lips on hers again, but she pushed herself back against the headboard and out of his reach. "Sarah." He knew he was pleading, and when she giggled he sat back to look at her. Her eyes were bright – filled with mirth, but lined in dark Fae markings that made her gentle beauty smolder. The corners of her lips were turned up and he knew that she was enjoying the power she held over the impervious Goblin King. "Are you really leaving?"

"In a little while." She whispered as she leaned forward and back into his arms. "I'm spending the rest of the evening with Rinalda in my old quarters." Jareth gratefully accepted her back into his embrace – picking up where he left off, his lips ghosting over her ivory skin as he held her, not letting go until he was sure that he knew every inch of her Fae form.

"The things you say, Rinalda!" Sarah squealed as she dropped her face into the pillow on her lap.

"Well, everyone's always wondered, Sarah…."

"What do you mean everyone's always wondered?" Sarah looked up at her maid of honor with a mixture of curiosity and bashfulness. What had Rinalda meant by 'everyone'? Jareth was hundreds of years old and until recently an eligible bachelor – surely there were any number of women in the Underground who could attest to his skills in the bedroom.

"He wasn't a monk before you came along, but he wasn't exactly prolific, Sarah." The bewilderment must have still shown on Sarah's face because Rinalda broke into fits of giggles. "So? Answer the question!"

"I don't know… I mean, I was always bad at describing this sort of thing."

"He wasn't, you know, your first?" Sarah felt a blush creeping up on her cheeks. Rinalda was, much in accordance with the movie Grease, a 50's square. She'd been wished away in the mid-fifties when she was only 16 years old and though she no longer wore poodle skirts, she had certainly been raised under different ideals.

"Things are a bit different in my time. It's not really unusual for girls become active at a younger age, or even before marriage. When I met him I was a virgin, and I haven't been prolific either, trust me. Intimacy isn't something I take lightly."

"I guess it wasn't all that unusual in my time either – among other social groups. Morpheus was my first though." A smile crept onto Rinalda's face as she thought of her own soon-to-be King and Sarah smiled as she watched her friend's happiness. "It's not uncommon here, either. Fae are so long-lived and passionate, they love easily and they aren't afraid to show it." Sarah smiled, her mind drifting across the castle to Jareth – to her impending wedding and all that entailed. The two sat in amicable silence for a time until Sarah heard Rinalda's voice, this time more timid and unsure.

"What's it like, becoming a Queen?" Sarah smiled as she embraced the pendant that hung at her breast.

"I'm not a queen yet."

"In all but name, Sarah. Do you know that no one has even seen the queen crest of the Goblin Kingdom in millennia? Literally, millennia! I'm going to become a queen and I can barely fathom what that means – what that will feel like."

"It's incredible – terrifying and empowering at the same time. I have so much power at my fingertips that it feels like I can do anything in the whole world – especially now."

"What do you mean, especially now?"

"Well, the engagement happens in four stages. The last is your promise to each other – the culmination of all the hoops and bullshit you go through is accepting each other once and for all. When you do… it's like the Underground takes your magic and his and mixes it together. It's indescribable, Rinalda."

"It sounds like I have a lot to look forward to."

"You can say that again."

The dawn light broke through the drawn curtains so early that Sarah wasn't sure she'd slept at all. She and Rinalda had sat and talked for hours, sipping Goblin wine and giggling at such a volume that she was sure the entire castle had heard them. They'd talked about the Aboveground and the things they missed. They'd discussed the brothers they adored and the things they were excited for – their plans and their dreams. For a handful of glorious moments it had been as if there was no impending war – it was as if Keelie hadn't become an evil Aboveground witch. For a few fleeting moments, Sarah forgot that she would probably have to kill the woman who'd once been her best friend.

Her head ached slightly from her several gallons of wine she remembered drinking and she rushed to draw the curtains before looking around the room she hadn't slept in for weeks. The bath was filled and steaming and there was a basket of bread and fruit beside it – just like there had always been. In fact, the arrangement was so predictable that if she hadn't met her handmaiden that first day, Sarah would have supposed that the room simply reset itself every morning. Looking back at the bed, she realized that her friend was still sleeping and she smiled. Rinalda lived in the crystal palace, a place, she was certain, never suffered for a lack of daylight.

Sighing, Sarah slipped into the bath. The scent of jasmine enveloped her, soothing her until the headache was all but forgotten. She closed her eyes and lay her head back, slipping beneath the water. Opening her eyes, she gazed around the crystal-clear pool, running her hands across the smooth stone. In the Aboveground, she'd always loved the eerie silence that came with being underwater – the silence that made it feel as though there was nothing in the whole world but the sound of her breathing. When she finally surfaced, Rinalda had woken and was sitting up in the bed, rubbing her forehead.

"I have to admit. Before last night, I'd never actually had Goblin Wine. It certainly is… robust."

"A bit like the creatures that make it, I suppose." Sarah said, finally reaching for the fruit only to discover that she wasn't nearly as hungry as she'd thought. Perhaps it was nerves. "I'm just about done. You can take a bath in a minute. In the meantime," She slid the basket back toward the bed, "have something to eat."

"Did you get enough?" Sarah nodded.

"I got plenty. Too nervous to eat, I'm afraid." With that, Sarah stood and wrapped her robe about herself, settling on the bed.

"You, nervous?" Sarah's gaze turned to her friend as the loukai grabbed a roll from the basket before handing it back to Sarah. "What on earth do you have to be nervous about? You've known Jareth for years and he'd loved you since the day he met you. For heaven's sake, the man has monuments in your honor."

"I know, Rinalda." Sarah sighed, trying to remind herself of those very things.

"Sarah," Rinalda turned toward her. "The point is that if any two people are destined to be together, it's the two of you."

"I know, I really do. It's just – I never could have imagined any of this. I'm twenty-one years old and I never even finished college. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I'm disappointed with the way my life is going – just surprised, that's all." Sarah dropped her hands into her lap and shook her head, splashing water droplets across the bed. "Listen to me. I don't even know why I'm nervous."

"Well, it might just have something to do with the fact that you're getting married today."

"Oh. Right. Thanks for reminding me." With that, the door swung open and Baria and Tleeka entered, Sarah's dress carried between them. Sarah's heart stopped as she looked at it – the satin fabric cascading toward the ground, rimmed in so much silver embroidery that the dress shimmered in the morning light. In that moment, quite inexplicably, Sarah knew that this was right. She knew that even if she was nervous; even if she was afraid that she was too young or that she hadn't know Jareth for as long or as well as she thought she did – she knew that this was where she was meant to be. This was her destiny. She was meant to be Jareth's queen and to rule the Goblin Kingdom. Suddenly, Sarah wasn't nervous anymore.