Chapter 25

The Castle was in an uproar. Things were being tossed around, and most of the Goblins were hiding. A good many of the rooms were in a mess, but at least Sarah had something to do, now.

Jareth shook his head at the sight outside his study's door. Furniture lined the walls with rugs rolled up and tossed here or there. She was right. The Castle did need a good cleaning. The few goblins who liked to clean were helping her and Vivienne clean the rooms one by one. Of course, she had chosen the worst room to start with, the Library.

Shutting the door to his study, Jareth returned to his sanctuary. Within his study he was safe from Sarah's "spring cleaning." At least, he hoped. He sat down in his chair behind his desk. Things had been going well the last few days. Toby really seemed to be enjoying his lessons, and he made sure Sarah remember he did love her. Hopefully, now things might change for the better.

A crash came from behind the door. Jareth shook his head. There was no way he was going across the hall. Although, she now had something to do, Sarah was more than often very tired after working on the Library for so long.

Their relationship had improved greatly. He also did little things here and there to remind her about his feelings.

Sighing, Jareth leaned back into his chair. Sarah would be spending who knew how long cleaning the Castle even with the help of magic. He was happy she had found something, but why did it have to be something that tired her out each day?

Most nights after dinner, she was sound asleep, but that didn't mean he was getting much sleep. He was still just getting little cat naps when he could, mostly on the sofa. Which might come in handy later to remind him why he should always stay on Sarah's good side.

There had been no new news from his generals nor Julian. The Rebels had not really made a move except that now their armies were no longer hidden, although he had of course known where they were the entire time. Also, he now had a better idea who stood against him. Almost all were Fae his father warned him about. Unfortunately, some were also family on his father's side. Of course, they had never seen him as family, which explained why he was closer to his mother's side.

His so called uncle had been claiming he was the true High King, since Jareth's parents wedding day. From what Jareth knew, his grandmother had tired to help, but King Garen though he should have been made High King because to him his brother had forfeit the crown when he had married an Elf.

Jareth still couldn't get the thought that Garen had something to do with his parents' deaths. Hell, he truly believed he did. It seemed odd they had become sick after he had visited them at the Palace, after they had left to allow their son to rule the Goblins on his own.

Could he have been the one to attack Sarah's family? More than likely he thought it beneath him, but that didn't mean that he didn't have a hand in it.

Like most Fae, Garen believed the Goblin Kingdom beneath him. As the second son, he had no idea how important it actually was to the Underground's survival. Garen would completely destroy the entire Underground to try and gain power. Also, he would see capturing the Palace as more of a victory than it really would be.

Sighing, Jareth swung his feet up and propped them up on his desk beside a large stack of papers.

He could willingly let Garen and the others take the Palace and have all of his troops guarding the Labyrinth, but that would draw too much attention to the Labyrinth. For now the troops would remain guarding the Palace.

The sound of the lock on the door clicking reached his ears. He tried to get his feet off the desk before the door opened, but he failed.

Sarah stood in the door way smiling sweetly, causing him to worry about just what she was asking. "Jareth, I want your opinion on something."

Almost groaning, Jareth turned to face her. "What exactly do you need my opinion about?"

"Just come and see. Sorry, I'm disturbing you, but you look like your taking a break, and I really need your help."

Jareth hid a groan as he stood up. "What exactly have you done?"

"I haven't done anything yet that's why I want your opinion. It's your library, too."

Jareth walked over to her. "Sarah, you can clean whatever room you wish."

Sarah shook her head. "I'm moving rugs and furniture around. That's what I want your opinion on." She moved back out into the corridor.

Jareth followed her out and across the way into the fairly empty Library compared to what it had looked like before. All in all, it actually looked better. Vivienne stood beside the exterior wall with the few goblins who were helping. He gave a quick nod to them as Sarah led him towards the massive fireplace.

"I'm trying to decide what exactly should go in front of the fireplace. I've gotten the rest of the room finished, but this area is being really hard to figure out."

Jareth nodded. "The truth is I would just keep the two arm chairs and side table."

Sarah laughed. "That's exactly what I was thinking."

Jareth grinned. "Well, glad I could help."

Sarah looked at him. "You really didn't help, Jareth."

"You only asked for my opinion, Sarah."

Vivienne began to chuckle. "You did, Sarah." She took a deep breath and looked over at Jareth. "Thank goodness we're finished in here. I'm scared to see where she decides to go next."

Sarah glared at her, while Jareth hid a grin. "Very funny."

Jareth placed a hand on Sarah's shoulder. "Need me for anything else?"

Sighing, Sarah shook her head. "Not at the moment."

Jareth nodded. "If you two would excuse me." He began to walk out of the room.

"Wait a minute, Jareth." Turning back, Jareth stopped, and Vivienne walked over to Sarah. "What's in that study of yours that you want to rush off to?"

Jareth glared at her. "I've got reports I need to go over."

Sarah looked between them. "All right, you two, stop it." Sighing, Sarah shrugged. "I don't know what room we'll hit next, but now that the Library is finally finished, I'm going to take a nice break before we start on a new room."

Vivienne nodded. "Ah, ha. I think you want to spend more time with someone," she slowly smiled. "I think we'll leave you two alone and go rest a while." She began to gently steer the small goblins out of the room. "Have fun, you two."

Jareth shock his head as Vivienne and the goblins left the room and walked over back to Sarah. "That woman still surprises me."

Sarah frowned. "I don't exactly like the way that sounded."

"I've known her my entire life, Sarah, but she still does things I don't understand."

Sarah nodded. "Okay, maybe I came off a bit jealous, but it did seem seem a bit wrong to me."

Jareth grinned. "It's alright, Sarah."

"You probably have a lot left to finish. I'll grab a book or something."

Jareth shook his head. "I was sort lying when I told Vivienne about that. I'm actually free for the rest of the day, as long as nothing happens."

Sarah glared at him as she placed her hands on her hips. "You lied. Don't you dare do that again."

"I said 'sort of lied,' Sarah. I do have some reports I need to look over, but if there is a possibility of spending time with you, they can wait."

Sighing, Sarah lowered her hands. "I think you need to review them, Jareth. They might hold something important."

Damn, she had a point. There might be something buried in all those papers that might be very important to their cause, but he so didn't want to read them.

Jareth sighed. "You're right."

Sarah nodded. "I'll even help so that it gets done faster."

Jareth shook his head. "You're actually willing to help me with reports?"

"Yes, is that such a surprise to you."

"Actually, yes."

"They're in English right?"

Jareth laughed. "Yes, don't worry about that."

Sighing, Sarah gestured towards the door. "Well, we better get started or who knows when we'll get finished."

"It shouldn't take us too long to go over them." Jareth headed towards the door.

Sarah followed after. "I hope so."

The couple walked out of the Library and arrives the hall to begin work on the stack of reports sitting on Jareth's desk.

Sorry for the delay, my lovely readers. For those who haven't visited my blog, I'm currently working on this year's Halloween story. So Unknowing Queen is on a hiatus for the moment. I plan to have Chapter 26 up before the end of the month. I will begin work on Chapter 27 as soon as the Halloween story is finished. I also have to work on a one shot for November that has nothing to do with Thanksgiving.

Thanks for the reviews and as always review if you wish.

CL

Edited: 6/13/14