Lemon Warning: This chapter contains a lemon
Chapter 32
The world will always welcome lovers
As time goes by
"Hello, birthday boy," Sarah crooned in Jareth's ear. His mouth curved into a smile as he slowly opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling.
"Why do you remember such trivial matters?" he said as he rolled over on his side to face her.
"Don't be Scrooge about this," she said as she sat up to leave their bed. After shrugging her robe on, Sarah tied belt around her waist before walking to the bathroom. "You only turn ten thousand once."
"Lies!" he snapped. Sarah's laughter could be heard on the other side of the door while Jareth forcefully pulled the comforter away from him.
"Bloody wench," he muttered as he struggled to put his trousers on before sitting back on the bed. "I'm not that old."
A knock on the bedroom door finally pulled him from the bed. When he opened the door, he looked down to see his children standing in front of him.
"Lights of my life," Jareth chanted as he held his hands to his heart. He then dropped his arms to his side as he raised an apprehensive brow. "Why are you both up so early? And what the hell are you hiding behind you back?" he asked as he noticed Nigella's hands were out of sight.
The twins looked at each other as Nigella brought her arms around and held out the wrapped gift to her father.
"A present? For me?" Jareth asked, truly stunned. "And what's this for?"
"It's your birthday, silly," Nigella answered. Before Jareth could respond, his son interrupted.
"Mom told us," Faolan said with a sly smile that could almost rival his father's. Jareth turned to glare at the bathroom door, as though Sarah could sense his displeasure through the door.
"But you can't open it until later tonight," Nigella pointed out.
"It's a surprise," Faolan added.
"What sort of surprise?" Jareth asked, staring at the small box in curiosity.
"That's not a valid question," Nigella snickered. "It wouldn't be a surprise if we told you what it was. Remember: no peeking until tonight. We have to go feed Zeus and Hank now."
Looking over his children's heads, Jareth sneered as he saw the greyhound and beagle resting comfortably on the couches in the sitting room. "You mean those two beasts which you allowed to recline on my furniture?"
"Yep," Faolan said with such assuredness. "Those are the ones."
Faolan stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Jareth's torso, giving him a quick hug as Nigella followed suit.
"No cheating. No peaking," Faolan warned as the twins turned to walk away.
Jareth let out a small chuckle while he closed the door, still considering the peculiar gift in his hand. When he noticed that Sarah had walked back into the room, he held out the box to her.
"Do you have any knowledge of this?" he questioned, not hiding his accusatory tone well.
"What? No," Sarah scoffed, towel drying her hair. "What is that?"
"A birthday present," Jareth stated as he slowly stalked toward her.
"That's weird. From whom?" she said, poorly hiding her guilt.
"The brownies that work in the library," he quipped, stopping in front of her.
"That's really odd because those brownies do not like you," Sarah teased.
"Sarah."
"Oh, come on," she sighed as her shoulders sagged. "They wanted to know. You can't expect to go your whole life with children and not expect that this would happen."
Jareth took a step back from her before turning around and placing the gift on her vanity. "You shouldn't have encouraged them. Celebrating such things is trivial and a waste of time."
"But," Sarah countered softly. "It's not to them. They wanted to do something for you."
"I've lived too long for anyone to want to commemorate the day I was born," he rationalized.
"Faolan and Nigella haven't known you for all these years," she snapped. "They aren't aware about whatever issues you have with this day. They simply love you and want to share this day with you."
"Damn," Jareth whispered, fiddling with the ribbon on his gift. "I assume you're right."
"No need to assume. I am right." Sarah walked toward the closet but was blocked by Jareth standing in front of the door. "Where you are standing is not a great place to be."
He looked down at the sash tied around her waist. "And what sort of gift do you have?" he purred as attempted to undue the knot. "Anything special for me?"
"Possibly," she hummed back. "But you have to wait until later tonight."
"Bloody hell," Jareth complained. "Are you colluding with our children to concoct some bizarre exercise to teach me patience?" Sarah chuckled as she gently pushed him aside to get to the closet.
"No, but that's not a bad idea," Sarah mused. She leaned over to caress the side of his face before placing a kiss on his cheek. "I have to go visit some elves today. I'll be back before dusk."
"Congratulations, Precious," he grumbled before moving his hand off his face to place a small kiss on her palm. "You have found a way to make what should be a boring day an exasperating one."
"Pretending to be put upon is not a good look on you," she said. "You should try another tactic." As she moved to the closet door, Sarah felt his arm wrap around her waist before feeling her body fall to the ground. "Shit! Jareth!"
He pressed his body against hers before resting his forearms on either side of her.
"I'm not pretending to be anything," he said, undoing her sash. "And learning patience sounds tedious and uninteresting." Jareth lowered his head to capture her exposed nipple in his mouth.
"Ah!" Sarah cried out. "We can't do this. I have an appointment." Jareth moved up to press his lips against hers. He nipped her bottom lip before pushing away from her.
"You win this battle," he groused. Rising to his feet, he held out his hand to his wife to pull her up. "But do not think that I will let this go."
"No pouting," she said before placing a kiss on his cheek. "You made me late yesterday. I can't do that two days in a row." She smiled as his frown seemed to only deepen. "I won't forget, and you won't let me."
Lochlan sat back in his chair as he carefully considered the paper in his hand. A knock on the door brought him out of his trance when he noticed the door to his office opening.
"You've been in here for a while," Tali said as her head peaked in. She noticed the paper in his hands. "Are you actually doing work?"
"I am capable of such things," he answered with no traces of humor in his voice.
Tali looked off to the side before looking back at him, still reading the paper in his hand. "I'll just leave you to it."
"No!" Lochlan barked out as though released from a trance. He cleared his throat and placed his papers on his desk. "No, come in." He rose from his chair to greet his wife with a kiss on the lips. "I have missed you."
"What had you in such a daze?" she asked while being led into the room by the hand.
Lochlan sighed as he walked back to his desk. "A letter from the Seelie Court, signed by all the rulers, arrived for me last night." He grabbed the missive and handed it to her. "Reminds me of the stories my Uncle would talk about."
Tali quickly noted the signatures of Sarah, Jareth, and every other ruler of the Court at the bottom of the page before she began reading the contents.
"Must be an extremely important issue for them to send you information like this," Tali mumbled as she began reading.
"I believe a letter sent like this is what Sarah's brother likes to call 'shit hitting the fan', Lochlan stated as he leaned against his desk. She gave him a small smile before her lips turned into a frown.
"This issue with the trolls isn't getting any better," Tali remarked as she handed the paper back to him. "What does this mean? War?" She inhaled deeply before clasping hands together. "Again?"
"War is a harsh word for what this might potentially spiral into," he explained.
"Whatever it is, people are going to get hurt or killed," Tali stated. "And how could they be in the process of revolt? I thought they were dim."
"Don't underestimate them all; some are severely smarter than they look," Lochlan said, walking over to his small library of books. He quickly found what he was searching for, turned to the intended page, and handed it to his wife.
"I thought your Uncle didn't keep records," she mused.
"Not many, but those accounts he wrote down were a personal affront to him," he stated. "Nothing hits a prideful fae more than failing to suppress a rebellion against you."
"So they rebelled against this Court, and are now doing the same with the Seelies," Tali stated. "Are they just going to go back and forth?"
"That's doubtful," Lochlan said. "I'm sure they would want to be a rogue kingdom. And since some faes and humans in the area have gone missing, I'm sure they are back to their old habits."
Tali's face contorted into a look of disgust. "Of eating us?"
"Well, humans were their favorite."
"Is that the truth or a joke?" she asked.
"Why can't it be both?" At the sight of her glare, Lochlan tried to make amends. "There's no need to worry. I've already sent a few hunting parties to be stationed at the Seelie border. We'll find a way to contain this."
Sarah, along with the twins, was ushered through the castle in the Elf Queendom by four castle guards.
"There is no real reason for all of you to escort us," Sarah muttered.
"Only the best for our Queen," an elf guard closest to her responded.
"It's like we're going on a secret mission," Faolan whispered. "Like those spy movies that we watch with Uncle Toby."
"Considering you are not stealing gold from a safe," Sarah said. "This is nothing like those movies."
"Yeah, but dad doesn't know what we're doing or why we're here," he countered.
"Sarah!" boomed the animated voice at the end of the hall.
"Gwen!" Sarah yelled back as she pushed past the two guards to greet her friend.
"Such informalities in front of others," Queen Gwendoline teased, opening her arms to Sarah.
"Oh whatever," she scoffed as she embraced the Queen of the Elves.
"And you two," Gwendoline said, taking a step back to regard the twins. "How long has it been since I've seen you two? And I hear you both have personal pets?"
"It's been eight months," Nigella answered.
"And Hank and Zeus are at home," Faolan grumbled. "Mom said we couldn't bring them here."
"A guest doesn't bring animals to someone else's home," Sarah sighed. "Plus, Jareth would find that odd."
"Ah! Of course, "the Queen of the Elves exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. "The reason you're here. Follow me."
Jareth stared up at the ceiling as he lamented the number of cobwebs he found. It was one thing to allow his throne room to be in disarray due to all the goblins, yet he really shouldn't allow his meeting room to be the same.
How long have they been up there? he wondered as he squinted at one of the corners of the ceiling.
Leaning further back in his chair, he was able to tune out the goings-on around him until he was abruptly interrupted.
"Sire," Avitus' voice pierced through his musings.
"What?" Jareth asked, irritated that he was interrupted.
"Governor Derry wished to ask you a question," Avitus said as he pointed with his pen to the rotund human sitting next to his advisor.
Jareth was barely able to hold back his look of utter annoyance. The quarterly meeting of his governors seemed to always irritate him. Dealing with them all together in one room seemed to bring out the worst in everyone, most likely because the governors never dealt with each other outside of these meetings.
"What's the matter now, Derry?" Jareth asked as he stared at the Governor of the Northeastern Province straight in the eye.
"Out of the past fifteen years, the Northwestern province has hosted the Beltane festival eleven times," Derry said. "It doesn't seem quite fair."
"I'm not interested in fairness," Jareth sneered. "I'm interested in ensuring that whoever hosts the festival doesn't run out of food, ale, and space to hold the many guests."
Derry had the good sense to look ashamed. He gazed down at his hands that were placed on the table as he struggled to say the right words. "Yes, Sire. That was an unfortunate accident. But I and my province have learned for these mistakes, and we will strive to improve the next time."
"I'm not interested in babysitting you," he said as he stood up from his chair and walked toward the door. "If I feel like being generous, maybe you'll have another go at it one day."
Avitus soon realized that Jareth was planning to leave even though the meeting wasn't actually finished yet. Before he could stop him, Jareth opened the door and walked out.
"I'll send you the notes on this meeting, Sire," Avitus called out. He looked over at the four governors left sitting at the table with him. "Well, seems like we are done here."
Jareth strolled down the hallway, eager to leave the confines of that room. Being a responsible leader was tiring. No wonder why Lochlan rarely did it, he thought to himself. Opening one of the doors to the library, he smiled at the sight before him.
"Didn't expect you here today," Jareth said as he approached the table stacked with books. "Does your sister know you're here?"
"Ugh, no, and please don't tell her," Toby mumbled, furiously scribbling line into his notepad, not looking up at Jareth. A hefty book was opened next to him. "I'd love to sit and chat, but I'm two weeks behind my deadline. Pretty sure my publisher is going to kill me if I don't have this all submitted by midnight. And I'm sure she would kill me. Otherwise, I have no idea why she wears stilettos that look like that."
"I thought you previously said you were done coming here," he said as he pulled out a chair and sat across from Toby. "You looked almost as exhausted then as you do now. I sensed you being here when I arrived at the castle this morning. How long have you been sitting here?"
"I woke up at three this morning and got here at four," Toby answered. "Hey, I'm sure it's in one of these books." He gestured to the tomes on the desk. "But where is the book that talks about when humans first came to the Goblin Kingdom?" Without looking, Jareth grabbed a medium sized leather-bound book and handed it over to him.
"Eh, thanks," Toby said, grabbing the book. "I can't really dog ear these things, can I?"
"I'll have your neck if you did that," he stated. "What exactly are you having trouble with?"
"Nice try," Toby smirked. "But I already told you that you can't read it until I'm finished. Oh, by the way." He reached over into his bag and pulled out a white bubbled envelope. "Sarah told me it was your birthday."
"Did she?" Jareth grumbled, briefly covering his eyes with a gloved hand. "Is she unable to keep anything to herself?"
"She told me you'd be upset about that," he chuckled, handing the package over to the Goblin King. "But if it makes you feel better, she told me a long time ago when your birthday was. I just never had a good enough gift to give you that would offset the hissy fit you would throw."
"This isn't a hissy fit," Jareth objected.
"Whatever," Toby sighed as he went back to writing. "Just open it."
Grumbling under his breath, Jareth summoned a letter opener and forcefully yet carefully opened the envelope before pulling out the contents. He inhaled sharply as he leaned back in his chair while holding the paper in his hand.
Toby looked up when he noticed Jareth wasn't saying anything. "Um, yeah, I knew there was no point in trying to get you a fancy gift, but I thought you would appreciate that."
A smile crept across Jareth's lips as he looked down at the photograph that Toby presented to him. Posing in front of the house in upstate New York, Sarah with their children and their dogs, and Kendrick standing alongside Jareth wearing his Aboveground clothing. Everyone was smiling at the camera except Jareth who was clearly rolling his eyes.
"I forgot you demanded that we pose for that ridiculous camera," Jareth said, still staring at the photo.
"See? I told you I wasn't doing it just to torture you," he said. "And I thought you would like the photo of you rolling your eyes rather than having them completely closed. And it's your fault anyway: you'd only let me take two pictures."
"Thank you," Jareth said thoughtfully, looking back up at Toby.
Toby merely shrugged. "Eh, no problem. You don't seem like someone who cares for gifts, but I felt like I had to get you something. You've helped me out a lot, you know, through the years and stuff."
Jareth rose from the chair, clutching the framed picture in his hand.
"Oh, um, I promise that I won't be here much longer," Toby stated. "I think."
"You are free to stay here as long as you want," Jareth said before turning to walk away. "I've always told you that."
"OWW!" Faolan yelled as he quickly retreated from the hot oven.
Sarah and Nigella turned around to see why he was yelling.
"You're supposed to wear oven mittens," Nigella chided. She walked over to her brother and grabbed his hands. A bright red streak stretched across the palm of his hands. "It could have been worse."
Sarah walked over to her son while Nigella moved away to grabbed the mitts and pulled the cake from the oven.
"I did warn you," she told him, taking his hands into hers.
"Yeah, I know," Faolan grumbled before hissing in pain as his mother healed his burns.
"Do we get to put frosting on the cake now?" Nigella asked as she slowly placed the cake on the counter.
"It has to cool first," Sarah said. "Otherwise, it will just melt off."
"That's going to take so long," Faolan complained. "Why can't we just use magic to make the cake?"
"Daddy says sometimes it's better to do things with your hands and not magic," Nigella answered.
"No complaining," Sarah said. "This was your idea, Faolan."
"Yeah, but I didn't know it was going to be such a slow process," he muttered as he sat on the kitchen floor.
"Don't sit- ugh, oh, whatever," Sarah said.
"Hey," Nigella said as she pointed to the large table across the kitchen. "Someone set out food for us."
"Come on," Sarah said to Faolan. "Eat something. Maybe some foods will sooth your weary bones."
Kalin rolled over in bed and pulled the duvet above her head.
"Two weeks. Two weeks, and I still feel so wretched," she moaned with a cough. "Why do I feel so horrible?"
The fae standing next to the bed only heard her complaining as barely audible muffling. "Um, could you repeat that again, ma'am? I missed that."
Sitting up quickly, Kalin turned to her assistant, barely able to form a scowl. "Never mind."
"I realize the king can be overbearing, but he might be right this time: maybe you should meet with the healer," the assistant said.
Kalin kept quiet, not replying to her assistant. Her shoulders shrugged as she considered her hands, front and back. Taking a deep breath, she decided to take some time to be still with her thoughts. As awkward a position as the assistant was in, she did her best to stand still as the Queen went through her meditative stance.
"I know what this is," Kalin said as she stood up from bed, breaking the nearly hour long silence. "I just didn't want to deal with the implications. I'm going to the healer now." She grabbed her robe and draped it over her shoulders. "Contact my husband and son. Tell them where I will be."
The workers in the library began lighting candles around the hall as the light of day began to dim. Toby rubbed his eyes as he gathered his notes to place into his bag.
"Are you finished with these books?" a voice asked him.
"Huh? What?" Toby mumbled before looking up. A female with peculiar light blue yet nearly grey skin and long curly, bright white hair with bright blue eyes stared back at him with a small smile.
"I asked if you are done reading these. You've been here all day," she remarked.
"Uh," Toby muttered as his mind went blank. "Um, yeah. I've been here."
"Yes, I know," she scoffed. "I wasn't asking about that. I was asking about your books. If you do not need them, I should put them away."
"But I can do that," he muttered, briefly looking down at his mess of books before turning his attention back to her.
She gave him a slight smirked. "It's my job."
"Can I help you then?" Toby slowly asked as though he didn't know what he was saying.
"A distinguished guest of the king shouldn't be in the habit of helping someone do their job," she said with a look of confusion on her face.
Toby held out his hand toward her. "My name is Toby."
"I know who you are, Master Toby," she smiled. "Most of us in the castle know."
"But your name?" he asked. "I don't know your name."
"That's not important-"
"It is to me," Toby simply stated.
"Caitriona," she replied, finally taking a hold of his offered hand.
Toby smiled. "That's a lovely name for a lovely – uh- elf?"
"You guessed correctly," she said with a nod as she released his hand. One of her hands went to the side of her head, gently patting her voluminous tresses. "I guess all this hair hides my ears."
"You have nice ears," Toby mumbled as he stared up at her.
"But you can't see them," Caitriona said, a little confusion in her voice.
Toby shook his head to gather his bearings. "I, uh, assume they're nice," he said, trying to recover. "Wow- that sounded so dumb."
"It sounds... very human," she said with a smile. Caitriona grabbed one of the larger tomes. "Feel free to say goodbye before you leave."
"Is this necessary?" Jareth muttered as he struggled to walk with Sarah covering his eyes with her hands. "Although, I shouldn't complain too much; you do feel lovely pressed against my back."
"Stop talking and keep moving," Sarah chastised.
A few minutes ago, Jareth was languishing in his office, pretending to actually read the notes of the day's earlier meeting with his governors. However, Sarah burst into his study and whisked him back to the palace, manually blocking his eyes the entire time.
"I knew one day you would turn on me," he said accusatorily. "To think, you would do it here. Our children, Sarah. Have you thought of our children?"
"Stop talking," she commanded again, trying not to laugh, as she stopped them both as they approached the dining hall doors.
"I know you said to stop talking, but why did we stop?" Jareth asked.
Sarah sighed as she removed her hands from his eyes. "You are so exhausting."
"You brought me to the dining hall," he remarked. "I was quite capable of coming here on my own." Despite his outward aloofness, he felt anxiety rise within him as he considered all the outrageous possibilities that his wife could have planned behind that door.
"Why must you always try to ruin surprises?" Sarah asked with her hand on the door handle.
"A surprise?" Jareth countered. Then, Sarah opened the double doors wide before walking in, leaving him by the threshold. He stood, stunned, as he noticed the vast metallic "Happy Birthday" sign that hung from wall to wall.
"Surprise!" Faolan and Nigella yelled, standing on the opposite end of the dining table as they raised their arms in the air in excitement.
"What the hell?" he muttered, not moving from his position by the door.
"I guess that's a reasonable response," Sarah said as she grabbed his hand and led him over to their children. Confusion marred his face as he walked into the hall. Nigella and Faolan beamed, clearly excited due to the fact that they appeared to be jumping out of their skin as they rocked back and forth on their heels. When he finally reached them, he looked at the odd occurrence on the table.
"Is someone going to explain why this pastry is on fire?" Jareth questioned.
"It's a cake! A birthday cake!" Faolan exclaimed. "Nye and I made you a cake, and we lit it on fire."
"Mom said you put candles on birthday cakes," Nigella stated with a sigh due to her brother's hyperbolic words.
"I used to put the number of candles on the cake as the person's age," Sarah admitted. "But that would be way too many candles for you. We didn't want to burn the palace down."
"Aren't you hilarious," Jareth groused as he removed his gloves from his hands, placing them on the table.
Nigella walked up to him and tugged on his shirt. "Tradition states you have to make a wish and then blow out the candles." He took a step back to consider the chocolate covered cake. Four separate flickering candles were set in the cake, and they consisted of four wax numbers: two, two, four, and eight.
"Mom said you'd love it if your age was on the cake," Faolan said with glee.
"Tattletale," Sarah hissed. Jareth released a small chuckle before holding in his breath and then blowing out the candles.
"Did you make a wish?" Nigella asked, expectantly.
"Oh, darling, you know you're not supposed to say your wishes out loud," Jareth gently chastising her. "And to think you did this for me."
"We wanted to do something for your birthday," his daughter said.
"Yeah," Faolan added. "And if you knew our plan, you wouldn't let us do it."
Sarah walked over to kiss Jareth's neck. "See? Your unique personality causes them duplicitous. Now, let's see if this cake is any good."
Kendrick rushed into the healer's quarters to see his parents talking to a fae and an elf.
"Mother," he said more as a question than statement. He stood by the door as he watched the healer and her assistant walk away from his mother who was lying in a bed. "Are you… okay?"
"Oh, you made it, son," Taggert said, walking toward him. When he stood in front of his son, he knelt in front of him. "Seems I got here before you."
"What's going on?" Kendrick questioned, nervousness heightening the pitch of his voice.
Taggert sighed, placing his hands on his progeny's shoulder. "Well, son-"
"You are so dramatic!" Kalin sighed from the corner of the room. "Come here, Kendrick. Your father is being needlessly theatrical."
With his father's hand on his back guiding him, Kendrick shuffled his feet as he walked over to his mother. Kalin opened her arms to her son and held him close.
"We didn't intend to scare you, dear," she muttered against his hair. "I'm simply not thinking clearly- that's all."
"Why are you here - with the healer?" Kendrick asked.
Kalin looked down at the floor before looking up to Taggert. She said nothing as he approached his son's side.
"Yes, well, about that," Taggert said. "Um-"
"I'm pregnant," Kalin blurted out, unable to stand Taggert's procrastination. "So, you're going to have a sibling."
"I-what?" Kendrick asked, confused, pulling away from his mother's grasp. His brows furrowed as he looked up at his father before turning to his mother. He pointed to Kalin's abdomen. "You- You're going to have another child?" He then pointed to himself. "I'm going to be a brother?"
Kalin laughed as she reached out to grab the back of her son's head to place a kiss on his forehead. "You're going to be a big brother!" she exclaimed as she clutched his shoulders for a moment to give him a shake. Kendrick stood, stunned, while he considered the implication of this news. In an instant, a scene of Nigella and Faolan fighting flashed through his mind. "Oh, no. Is he going to be like Faolan?"
Taggert laughed. "You're jumping to some fast conclusions there. We don't even know if we're having another son."Kendrick's face fell as his eyes filled with dread.
"Please, don't have a child like Faolan. I don't think I can take it."
Faolan reached across to table to cut into the three layered cake.
"You know, that's going to be your third slice," Sarah said as she cut into her own piece.
Faolan paused while the knife he was holding hovered over the cake. "But- cake is meant to be eaten." Jareth chuckled before sipping from his glass of wine.
"This cake was meant for you father," Sarah chided. "So, ask him if he wants anymore before you continue to eat more than your fair share."
Disgruntled, Faolan sat back in his chair with the knife still in his hand. He pouted as he looked at the table top before turning his attention to his father who was seated directly across from him.
"Yes, child of mine?" Jareth asked with a smirk.
"Can I have more cake?" he mumbled.
"It's so difficult to hear you over that bag of marbles in your mouth. What was that again?" Jareth asked.
Faolan's pout turned into a lopsided grin before he released a huff as he sat up straight in his chair. "May I have more cake, please?"
Jareth tapped the tines of his fork on his plate, pretending to consider his son's plea. Faolan's eyes had widened in disbelief due to how long this process was drawn out.
"If you want more, you can have some more," he stated with a shrug.
A gasp came from Faolan as he jumped up to cut himself another piece.
"Do you like the cake, Daddy?" Nigella asked as she looked over at his half eaten portion.
"Of course, my darling," he answered while grabbing her hand and placing a kiss on the back of her hand. "You and your brother made me such a special gift; it's something that should be savored." Nigella, Jareth, and Sarah both turned to look at Faolan who was shoveling cake in his mouth. The young fae looked up to see everyone staring at him.
"What?" he struggled to say with his mouth full of food. "Dad said I can have it!"
"Oh, my sweet son," Sarah whispered to herself, shaking her head.
"I have a question," Nigella said.
"Is it about cake?" Sarah muttered as she continued to stare at Faolan and his poor table manners.
"No," Nigella grumbled as she gave a quick look of disgust to her twin. "It's about the Seelie Court history." Sarah and Jareth both turned their full attention to their daughter.
"Spending time in the library, I see," Jareth deduced.
"All written records stop shortly after mother was born," Nigella pointed out. "Shouldn't it be kept up to date?"
Sarah cleared her throat, dabbing the corners of her mouth with a cloth napkin. "I don't know why it wasn't maintained, however I can take some guesses." The two parents shot each other a quick glance. "If it makes you feel any better, there are several historiographers gathering information from that time until now. The problem will be rectified. Don't worry yourself."
"But your parents' courtship was briefly mentioned in the records," Nigella said to her mother. "Will you and daddy's be as well?"
Sarah's face contorted as she considered her daughter's question. She never considered the possibilities. A series of flashes from her past came to memory before she lowered her head.
Oh- that is so very complicated, she thought as she pictured her younger self and Jareth on the hill, gazing at the expanse of the Labyrinth.
"Shit," Sarah muttered as she massaged her forehead. A low chuckle that soon turned into a hearty laugh brought her attention to Jareth who was clearly amused at the situation. "It's not funny."
A wide grin spread across his face as he took a bite of his cake. "It's not funny," he concurred. "It's downright absurd."
"Which part?" Nigella asked, confused by what could be so humorous. "Your courtship or whether it will be in the public record?"
His daughter's question brought back the raucous laughter. "All of it!"
Sarah threw her napkin at Jareth's face, briefly stuttering his joy. "It's not that funny," she repeated with a frown that was poorly covering up a smile.
"Why is a courtship so funny?" Faolan asked.
"Because there wasn't one," Sarah responded before taking a long drink of her wine. "At least, not one that a normal person would consider a courtship." Both the twins furrowed their brows, not understand what they were just told.
"But you have to have a courtship," Nigella emphatically said, looking up at her father and then to Sarah. "It's not like daddy dragged you to his castle, like a captive."
Against her better judgment, Sarah reflexively spit out her wine, nearly choking on the liquid. Jareth lept from his seat and went to her side as he knelt beside her, placing a hand on her back.
"That was quite the reaction," he said as he rubbed her back.
"I didn't expect them to even think about that now," Sarah murmured in between a volley of coughs.
"Why are you guys whispering?" Faolan blurted out.
"Faolan!" Nigella hissed.
"No. Everything is fine," Sarah said, waving off any concern. Jareth returned to his chair, taking a gulp of his wine.
"What could be so bad?" Faolan shrugged. "It has to be a happy story, right?"
"And what makes you say that?" Sarah asked.
"Because… because you love each other," he said quietly. "Love always comes from happy things."
"Love is complicated, son," Jareth said as he cut into his slice of cake.
"When did you know you fell in love with mom?" Nigella asked.
Jareth plopped the cake in this mouth and chewed thoroughly as he sat back in his chair. Sarah rolled her eyes at his spectacle before turning her attention to her own plate of food.
"When did I fall in love with Sarah?" Jareth mused. "She told me to go to hell; it was that moment that I knew she was mine."
Dropping her fork on the plate, Sarah glared daggers at her husband.
"I didn't tell you to go to hell," she refuted.
"Meaningless semantics," Jareth shrugged.
"You told dad to go to hell?" Faolan chuckled.
"Is that really a surprised?" Nigella countered, raising an eyebrow.
Jareth turned to his daughter. "What do you mean by that?"
"You're a complicated person, Daddy," Nigella responded with a small smile.
"Everyone knows this," Faolan added.
Feigning shock, he dropped his hands on the table. "Et tu, my son."
"Okay, stop talking!" Sarah shouted. "This is getting out of hand."
"Why did you tell him to go to hell?" Faolan asked.
Sarah rubbed her temples, trying to calm herself down. "I didn't say that."
"So what did you say?" Nigella asked.
Due to the impact that the last war had on the two Courts of the Underground, Sarah made the difficult decision to tell them what occurred in the Underground prior to their births. However, both Sarah and Jareth purposefully negated their long storied history before she returned to the Underground. The last time the twins asked were when they were roughly four years old, too young to understand such things, in Sarah's mind.
With a light chuckle, Jareth leaned back in his chair. "The decision is yours to make. Always has been."
Sarah looked at her son and then to her daughter. "It's- it's a long story."
"That's all right," Faolan said with his mouth full. "We have a lot of cake let."
Caitriona cautiously descended the wooden ladder after she put away the final book for the night.
"Oh!" she exclaimed, nearly bumping into the human.
"Sorry. So sorry," Toby said contritely. "I never meant to freak you out."
"I thought you left a while ago," the elf said.
"Well, I did," he said, shoving his hands into his trouser pockets. "Had some food. Typed some things up. But then I came back."
Caitriona tilted her head to the side in confusion. "Did you need another book? I put all your references back. Um- if you give me a moment, I could find-"
"No, no," Toby said, waving his hands. "Uh, okay, so, I didn't think this through- at all."
"So," she said slowly. "You don't need any more books?"
Toby grabbed the back of his neck. "I can't believe how bad I am at this." He held out his hand toward her. "I'm Toby- Toby Williams."
"Yes," Caitriona said with a small laugh. "You introduced yourself earlier."
"True, but I assumed it would be easier if I reintroduced myself," he stated.
"Okay," she said as she took a hold of his hand. "My name is Caitriona."
"And last name?"
Caitriona shook her head before releasing his hand. "That's another human thing."
"I guess it is," Toby agreed. A long and uncomfortable silence stretched between them as they both stood still, staring at each other.
"Did you need anything else?" she asked.
"Yes," Toby blurted out. "Dinner." Her brows furrowed as she considered his words.
"But you said that you already ate."
"No, I meant dinner at a later time, but not too late-"
"With you?" she clarified as she pointed to him.
"Yes!" His enthusiasm caused her to jump back. "Sorry. Yes," he answered in a more docile tone.
"Well, I do like food," Caitriona muttered.
Toby's face lit up. "Great. I have to go, but I'll be back tomorrow before dusk. And I will find a place to take you for food! This will be different- never eaten in the Goblin city before."
"All right," she said, holding in her laughter. "Food, tomorrow. I'll see you then."
"That was not nice, Daddy," Nigella chastised. "Having a boulder chase Mom was not okay."
"Or dropping her down that hole," Faolan added.
"Or sending her to the bog of stench," Nigella said.
"Or causing her to forget so she would run out of time."
"Or allowing Humongous to attack her and her friends."
"Or sending the goblins after her."
"Yeah, including using cannons. That was rude."
"All right!" Jareth bellowed.
The twins went quit while Sarah's muffled snickering filled the dining hall.
"It's not that funny," he murmured.
"Taking everything as a whole," Nigella interjected. "It's quite humorous."
"Why do they so easily turn against me?" Jareth bemoaned. Sarah rose from her chair before placing a quick kiss on Jareth's lips.
"I have a few items to take care of in my office," she said, giving a pointed look to her children. "Don't be too harsh on him. Without me, he lacked social graces."
Jareth opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it. The self-satisfying grin of his son beamed back at him as Faolan chewed on his dessert.
Nigella reached over and patted her father's hand. "It must have been difficult to see mom go, not knowing if she'd ever come back."
Jareth leaned back as he stared at his daughter to consider her thoughtful words.
"However," she smirked. "You must have run out of ideas."
"Ha!" Faolan barked.
"May we move on to something else?" Jareth asked before he finished his glass of wine.
"Yeah, so," his son interjected. "What were you trying to accomplish by throwing Mom down a hole?"
"She wasn't thrown!"
"My apologies, Cormac," Sarah said. "I know being gone all day was taxing on you."
"No need for such words, Your Majesty," he said.
She attached her seal to one of the papers before handing it to Cormac. "I can't believe Lochlan responded to us so quickly."
"Well, I'm guessing your letter captured his attention," he said, gathering his papers before he stood. "I'll return shortly for the rest of these."
Sarah sat down in her quiet office- an office that was quiet for only a few seconds after Cormac left.
"Have you forgotten to give me my present?" Jareth said as he appeared in her office, watching Sarah shuffle papers on her desk.
"Oh, so now you want to participate in birthday rituals," she said as she placed a stack of papers in the desk drawer. "Did you finally see what the children got you?"
"Cruel children," he sneered. "Giving me a box with nothing inside, just so I would worry about it all day."
Sarah smirked. "I thought it was a nice sleight of hand." She grabbed a book off the desk and walked over to the shelf to put it away. "It allowed you to be truly surprised by your real gift, especially since it's difficult to catch you off guard." The spine of a different book caught her attention. "Oh, Cormac was looking for this." She grabbed the book off the shelf and spun around. "Dammit!" Sarah hissed, running into Jareth's chest. She looked up to glare at him. "Are you ever going to stop doing that?"
"No," he said as he snatched the book from her and tossed it on the desk. "Now, about my gifts…" His mouth latched onto her neck as his hands furiously roamed over her body, pushing her against the shelves.
Placing her arms around his neck, Sarah sighed as she briefly reveled in the carnal pleasure he was bestowing on her.
"We should move this elsewhere," she suggested. She grabbed the back of his head to pull him back from her neck in order to kiss him thoroughly.
"Ah," he said with a guttural growl as she scrapped her teeth along his chin. "Are you sure about that?" He briefly looked around the otherwise vacant room. "It's been a while since we-"
"No," Sarah firmly interrupted with a wave of her hand. One moment they were in her office- the next, they were in their bed chambers. "We don't want Cormac walking in on us."
Jareth raised one eyebrow and gave her a smirk. "Don't we?"
"Shut up," she laughed.
"Where are you going?" he demanded as she walked toward the closet.
"Putting on something… nicer," Sarah explained. She halted her steps when he appeared in front of her. "This seems familiar."
"I don't give a shit about your gowns," Jareth stated as he bent down and tossed her on his shoulder.
"You know I hate this," she squirmed as he ignored her complaints. Unceremoniously, he tossed her onto the bed. "So impertinent."
Jareth kissed her neck before trailing his attention down to her cleavage. Sarah shivered, not just due to his ministrations, but because he caused all her clothes to disappear. She down to see that all his clothing was missing as well.
"I could have done that," Sarah sighed as she felt his tongue brush across her nipple before latching onto the sensitive bud. With one hand, she reached down to grab a hold of his engorged cock, causing Jareth to groan out his approval when her hand slowly moved up his shaft. He reluctantly pushed her hand away as he left a trail of open mouth kisses down her body. Sarah tensed as his attentions moved to her inner thigh as his hands pushed legs open.
He briefly rested his head on her thigh while his fingers leisurely moved up and down her slit. "I adore you," Jareth whispered. Her words were stolen from her when she felt his lips captured her clit.
"Uh, god," she moaned, her hands latching on to the back of his hair as she ground her body against his face. Feeling the primal tug against his hair, he released a low growl as he continued his carnal ministrations upon his wife. Sarah could only gasp as his mouth attacked her mercilessly. Clawing at the bed, she threw her head back as pleasure rolled through her, an all-consuming climax that left her reeling as she felt her legs pinned to the bed.
Sarah opened her eyes to see Jareth's tense features staring down at her. She smiled at his intense expression before pulling him down to her.
"Hello," Sarah said in a low husky voice. Jareth smirked as he grabbed her knees and pulled them as he climbed between her thighs. Leaning over to give her one bruising kiss on her lips, he thrust deep inside her, causing them both to release a satisfying moan that filled their chambers. His cock filled her, stretched her wide. She whispered his name as her hands clung to him. He dragged her legs up so they wrapped around his hips. Then he pulled out and thrust in again, deeper still. His hips hammered against her as their bodies, slick with sweat, slid against one another with each punishing stroke. He rocked against her, grinding his pelvis against hers. Her channel tightened and rippled around him as her core convulsed with her release. Jareth's body hardened as his own orgasm overcame him. He thrust into her three more times before collapsing on top of her, barely bracing his weight with his arms.
After a few moments, as their orgasm ebbed and the vibrations softened to sweet pulses, he withdrew from her body, and lowered himself to the bed beside her. He drew her into his embrace and placed a light, nearly chaste, kiss on her forehead. Several minutes passed without either one speaking- content to simply be.
""You always give me the finest gifts, Sarah," Jareth said, breaking the silence.
"Oh, please," she muttered while rolling her eyes. A wicked grin spread across his face as Sarah quickly found herself face down as Jareth pinned her to the mattress. She chuckled as she felt his teeth nip her back. He positioned his arm underneath her torso, pulling her lower body upwards. With one steady, slow thrust, Jareth entered pussy from behind as his nipping continued up to her shoulders.
"Such contempt," he whispered as he began to pump his hips harder. "On my special day."
Sarah's breath quickened as she moved to match his rhythm, pushing her ass back against him. Her attempts were overpowered when Jareth pushed her body down, wrapping both arms around her, pinning her down as he moved harder and faster into her.
Sarah's groans soon turned into a scream as she felt Jareth's teeth bite into her shoulder while she clenched tightly around his cock, another orgasm hitting her again.
"Mine," Jareth hissed into her ear as he drove into faster and faster until he suddenly tensed and released guttural groan. He kissed her back tenderly as he continued to keep Sarah restrained.
"Are you going to let me go?" she wondered aloud as she squirmed a bit beneath his hold.
Jareth nuzzled her neck as his hold around her tightened.
"Never."
A/N: Hello, Everyone! Thrilled to be posting a new chapter for you all. As always, thank you for reading; thank you for commenting. I love all your support.
Also-
New Story Update: I'll be posting chapter 1 for my new Labyrinth story, Moonage Daydream, in about a day or two. Hope you guys give it a look. It's my first attempt at writing a shorter (well, shorter to me) story.
Much love to you all!