Chapter 32
Underground blessings
Sarah had been back in the castle for about a week now and her doctor had given her and the twins a clean bill of health. Jareth spent as much time as he could every day sitting by her side watching her nurse the babies. He had gotten more comfortable holding them as well, and he enjoyed walking around with them in his arms showing them the study and the bedroom. He even took them into the kitchen, much to the delight of the staff. Jareth was a doting father and he had grown nicely into his new role.
Chayrone had managed to find a perfect nanny for them. An elder fae woman named Aria, who had raised hundreds of abducted human children over the millennia and was highly experienced when it came to child care. She was close to the age of Faron at two thousand and eight hundred years old. Jareth had vetted her thoroughly and so had Mara. Once Mara had approved of her, so did Jareth and the deal was settled.
The inhabitants of the Labyrinth Kingdom had erupted in cheers at the news of the birth of two new little princes. The goblins immediately used it to throw another one of their famous firework shows, which lasted two days. It only was ended because they had run out of explosives and Goblin City looked like it had been in a warzone. Everybody helped to clean it all up quickly before the arrival of the royal family.
Krum had won one of the bets on the baby. He was the only one who had bet that Sarah would have more than one child. The older goblins grumbled when they saw him drag off his winnings, but didn't try to steal it from him. He was the favorite goblin of the queen, and they knew it.
"It was all rigged, the whole thing", grumbled one. "I bet the queen knew she was going to have twins and told that miserable little shit about it. That's why he is the only one who made that bet. It was all rigged."
"How wonderful", the others exclaimed cheerfully and followed it up with chanting: "Long live the goblin queen, who knows how to rig a bet."
And just like that Sarah's approval rating soared even higher.
"What are we going to name our second son?" Sarah asked Jareth, while she nursed one of them as Jareth played with the other one.
"I want this one to have my name", he proudly proclaimed as he held him high up in the air. "He's got my eyes."
Jareth smirked at Sarah and laid the child back on his lap.
"How can you tell? It is way too early for that", Sarah laughed.
"Oh, those are things a father knows", Jareth said as he let the baby suck on his little finger.
"I am totally fine with the name Jareth", Sarah said and smiled at him with loving eyes. "Jareth, the Second", she murmured. "It has a nice ring to it. Sounds royal, and he was born first too, you do know that, right? He is next in line to the throne."
Jareth looked befuddled. "Eh, sure, yeah, I knew that", he finally claimed avoiding eye contact. Sarah couldn't help but laugh.
"We can call him Jay for short, so we don't get confused when you call us", Jareth winked at her and blew her a kiss. Sarah smirked and shook her head.
"Jareth Faron the Second", Jareth declared and stood up holding his son high above his head as he cradled him with his hands. Mara gave an excited and approved bark.
"And I am feeding Jeremy Mark over here", Sarah laughed. Sounds like this is all settled.
"How are we going to keep them apart?" Jareth wondered and looked intensely into their faces.
Sarah chuckled. "You just said he has your eyes, so you should have no problem, right? After all, they are unique."
"Riiiiight", Jareth stammered before he sat down and started playing with little Jay again.
Sarah did have a lot of help, just as Chayrone had told her she would. Having a nanny helped tremendously, especially since she had to get up twice each night to feed them. Jareth never complained about being woken up from their nightly feedings, or Sarah being tired during the day and having to sleep a lot. He was the perfect father and husband and Sarah loved him for it.
"When this hard part is all over and you get your strength back, I want to take you out for a nice dinner, just the two of us. Go dance a little at The Underground Club and visit make out, I mean Emerald Pool Cave afterwards for a nice warm soaking bath."
Jareth told her one afternoon, when he had found her sound asleep in his study, curled up in her reading chair.
"That sounds wonderful", Sarah had sighed contently. "It's a date, boy", she had added quietly and gone back to sleep, as he gently laid her on the sofa and kissed her forehead.
The time went by rather quickly, which pleasantly surprised Sarah. She had sent crystal balls to Marjorie nearly every day to keep her updated on the development of her nephews. Jareth even had arranged a short, two hour long visit for them as a surprise. Sarah was in tears, and so was Marjorie, as they walked into the nursery.
"Oh god, Jareth didn't even tell me he was going to do this", Sarah cried and gave Jareth a big kiss.
"Where are my little nephews?" Marjorie inquired and walked straight over to their cribs. Aria handed her one of the boys.
"So, which one is that?" she asked cradling him in the elbow of her arm.
"That would be Jeremy Mark", Sarah said with a smile.
"Mark?" Mark croaked with surprise and nearly choked on his water. "You guys named your kid after me? Man", he turned towards Jareth with a tear in his eyes. "That is super cool." He punched Jareth lightly in the arm.
Jareth chuckled. "Couldn't think of anyone else more deserving", he replied, which made Mark choke up again.
"When I have a son, I name him after you too", he declared and raised his glass to Jareth in a toast.
Jareth was busier than ever in the mornings now, as he had to include family photos with his morning messages. Luckily Hoggle helped him out writing most of them. Jareth could not have done it without him, as the masses wanted to be updated on the development of the new princes.
The goblins were more interested to see if they looked like goblins and were rather disappointed seeing two perfectly little fae boys. The faes and elves had fallen in love with the babies instantly and their pictures hung in all the store front windows.
Two months had passed since Sarah had given birth to her sons. They were getting bigger and stronger by the day and had started sleeping through the entire night.
Both, Sarah and Jareth, were happy and relieved about this. She could finally sleep through the night again and get back to a normal schedule during the day. Aria was a lifesaver in Sarah's eyes, and Mara had approved as well.
Sarah started up her weekly self-defense classes with Faron again, and made it a point to hit the gym for at least an hour on most days. She wanted to get her pre pregnancy body back.
Jareth was happy to see her progress as he was looking forward to get his wife back on a more personal level. The doctor had given them the green light for intimacy only a couple of days ago.
"Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight if I told you I have arranged something special?" Jareth asked her after she had finished nursing the babies, wrapping his arms around her waist.
"That sounds like a great idea", she replied interlocking her hands behind his neck. "What do you have in mind?" she asked softly and her eyes shimmered with anticipation. Jareth smiled cheekily.
"Well, I thought we could go to a nice private dinner at the GobliNaut, take on a little dancing at The Underground Club afterwards, and then..." He bend forward and kissed her neck as Sarah tilted back her head and sighed quietly.
"And then, I thought maybe we could go to our little private secret hot tub." He kept kissing her neck and made his way up towards her lips. Sarah didn't have to reply as her passionate kiss told him all he needed to know.
"Be ready by six", he whispered and gave her a seductive smile. Sarah sighed deeply as he let go of her and walked down the hallway.
Dinner at the GobliNaut was wonderful. Jareth had reserved the entire restaurant just for them and had a musician play melodic love tunes on an elven harp. Sarah wore the dress Jareth had given her for Christmas and had changed her hair color to auburn red and purple, as it seemed to be his favorite.
He was dressed in a light blue long sleeved shirt and those, oh, ever so tight grey pants. It was the same outfit he had worn when he had proposed to her with the crystal ball and had offered her, her dreams on her 21st birthday.
Sarah felt slightly turned on looking at him when he picked her up in the study, and almost contemplated forfeiting the dinner to make love to him right there and then. She didn't know he had had the same thoughts about her when he saw her standing by the fireplace in the dress.
After their private dinner he had taken her to The Underground Club. Everyone had been vetted twice by his elite guards and capacity had been limited to fifty percent of selected guests.
The band played mostly all of Sarah's favorite David Bowie songs as they danced close together.
"I'm an absolute beginner, but I absolutely love you", Jareth sang along and looked Sarah deep into her eyes. Once again, she got lost in his mesmerizing eyes she had loved from the first time she had seen him.
Jareth pulled her close to him and kissed her gently as they continued dancing. Sarah sighed with bliss and closed her eyes.
"This is wonderful", she moaned and laid her head against his chest.
They had stayed until midnight before they decided to leave.
"Hang on, babe. Let's teleport to our favorite spot."
In only a few seconds they were at the entrance of Emerald Pool Cave.
"It's been a while since we've been here", Sarah said and eagerly walked behind him into the cave as he held her hand. Once inside, the amethysts and emeralds on the ceilings and walls illuminated the cave with a soft glow and several different colors of violet purple to pinkish blue. The pool shone a bright emerald green as different minerals were inside the water on its bottom.
Jareth got undressed first and helped Sarah out of her dress. She carefully placed it on some smooth rocks. She wanted nothing happening to it, unlike Jareth who had carelessly dumped all his clothes on a pile. As she entered the water to walk up to him he stopped her.
"Let me look at you before you get into the deep water. I want to see your beautiful body and take it all in." Sarah stopped and smiled.
"You look like you had never given birth to two babies only a little over two months ago. You look amazing. How do you do that?" Jareth asked astound, never lowering his gaze as he kept admiring her physique.
He motioned her to come to him and sit down in front between his legs. Sarah leaned back against his body and closed her eyes as the hot water bubbled around her with only their shoulders exposed.
"Ah", she sighed and took a deep breath. "How I have missed this."
She held on to his arms as his hands were exploring her body below the water. She did not object to the exploration and only moaned quietly every now and then.
She leaned her head back and looked at him with eyes that reflected the emerald green water and made them appear even greener than they usually were.
"Kiss me", she whispered barely audible as her hands began to explore his body. Jareth complied and Sarah slowly turned her body towards his. Still sitting on his lap they slowly merged into one.
After their lovemaking, they sat together in the pool for a long time before they decided to get dressed and return to the castle.
"I hope you had a nice evening", Jareth asked her as they arrived in the bedroom.
"It was wonderful, thank you so much for it", Sarah kissed him again and pulled him tight.
"We need to do that more often. It's nice to have the babies around, but we definitely need our alone time as husband and wife."
Jareth couldn't agree more. As they went to sleep Jareth held her body close to his, and that's how they woke up the next morning.
Sarah was getting excited. In only two days their two sons would be receiving the blessing of the Underground in a special ceremony at the spring equinox. The ceremony had a deep tradition, similar to the coronation, and was held for all babies born to ordinary and not so ordinary faes and elves alike.
This was the first time in the Labyrinth Kingdom's history it was conducted for the offspring of the sitting king and his queen. Another first for the Underground world. The inhabitants were getting excited and the ceremony was the talk in all the towns and settlements. The goblins already started to hoard more fireworks for the show on March 20th, the spring equinox blessing.
The eldest of the elder faes was going to conduct the ceremony. Nobody really knew how old he was, but he looked ancient. Some estimated his age at over ten thousand years. Sarah could not even begin to wrap her mind around such a long age.
His name was Kelan. Faron told Sarah not to worry as she began to appear more and more nervous as the day drew closer.
"It's a very straight forward simple ceremony. Jareth will do most of the work, you just stand there and follow his signals. Sounded easy enough to Sarah and she felt relieved about it.
At the day of the ceremony they had to get up fairly early as it was going to be held right at noon. Sarah skipped breakfast as her stomach was doing funny things due to her nervousness. Jareth didn't have those issues as he was used to Underground ceremonies.
He never had his own family involved in any of them though, and he was getting very excited. He wore his finest battle regalia including his sword, which made him look immensely powerful and fearsome. Sarah wore the same beautiful elegant dress she had worn at the coronation. Both looked stunning and would definitely draw attention. The babies were swaddled in light blue silk robes with white ruffles in the front. Sarah found them to be adorable.
As the time approached, everybody including Aria, Hoggle, and Krum, got into the horynth coach. The ceremony was held in a raised field outside Goblin City with stone obelisks surrounding it in a big circle with several inner circles. It reminded Sarah eerily of Stonehenge.
As the coach arrived, the crowd cheered and some eager goblins shot off a few early firecrackers, much to the disapproval of some fae elders. They scattered quickly as a few elven guards came running after them.
Jareth and Sarah took their place in the center of the most inner circle which had thirteen big torches burning in front of a small altar like structure that contained a beautiful golden pillow. Sarah stood to its left and Jareth to its right while Kelan was standing in the middle, slightly in front of them. Chayrone and Faron had taken the babies and each held one in their arms.
The crowd had gathered around the entire field and as an elven horn was sounded a hush fell over the crowd. It was so quiet you could hear a whisper from one hundred yards away.
The acoustic was outstanding. Jareth couldn't help to think this would make an awesome place for a rock concert. He made a mental note to talk to Mark about it.
Kelan began to speak in a low and monotone voice. Sarah did not understand the words he was saying, but they sounded like an ancient prayer of some sort, or the calling up of an entity as he held his staff up against the sky.
Faron brought one of the babies over to Jareth. Jareth took his son and held him high over his head.
"Behold this child and bless him with all your powers for a long successful life. Behold Jareth Faron, Jareth the Second."
Jareth placed little Jay on the golden pillow as Kelan sprinkled water on him and chanted more words in a foreign language.
Before he picked up the baby once more to hold him over his head, he placed the goblin king crest necklace around his neck. It was the same necklace Jareth wore and the same necklace he had given Sarah during her coronation.
The crowd started cheering and a few more firecrackers exploded. Kelan then handed Jay to Sarah who held him in her arms, cradling him. She thought she detected a faint smile in Kelan's face when he handed her Jay. The entire ceremony was repeated for Jeremy Mark.
After Kelan had left, Jareth took one of his sons from Sarah and put him in his arms, as they both stood and waved to the crowd. Suddenly the sky was filled with fireworks, and firecrackers popped up in the field everywhere, making all the attendees run for cover.
Jareth only laughed which inspired the goblins even more. For a while it looked like the entire place may go up and Sarah became concerned for their safety, but Jareth ensured her there was nothing to be worried about.
"It's just the goblins having fun. They must really like you Sarah, because they usually don't go big like that for just anyone."
Sarah felt honored.
The rest of the day was spend celebrating the new princes with food, lots of drinking, live music, and dancing. Aria took care of Jay and Jeremy while Sarah and Jareth mingled with their subjects.
Once again it was long after midnight before they got home. After Sarah had breastfed the babies, Aria took them and put them to bed.
"Finally alone", Jareth heaved a sigh of relief and fell into a chair taking off his boots. Sarah likewise took off her shoes as her feet were quite sore from the dancing and standing around all day.
They took a quick shower together and went straight to bed, as even Jareth was too tired for lovemaking.
"I'll make it up to you in the morning", he promised with a smirk and a quick kiss. Sarah cuddled up to Jareth and took a deep breath.
"I guess our little family is quite complete now", she said and squeezed him gently.
"Sarah, you truly have made my life complete. Not in my wildest dreams did I imagine you would be giving me two sons at the same time. You know you are very special, and one day you will see it for yourself. I promise."
He closed his eyes as he had his arm wrapped around her body and fell asleep.
Sarah kissed him gently on his hand and held it tight as she followed him into his dreams, dreams they would share together for forever.
Thank you for reading my first story of Jareth and Sarah. Feel free to leave me some feedback. Book 2 has already been written in its entirety and will be posted a few chapters at a time very soon. I am also working on Book 3, as well as two new stories of Jareth and Sarah titled Thirteen Years and The Last Fae. So stay tuned.
