Chapter 10: Some Days…
Emily sat in the parlor that Annalisa had taken on as hers reading from a large leather bound book. It was full of pictures of the races that emerged from the Glade in the last hundred thousand years. The scholars had drawn pictures of both sexes and explained their connection to the magic of the land, their breeding habits and family units. Emily was more interested in the pictures. They were waiting for Jareth to join them in the parlor for some lunch and so they could talk about grown up things. Emily really wasn't interested. She found the Library incredible and had gotten to see the old room that she had shared with Annie. She was actually pretty content, the druids were nice, and taught her many things and the denizens of the Glade treated her like a Princess. Which, she was, but she still thought it was nice of them.
Annie was pacing. Emily looked up at her sister, and noticed for the first time that her tummy was getting bigger, she wondered how on earth she could have gained any weight, she hadn't been eating much, and when she did she usually sicked it up. She shrugged. "What's wrong with you Annie?"
The woman stopped and looked down at her sister. She smiled at the girl, dressed in greens and blues, her shock of red hair in two long braids. "Nothing, well… I'm a little nervous to tell you the truth."
"About Jareth? You guys have been married for," the girl looked at her fingers and began counting, looking up and bit her lip, "a million months." She said finally.
"Try six, and yes, I know, but I have something important to tell you two and I want it to go perfectly." She mimicked her sister in biting her lip. "This really isn't fair," she said allowed.
"Compared to what? What isn't fair, anyway?"
"Oh, well… It isn't fair that I should be so nervous about giving such wonderful news, I mean, you at least will be very happy." She came and sat down next to the girl on the rug, her dress puffed up and the slight bulge in her tummy region disappeared. "I think we should eat on the floor."
Emily raised an eyebrow at her sister, a trait she had picked up from Jareth the older woman had no doubt. "Why?"
"Goodness, you are full of questions today, you don't ask so many questions during you lessons, but if you must know I don't know, we used to eat on the floor, when I was younger. When we first moved to the Labyrinth. We would eat on the floor in the playroom and Jareth would tell us stories. I think it would be nice to do it again." She smiled and tugged at the girl's pig tale.
She shrugged and went back to her book.
Jareth found them that way, sitting on the floor reading out of the large volume. He smiled at his little family, they were just what he had always needed. His parents were infinitely happy that they were so happy, and though his mother was surprised Oberon had been confident that the marriage would out last the season. "Sitting on the floor like heathens," he tisked them, and they laughed.
"Heathens? We don't live on a Heath!" Emily recited the practiced come back that her sister had taught her.
"As I recall Mr. Head Heathen you enjoyed sitting on the floor and eating just fine not that long ago… Besides I have news for you two and this if far more intimate then eating at the table. Candice will be here any moment with our lunch, come on, sit!" She watched this graceful, omnipotent man that she had fallen so far in love with, stoop to their level and sit on the floor in a close circle with them.
"So, what news do you have for us, your majesty."
"You know I hate it when you call me that," she admonished gently. "Anyway, I…" there was a knock at the door. "Come," she called and in came a gnome with a large tray, he set it down and bowed mumbling something about Candice doing something else.
"Well, come on then." Emily said stuffing fruit into her mouth.
"Well, I wanted to tell you that there was going to be an addition to our family." She said as smoothly as possible. Her voice didn't crack, though she was afraid it would, she still wasn't comfortable telling them, but she couldn't keep warding off Jareth's advances and her belly was getting more noticeable.
"Like a puppy or something? Samba is getting pretty big." Emily popped a piece of yellow cheese into her mouth and chewed noisily, her puppy wasn't a dog, but the small guardian that Annie had called to watch her. The ball of fluff had taken quite the fancy to the little girl in the last six months and was constantly with her.
Jareth was silent. She didn't look at him, but buttered a piece of bread, and then poured herself a cup of juice from the cold pitcher. "No, it's not a puppy. It's a baby." There, she said it. She felt sick to her stomach, not nausea, but like perhaps she had done something that was erroneous.
She finished pouring her drink and raised it to her lips, looking at him finally. There were tears in his eyes, falling down his cheeks slowly. "Jareth!" she set her cup down and stared at him for a moment. "What ever is wrong?"
Emily's eyes widened at Jareth, No wonder Annie was worried to tell us, he's leaking!
"Nothing," he said his lip quavering. "I just… I just am worried about you, that's all."
"Oh, goodness, what is wrong with me! I completely forgot again! Jareth, there is no danger in me being pregnant. I am a Druid, and a powerful one at that. We are the daughters of a long generation of druidic tradition." He didn't relax, nor did recognition dawn, so she continued. "I didn't know a lot about our past until I came back to the Glade, for the first three days that I came I locked myself in the library and read the books that my father never let me read as a child. These books explained our history, our heritage and why we don't discuss our biology with doctor's outside the clans." She paused and waited for his tears to go away. "Jareth, our magic steams from the Mother herself. We have spent hundreds of thousands of years learning to accept pregnancy. Most Fae women have a hard time with pregnancy because their immortal bodies object to being with child. We trained our bodies to accept a child and nurture not attempt to reject it the whole time. How often does a Druid ask for a child?"
"Never, they don't ever ask." He said, his tears retreating.
"Right, but Druid women always have a child or two in tow, right?"
"Well, yes, but… but how can you. You know very little of your heritage."
"My mother wasn't a Druid. She was a powerful Fae, but her magic stemmed from the Eerie, not the Glade. She had two children within forty-five years of each other, unheard of from a non-druid woman. Our stepbrothers were no more then twenty years apart. There were six of them." She hoped that this information would put his fears to rest. "My gestational time will be much less and the pregnancy much easier. We haven't lost a woman in child birth in the last three thousand years."
"And you are sure of this?"
"Yes! Jareth! I never understood why fae women were always so terrified and rejoiced to find they were with child before Aelis explained it. I don't see how you people ever have children at all!" She smiled at him, and took his hand placing it on her stomach, "Feel her, she will be here soon."
"Soon? How soon? You said the duration is shorter…" Jareth smiled at her, feeling the unborn baby's inherent magic.
"About six months longer, though it feels as if she will come early, so maybe as early as five months. "
"She?" Emily and Jareth said in unison.
"Yes, she. I can feel her, and communicate with her on an emphatic level. She is very soothed and comfortable now, near her aunt and father."
Emily's eyes widened in the wonderment. "A princess and an aunt." She placed a hand on her sister's belly and felt the baby there, the magic was faint, but she could sense where it was coming from and could indeed feel that the child was female.
"I can tell she's a girl. What is her name?"
"Good question. What shall we name her?" Jareth asked, "She can communicate with us, she needs a name."
"Do you have a suggestion, she didn't like any that I liked."
"I like the name Arden." He said. Arden was his grandmother's name, an old name with much power in it.
"Arden," she breathed, she liked it very much and the surge of delight that overwhelmed her from the growing child in her body was enough to let her know that it was the name that the child wanted. "Very well, Arden." She laughed at Jareth's look. "Eat before everything warms up!" She finished her bread and started on some cheese and fruit.
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"I told you she was pregnant," Byron hissed at Hilliard.
"What are you talking about you fool?"
"My porter and Oberon's porter are brother's. They just announced to the High Royal Couple that they are going to have a child."
"Good, more likely then not she will die in childbirth and we can start over with the girl."
"How is that?" Byron asked suspiciously.
"Because, the girl is young, and it will be much easier to convince Titania and Oberon that she should marry a man well suited to teach her the ways of Royalty, and she certainly can't marry Jareth now that he is family." Hilliard shook his head and drank his tea; he was always so calm. His legs were crossed, and the gentlemanly ruffle at his neck was spotless and wrinkles. Byron was beginning to hate him.
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"Oh, have you decided on a name for my newest granddaughter?" Titania asked pointedly. They had been sitting together for nearly an hour, choosing colors for the new baby's room, but Annalisa hadn't said much.
Annalisa smiled at her mother in law. She had taken to Emily easier and the younger woman appreciated that she loved the girl as much as she would love the new baby. "Yes, actually, her name is Arden."
"Arden. Jareth came up with that did he? It was my mother's name, before she ascended. A good name." She smiled and touched her daughter in law's stomach, feeling the baby move ever so slightly. "It's rather comforting that she will be here soon, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. Jareth burst into tears when I told him I was pregnant. He had no idea about Druid's I'm afraid."
"Well, why should he? He was sure he would never marry, even when your mother refused the union years ago, I knew that it would happen on its own though. I remember you, six years old and your eyes followed him the whole time you were near him.' Titania laughed at the look Annalisa gave her. "Don't be so coy girl. I knew all along."
She was speechless, she remembered vaguely meeting Jareth as a child, but didn't know that she had a 'crush' on him. Nor did she know that a marriage was nearly set up. "My mother refused?"
Titania nodded, "Yes," apparently she wasn't going to give any information that wasn't asked directly.
"She said no? But I married him anyway, she didn't seem…" she trailed off, thoughtful, her hands went to her belly and she sighed.
"She didn't seem what? Have you spoken to her?"
"Yes, I…" she paused again, looking at Titania, horrified that she had revealed her secret. She was nearing her due time, and she and Jareth had spoke at length about how they would handle Hilliard and Byron, and much to her dismay Jareth asked her to wait until after the baby was born. He was still worried about her, but because she was certain that she and the child would be fine he wanted to wait, so there was no added stress. "She was banished. When we were married I was able to speak with her for a short time. I found some things out that were very disturbing. She knew that I was marrying Jareth and wasn't upset about it at all."
Titania sat for a moment absorbing the information. I suppose I can tell her the truth. She has already decided that she wants to stay with Jareth, because they are still married, and the child will be here soon, so even if she does decide that she no longer wants him then there is an heir and she must take the throne. "Daughter, I am going to explain something to you, and you may be upset but I think that the importance of what I am going to say will overcome the upset." She waited for a nod from Annalisa. "Your father was a good man, he loved his wives and all of his children more then anything in the world. He protected the Glade with his life. Your mother, as you know was a very powerful woman, she was born to the youngest son of the Dragon Monarchs. When fae have children, weather it is with Druids or the Dragon Kin or the Prime the power is passed on, and usually it diminishes partly, but when you were born the power increased. You are a powerful druid. Your magic steams from the earth and the Mother directly, instead of the sky like Prime or from their ancestor's like the Dragon Kin. Even Jareth pales in your wake."
Annalisa nodded, she knew this already. Her mother was Dragon Kin, and Jareth and his parents Prime Fae. The difference were really only in philosophy, but once it had caused wars. She used her magic for very little, believe that abstentious use was frivolous and stupid. Perhaps it was the blood that flowed in her body but she had always felt that way.
"When Jareth was born I had a very easy pregnancy, much easier then my sister's had ever had, and that was a concern to be sure. It was a gift from the Mother that he be born. He was a very sweet child, but I never felt it right to betroth him, as he grew older he grew…"
"Obnoxious, flamboyant… rude…" Annalisa smiled as she tried to help her mother in law.
"Flamboyant. Though, and Oberon and I decided that soon it would be our times to ascend, but, as you know, we cannot unless there is a replacement for us. When the former Goblin King reached his ascension and had no heirs, so we placed our son in charge of the Goblins, hoping to humble him. He actually did a very good job, but his hedonistic ways were still prevalent and we worried for the crown. When you were born I knew that you should be my son's wife. When you were presented to me to be named I knew that you would be perfect, it was a sign from the Mother to be sure. You were so meek as a child, you never cried, you were so smart, I just knew that it would be perfect. Then later your mother said no, that you must love him to marry him. Jareth to be sure was pleased, he stated very plainly at court that he would marry no woman of my choosing and that was final."
The younger woman listened calmly, she wasn't upset, just confused. This was strange behavior on her mother in law's part. "So what happened?"
"Well, nothing more was said until the attack on the Glade. There were rumors of whom it was, but they were never confirmed, and when we found that you and Emily had managed to get to the Labyrinth I was positive it was another sign. Jareth asked me what to do in a formal Court petition, and I couldn't stop myself but I declared that he would be your and Emily's guardian. I suppose I thought that even if he didn't love you or couldn't love you as a woman then the familiarity would grow into love and you would wed anyway. I saw the way he watched you and Emily together through the crystals and I feared that perhaps he loved you as a father, but that changed rapidly as you grew into womanhood. So beautiful, but you always managed to keep him on his toes, running him in circles until he couldn't tell which way was up. My son, a powerful mage, heir to the High Throne was overwhelmed by a child!" She paused a minute smiling genuinely at her before continuing, "When he asked me to find you a husband because you were arguing. The look on his face when I suggested that you choose a mate for yourself said all that needed to be said. He needed to be your husband. Because he loved and loves you, and he needs you. You make him whole, he has never been so docile as when you are in the room! So at my son's request I choose a husband for you, and I chose my son."
"I thank you, you have made my life much easier, but why would that upset me."
"I had marry suitor's ask for your hand in marriage, and unfortunately a few of them were ones that had been rumored to be behind your families death."
"Hilliard and Byron." She said simply, her voice fell. She knew that Titania must believe the rumors, but it was so difficult to know what to do. She couldn't do anything to them until after the baby was born, the amount of magic that she would have to use would surely damage Arden.
"Perhaps. Your mother died a terrible death, and the magic that locked her from this realm was strong, but not so strong that a circle of the seven most powerful Fae to join the two most powerful Fae broke the block shortly and you were able to see your mother. When a Fae dies they do not go to the Groove. They go to a spirit world where they wonder until born again or forget to come to this plane. There are very few ways that we can die, cold iron, powerful death magic, and others. Your mother obviously decided not to be reborn until she could give you the information to revenge her and Darren."
"So you knew."
"Not exactly, but I knew that something happened in that circle between the times that you heard and repeated your vows. Kilandra remarked on it to me, but I denied it at the time." She pattered her daughter in law's hand. "Enough secrets being revealed today, does Arden like this pink shade?"
The baby responded with a sharp kick to Annie's rib. "Apparently not."
Emily sat in the parlor that Annalisa had taken on as hers reading from a large leather bound book. It was full of pictures of the races that emerged from the Glade in the last hundred thousand years. The scholars had drawn pictures of both sexes and explained their connection to the magic of the land, their breeding habits and family units. Emily was more interested in the pictures. They were waiting for Jareth to join them in the parlor for some lunch and so they could talk about grown up things. Emily really wasn't interested. She found the Library incredible and had gotten to see the old room that she had shared with Annie. She was actually pretty content, the druids were nice, and taught her many things and the denizens of the Glade treated her like a Princess. Which, she was, but she still thought it was nice of them.
Annie was pacing. Emily looked up at her sister, and noticed for the first time that her tummy was getting bigger, she wondered how on earth she could have gained any weight, she hadn't been eating much, and when she did she usually sicked it up. She shrugged. "What's wrong with you Annie?"
The woman stopped and looked down at her sister. She smiled at the girl, dressed in greens and blues, her shock of red hair in two long braids. "Nothing, well… I'm a little nervous to tell you the truth."
"About Jareth? You guys have been married for," the girl looked at her fingers and began counting, looking up and bit her lip, "a million months." She said finally.
"Try six, and yes, I know, but I have something important to tell you two and I want it to go perfectly." She mimicked her sister in biting her lip. "This really isn't fair," she said allowed.
"Compared to what? What isn't fair, anyway?"
"Oh, well… It isn't fair that I should be so nervous about giving such wonderful news, I mean, you at least will be very happy." She came and sat down next to the girl on the rug, her dress puffed up and the slight bulge in her tummy region disappeared. "I think we should eat on the floor."
Emily raised an eyebrow at her sister, a trait she had picked up from Jareth the older woman had no doubt. "Why?"
"Goodness, you are full of questions today, you don't ask so many questions during you lessons, but if you must know I don't know, we used to eat on the floor, when I was younger. When we first moved to the Labyrinth. We would eat on the floor in the playroom and Jareth would tell us stories. I think it would be nice to do it again." She smiled and tugged at the girl's pig tale.
She shrugged and went back to her book.
Jareth found them that way, sitting on the floor reading out of the large volume. He smiled at his little family, they were just what he had always needed. His parents were infinitely happy that they were so happy, and though his mother was surprised Oberon had been confident that the marriage would out last the season. "Sitting on the floor like heathens," he tisked them, and they laughed.
"Heathens? We don't live on a Heath!" Emily recited the practiced come back that her sister had taught her.
"As I recall Mr. Head Heathen you enjoyed sitting on the floor and eating just fine not that long ago… Besides I have news for you two and this if far more intimate then eating at the table. Candice will be here any moment with our lunch, come on, sit!" She watched this graceful, omnipotent man that she had fallen so far in love with, stoop to their level and sit on the floor in a close circle with them.
"So, what news do you have for us, your majesty."
"You know I hate it when you call me that," she admonished gently. "Anyway, I…" there was a knock at the door. "Come," she called and in came a gnome with a large tray, he set it down and bowed mumbling something about Candice doing something else.
"Well, come on then." Emily said stuffing fruit into her mouth.
"Well, I wanted to tell you that there was going to be an addition to our family." She said as smoothly as possible. Her voice didn't crack, though she was afraid it would, she still wasn't comfortable telling them, but she couldn't keep warding off Jareth's advances and her belly was getting more noticeable.
"Like a puppy or something? Samba is getting pretty big." Emily popped a piece of yellow cheese into her mouth and chewed noisily, her puppy wasn't a dog, but the small guardian that Annie had called to watch her. The ball of fluff had taken quite the fancy to the little girl in the last six months and was constantly with her.
Jareth was silent. She didn't look at him, but buttered a piece of bread, and then poured herself a cup of juice from the cold pitcher. "No, it's not a puppy. It's a baby." There, she said it. She felt sick to her stomach, not nausea, but like perhaps she had done something that was erroneous.
She finished pouring her drink and raised it to her lips, looking at him finally. There were tears in his eyes, falling down his cheeks slowly. "Jareth!" she set her cup down and stared at him for a moment. "What ever is wrong?"
Emily's eyes widened at Jareth, No wonder Annie was worried to tell us, he's leaking!
"Nothing," he said his lip quavering. "I just… I just am worried about you, that's all."
"Oh, goodness, what is wrong with me! I completely forgot again! Jareth, there is no danger in me being pregnant. I am a Druid, and a powerful one at that. We are the daughters of a long generation of druidic tradition." He didn't relax, nor did recognition dawn, so she continued. "I didn't know a lot about our past until I came back to the Glade, for the first three days that I came I locked myself in the library and read the books that my father never let me read as a child. These books explained our history, our heritage and why we don't discuss our biology with doctor's outside the clans." She paused and waited for his tears to go away. "Jareth, our magic steams from the Mother herself. We have spent hundreds of thousands of years learning to accept pregnancy. Most Fae women have a hard time with pregnancy because their immortal bodies object to being with child. We trained our bodies to accept a child and nurture not attempt to reject it the whole time. How often does a Druid ask for a child?"
"Never, they don't ever ask." He said, his tears retreating.
"Right, but Druid women always have a child or two in tow, right?"
"Well, yes, but… but how can you. You know very little of your heritage."
"My mother wasn't a Druid. She was a powerful Fae, but her magic stemmed from the Eerie, not the Glade. She had two children within forty-five years of each other, unheard of from a non-druid woman. Our stepbrothers were no more then twenty years apart. There were six of them." She hoped that this information would put his fears to rest. "My gestational time will be much less and the pregnancy much easier. We haven't lost a woman in child birth in the last three thousand years."
"And you are sure of this?"
"Yes! Jareth! I never understood why fae women were always so terrified and rejoiced to find they were with child before Aelis explained it. I don't see how you people ever have children at all!" She smiled at him, and took his hand placing it on her stomach, "Feel her, she will be here soon."
"Soon? How soon? You said the duration is shorter…" Jareth smiled at her, feeling the unborn baby's inherent magic.
"About six months longer, though it feels as if she will come early, so maybe as early as five months. "
"She?" Emily and Jareth said in unison.
"Yes, she. I can feel her, and communicate with her on an emphatic level. She is very soothed and comfortable now, near her aunt and father."
Emily's eyes widened in the wonderment. "A princess and an aunt." She placed a hand on her sister's belly and felt the baby there, the magic was faint, but she could sense where it was coming from and could indeed feel that the child was female.
"I can tell she's a girl. What is her name?"
"Good question. What shall we name her?" Jareth asked, "She can communicate with us, she needs a name."
"Do you have a suggestion, she didn't like any that I liked."
"I like the name Arden." He said. Arden was his grandmother's name, an old name with much power in it.
"Arden," she breathed, she liked it very much and the surge of delight that overwhelmed her from the growing child in her body was enough to let her know that it was the name that the child wanted. "Very well, Arden." She laughed at Jareth's look. "Eat before everything warms up!" She finished her bread and started on some cheese and fruit.
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"I told you she was pregnant," Byron hissed at Hilliard.
"What are you talking about you fool?"
"My porter and Oberon's porter are brother's. They just announced to the High Royal Couple that they are going to have a child."
"Good, more likely then not she will die in childbirth and we can start over with the girl."
"How is that?" Byron asked suspiciously.
"Because, the girl is young, and it will be much easier to convince Titania and Oberon that she should marry a man well suited to teach her the ways of Royalty, and she certainly can't marry Jareth now that he is family." Hilliard shook his head and drank his tea; he was always so calm. His legs were crossed, and the gentlemanly ruffle at his neck was spotless and wrinkles. Byron was beginning to hate him.
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"Oh, have you decided on a name for my newest granddaughter?" Titania asked pointedly. They had been sitting together for nearly an hour, choosing colors for the new baby's room, but Annalisa hadn't said much.
Annalisa smiled at her mother in law. She had taken to Emily easier and the younger woman appreciated that she loved the girl as much as she would love the new baby. "Yes, actually, her name is Arden."
"Arden. Jareth came up with that did he? It was my mother's name, before she ascended. A good name." She smiled and touched her daughter in law's stomach, feeling the baby move ever so slightly. "It's rather comforting that she will be here soon, isn't it?"
"Yes, it is. Jareth burst into tears when I told him I was pregnant. He had no idea about Druid's I'm afraid."
"Well, why should he? He was sure he would never marry, even when your mother refused the union years ago, I knew that it would happen on its own though. I remember you, six years old and your eyes followed him the whole time you were near him.' Titania laughed at the look Annalisa gave her. "Don't be so coy girl. I knew all along."
She was speechless, she remembered vaguely meeting Jareth as a child, but didn't know that she had a 'crush' on him. Nor did she know that a marriage was nearly set up. "My mother refused?"
Titania nodded, "Yes," apparently she wasn't going to give any information that wasn't asked directly.
"She said no? But I married him anyway, she didn't seem…" she trailed off, thoughtful, her hands went to her belly and she sighed.
"She didn't seem what? Have you spoken to her?"
"Yes, I…" she paused again, looking at Titania, horrified that she had revealed her secret. She was nearing her due time, and she and Jareth had spoke at length about how they would handle Hilliard and Byron, and much to her dismay Jareth asked her to wait until after the baby was born. He was still worried about her, but because she was certain that she and the child would be fine he wanted to wait, so there was no added stress. "She was banished. When we were married I was able to speak with her for a short time. I found some things out that were very disturbing. She knew that I was marrying Jareth and wasn't upset about it at all."
Titania sat for a moment absorbing the information. I suppose I can tell her the truth. She has already decided that she wants to stay with Jareth, because they are still married, and the child will be here soon, so even if she does decide that she no longer wants him then there is an heir and she must take the throne. "Daughter, I am going to explain something to you, and you may be upset but I think that the importance of what I am going to say will overcome the upset." She waited for a nod from Annalisa. "Your father was a good man, he loved his wives and all of his children more then anything in the world. He protected the Glade with his life. Your mother, as you know was a very powerful woman, she was born to the youngest son of the Dragon Monarchs. When fae have children, weather it is with Druids or the Dragon Kin or the Prime the power is passed on, and usually it diminishes partly, but when you were born the power increased. You are a powerful druid. Your magic steams from the earth and the Mother directly, instead of the sky like Prime or from their ancestor's like the Dragon Kin. Even Jareth pales in your wake."
Annalisa nodded, she knew this already. Her mother was Dragon Kin, and Jareth and his parents Prime Fae. The difference were really only in philosophy, but once it had caused wars. She used her magic for very little, believe that abstentious use was frivolous and stupid. Perhaps it was the blood that flowed in her body but she had always felt that way.
"When Jareth was born I had a very easy pregnancy, much easier then my sister's had ever had, and that was a concern to be sure. It was a gift from the Mother that he be born. He was a very sweet child, but I never felt it right to betroth him, as he grew older he grew…"
"Obnoxious, flamboyant… rude…" Annalisa smiled as she tried to help her mother in law.
"Flamboyant. Though, and Oberon and I decided that soon it would be our times to ascend, but, as you know, we cannot unless there is a replacement for us. When the former Goblin King reached his ascension and had no heirs, so we placed our son in charge of the Goblins, hoping to humble him. He actually did a very good job, but his hedonistic ways were still prevalent and we worried for the crown. When you were born I knew that you should be my son's wife. When you were presented to me to be named I knew that you would be perfect, it was a sign from the Mother to be sure. You were so meek as a child, you never cried, you were so smart, I just knew that it would be perfect. Then later your mother said no, that you must love him to marry him. Jareth to be sure was pleased, he stated very plainly at court that he would marry no woman of my choosing and that was final."
The younger woman listened calmly, she wasn't upset, just confused. This was strange behavior on her mother in law's part. "So what happened?"
"Well, nothing more was said until the attack on the Glade. There were rumors of whom it was, but they were never confirmed, and when we found that you and Emily had managed to get to the Labyrinth I was positive it was another sign. Jareth asked me what to do in a formal Court petition, and I couldn't stop myself but I declared that he would be your and Emily's guardian. I suppose I thought that even if he didn't love you or couldn't love you as a woman then the familiarity would grow into love and you would wed anyway. I saw the way he watched you and Emily together through the crystals and I feared that perhaps he loved you as a father, but that changed rapidly as you grew into womanhood. So beautiful, but you always managed to keep him on his toes, running him in circles until he couldn't tell which way was up. My son, a powerful mage, heir to the High Throne was overwhelmed by a child!" She paused a minute smiling genuinely at her before continuing, "When he asked me to find you a husband because you were arguing. The look on his face when I suggested that you choose a mate for yourself said all that needed to be said. He needed to be your husband. Because he loved and loves you, and he needs you. You make him whole, he has never been so docile as when you are in the room! So at my son's request I choose a husband for you, and I chose my son."
"I thank you, you have made my life much easier, but why would that upset me."
"I had marry suitor's ask for your hand in marriage, and unfortunately a few of them were ones that had been rumored to be behind your families death."
"Hilliard and Byron." She said simply, her voice fell. She knew that Titania must believe the rumors, but it was so difficult to know what to do. She couldn't do anything to them until after the baby was born, the amount of magic that she would have to use would surely damage Arden.
"Perhaps. Your mother died a terrible death, and the magic that locked her from this realm was strong, but not so strong that a circle of the seven most powerful Fae to join the two most powerful Fae broke the block shortly and you were able to see your mother. When a Fae dies they do not go to the Groove. They go to a spirit world where they wonder until born again or forget to come to this plane. There are very few ways that we can die, cold iron, powerful death magic, and others. Your mother obviously decided not to be reborn until she could give you the information to revenge her and Darren."
"So you knew."
"Not exactly, but I knew that something happened in that circle between the times that you heard and repeated your vows. Kilandra remarked on it to me, but I denied it at the time." She pattered her daughter in law's hand. "Enough secrets being revealed today, does Arden like this pink shade?"
The baby responded with a sharp kick to Annie's rib. "Apparently not."