A/N: Please R&R, feedback is what I live for. Well that and chocolate…and coffee (^_^)

To Redaura: have an e-cookie for being such a great and loyal reviewer (::)

To Carol: Really? I had no idea. Sorry for the wait and I hope this is up to scratch. I'll try and re-post as quickly as possible (the new policy is evil! Evil I tell you!) You can have an e-cookie too, since you had to wait so long. (::)

Anyone else who wants an e-cookie is just gonna have to review. (^_~)

Disclaimer: Don't own, yadda yadda

Kara had eventually stopped crying. Not that she didn't still feel miserable but her throat was raw, her eyes swollen and stinging and she simply had no tears left. She lay curled in the dark little cave that her bed became with the curtains drawn, feeling tired and empty. Wriggling under the thick quilt and pulling it around herself she sighed, burying her face in the pillows. She felt the bed dip but didn't look up. She felt a tiny trill of excitement but nevertheless she did not want Hunter to see her eyes all red and swollen with crying, nor did she feel she could talk without sounding like she'd swallowed some sandpaper.

"Well I must admit, you don't exactly look like a future princess at the moment."

Not the voice she'd been expecting. Kara sat up, startled. "Jareth!" he had pushed the curtains aside and was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking for all the world as if he had every right to be.

"The one and only," he answered with a smile.

"What are you doing here?" she asked staring at him in shock and pulling the covers up to her chin, an outward sign of her insecurity.

He smiled gently at her. "I came to see my favourite couple," he explained, "and instead I find the Prince tending matters of sate, as if his father couldn't take care of that, and you in bed crying like someone killed your puppy. What has he done?" He demanded with a sudden frown.

Kara managed a small smile. Ever since she had agreed to marry Hunter, Jareth had been visiting sporadically and had become as close a friend to Kara as he was to Hunter. "A more appropriate question would be what hasn't he done," she told him, thinking of the many hours spent alone in these rooms.

Jareth moved further on to the bed, resting his back against the headboard, propping up one leg while the other stayed stretched out lazily on the mattress. He dropped one arm over her shoulder. "Tell Uncle Jareth what's wrong." This drew a laugh from her as he had hoped it would.

"I'm having a little trouble picturing you as the concerned Uncle," she told him with a sceptical look.

"I'm not the concerned uncle, I'm the rakish uncle," he said, pretending to be offended. "You'd better remember that when you send your children visiting."

"At this rate there won't be any children! We're never in the same room long enough." She sighed leaning her head on Jareth's shoulder. "I've barely been able to say two words to him since we got here. It's just been meeting after meeting after duty and on and on."

Jareth pulled her into a warm fatherly hug, stroking her hair. "His father just wants to be sure that Hunter accepts something before the wedding. Unfortunately he doesn't seem to know that Hunter already understands his obligations and duties and Darius doesn't have a single romantic bone in his body so he would fail to realise that the two of you need time alone together. The old man's gotten far too used to arranged marriages that don't mean very much to the people involved."

"You think so," Kara asked with a little sniffle.

"I know so!" he declared. "Although he could also be intent on seeing to it that you're a virgin on the wedding day," he added with a grin.

Kara laughed a little, "Well if that's the case he's doing an admirable job."

Suddenly the curtains were jerked harshly back and light flooded Kara's sanctuary, temporarily blinding her. Jareth glanced up but remained otherwise unfazed.

"My father is doing such a good job of it that I find my fiancée in bed with my best friend!" Hunter raged.

Kara's vision cleared after she blinked a few times and on seeing Hunter, she wished it hadn't. His face was contorted with anger, showing his fangs and that element of him that wasn't human. In anger the blue of his eyes bled into violet, turning them into two violet flames in a pale face. Kara pulled back, away from Jareth and away from Hunter.

"Hunter…" she began but he had already turned and was storming from the room.

"Well I see he's still a bit of an ass," Jareth joked but his tone softened as he saw how distraught and pale Kara had become. "Go after him," he urged. "Unless you would like me to talk to the hot tempered fool?" he added with a meaningful look in the direction Hunter had just gone.

Kara shook her head dumbly and jumped from the bed. Oblivious to the fact that she was wearing just a thin silk nightgown. She didn't even stop long enough to grab her robe. She was in time to see him take the right at the end of the corridor and hurried after him.

"Hunter!" she called out, feelings of desperation and helplessness welling inside her. He stopped but she could see every line of tension in his body as he held himself perfectly still. The last time she'd seen him like this was when one of the vampire nobility had insulted her in court for being human, right before he had hit the man in question hard enough to break his jaw. She stopped about three feet behind him. He didn't turn, waiting for her to speak, his fists clenched by his sides. Kara hesitated, not sure where to begin. 'It's not what you think,' sounded petty and weak even to her. Instead she let down her walls and opened the connection to him. He however had put up his own defences and he had much more practice at keeping unwanted visitors from his mind. Still she propped around the edges of his shield, hoping for a way in. It was the best way she could think of for him to see the truth.

"I…I would never," she began hesitantly and he spun to face her, his eyes sill blazing with luminescent fire. The action startled her so much she lost her concentration and her attempts to reach his mind fell away.

He stalked towards her and she took an involuntary step backwards. He kept coming until he had backed her up against the wall. Lowering his head until their lips almost met, he ground out, "Look me in the eyes and tell me I did not just catch you in bed with Jareth."

"Well technically we were in the same bed, but" she hesitated at the look in his eyes before managing to continue in a slightly breathy voice that trembled far to much for her liking, "we are not having an affair!" she kept her eyes locked with his, letting them challenge him into calling her a liar. She tried pushing at his mind again and this time there were no shields to stop her.

~Believe me. Trust me.~   

He held her gaze for a heartbeat that lasted a century before breathing out, all of the tension draining from his body. He leaned into her, bracing his arms on either side of her head and nuzzling her neck.

~I do.~

Relieved she wrapped her arms around his waist.

"Tomorrow I'm telling my father I'm taking the day off," he whispered against her neck.

"Really? She asked hopefully. He pulled back, cupping her chin and forcing her head up gently till she was looking into his eyes, they were back to the startling blue of summer skies. "Really," he promised. He lowered his mouth to hers again and flicked his tongue over her bottom lip before catching it in his mouth and sucking gently. Sighing she pressed her body against the length of his and he wrapped his arms around her waist, lifting her off her feet with every intention of carrying her back to his room, meetings be damned. 

"Well I'm so glad you got that sorted out," Jareth remarked coolly.

Hunter growled against her lips in frustration before setting her gently back on her feet. He glared at the Goblin King. "Do you mind?"

"Not at all, but I think the servants might if they found the two of behaving like that in the corridor and with your future wife in nothing but her night-gown," he retorted. Kara blushed and looked away, realising that the nightgown was thin and clung, leaving very little to the imagination.

Hunter stalked towards his friend, "the servants would ignore it if they knew what was good for them," he stated harshly.

Jareth smirked, "but I doubt your father would and servants talk." Jareth had a much better grasp on just how far Daruis and most of the vampire kingdom took notions of propriety and vampire nobility must never be seen behaving in such a manner in public. At least never with a human, unless of course the reputation of the human in question didn't matter and Kara's reputation mattered. Gossip travels, even into other kingdoms and Jareth was aware, even if Hunter wasn't, that the very last thing the nobles of this land needed was more ammunition against Kara.  There were enemies of Hunter who were already whispering poison that Kara was nothing more than a good roll in the hay and the Prince was temporarily besotted with a pretty human face and what she did in the bedroom.

Hunter grimaced, the only sign he was giving that he conceded to Jareth's point.

"I should go back to my room," Kara muttered before hurrying off. Maybe she'd get lucky and Hunter would follow and maybe explain why he'd managed to drop by at lunchtime anyway. Both men watched her go. Hunter sighed as she rounded the corner out of his sight. Turning to Jareth he whacked him on the arm, playfully.

"Please don't let me catch you in bed with my future wife again."

"If you weren't neglecting her I wouldn't be there comforting her!"

"Why were you there anyway?"

"I came to see you, you were busy so I thought I'd see how Kara was getting on until you were out of whatever the hell you were in."

"What's up?"

"Ulrich's been awfully quiet for the past couple of months. I don't like it."

"So you though you'd give me a heads up?"

Jareth shrugged, "more or less. Whether or not you'll actually listen is up to you."

"And the best way to do that was from Kara's bed," he retorted, one eyebrow raised.

"Did you even notice she's been crying?" Jareth asked his friend.

Hunter frowned. He hadn't noticed she'd been crying, but the glimpse he'd had of her mind had made him aware that she was lonely and unhappy. "Maybe a day off tomorrow was a better idea than I thought it was."

"Maybe," Jareth gave Hunter an assessing stare. "I have to return. I'll keep an eye on Ulrich as well as I'm able but be careful." Hunter nodded in assent. "And keep an eye on Kara," Jareth added before disappearing in a swirl of glitter.

"Show off," Hunter muttered before wandering slowly back to the meeting he'd put on hold in order to say a quick, surprise hello to Kara. His day just kept getting better and better.