A/N: Oh, look, brand new chapter! Yahooie. I both love and hate this chapter, so if you read it, pleasepleaseplease tell me what you think!
Much thanks again to the fabu Genesis Grey who beta'd this without me even asking! *glomps her*
I wanted to name this chapter "Queen's Sacrifice" but I realized that there was a future chapter much better suited to that name. I like what I came up with..

Lastly, a question: I want to write Faryn's perspective of this chapter. I most likely will. But, should I write it as the next chapter, or as a side story-drifty thing that's part of the story, but not necessary to read?

Hope you enjoy!


Chapter XI: Enigma in Your Eyes

The King of the Labyrinth and goblins was a child of the Nix first, and with that trait came certain abilities no goblin would ever have. The ancient power of the nix lay in the bewitching melody of each voice. With only that, a nix could ensnare the mind and heart of any lesser being. One of the Fair Ones born without a vocal power was said to be, 'born human.'

Jareth wove his voice into the music of the ballroom. The tilt of the suspended construct against the constant breeze of the high skies set in motion the lilting music that ever filled the created world. It kept those who had fallen under his spell within his power. The careful melody also blurred new minds to be more responsive to the angle of his voice against the notes.

It was a measured spell, perfected through the centuries. Jareth's voice added colour to the clear rhythm, binding thought to intent. The King melted through the crowds of dancers and bound-humans with ease. His confidence called to the enslaved ones especially, as his favor alone could set them free. No one had ever stood against the power of the bewitching melody.

Not even Sarah.

The Goblin King smiled into the song as the dancers parted to reveal their next mate. Her appearance should have pleased him. As with all of the Labyrinth's entrants, his body desired hers and he had dressed her with glamour accordingly. Soft violet wrapped her torso and legs to add sparkle to her grey eye and depth to her blue. He had given her gloves to match his own of deep indigo, bringing her costume so close to his own as to arouse rumours among any court - save the goblin.

The match should have thrilled him, boosted his confidence even further than being bedecked in his own best glamour. The midnight jacket that draped his shoulders, leaving free bunches of white lace at chest and wrist complimented her violet. His pitch black breeches finished the circle of night colours - alongside her ebony hair. His own locks of pale gold became her moon. Jareth's suspicions of Eric's plans led him to believe that mirroring the goddess of the night would give him further power over his former ward's daughter.

He should have been completely in control.

Centuries of patience kept the Goblin King from disrupting the melody. Jareth's heart raced, a sensation he'd all but forgotten. The reason was plain.

Faryn stood under the only clock within the ballroom, her hands folded calmly against her belly, staring a frown at the time piece. There was a silver chain around her throat. The pendant flickered over her hands, somehow blurred to the point he could not discern its form.

He could feel another spell, like oil against his skin, as he neared the human girl. Had Calypso gotten to her first, wrapping some casting into her very person? No nix magic could pass the edges of the construct, he reminded himself. Even rebuilt as the bubble was, it was imperative to keep his magic within. Nothing could pass either way.

Jareth reacted as any nix in a battle of tune; the Goblin King raised his voice and sped the rhythm, pressing his casting against the rival spell. Something shattered in the space between, attacking his senses as shards of glass.

Yet the ballroom remained intact. Faryn did not flee, destroying the delicate constructed dream as her mother had. The melody continued, uncaring. The occupants danced on, unaware.

Faryn turned from the clock with its thirteen gleaming eyes, her countenance soft once more. She smiled, openly.

Gently.

Brilliantly.

The Goblin King silently admitted that he should never have brought the children of the Labyrinth's strongest stars to enter his Kingdom. And he should never have rested eyes on Faryn. He had been twice fooled by the innocence of that face.

The lady curtsied before him. From habit, he bent his torso in response. For habit, he took her hand and put his on her waist, sweeping them into the dance without hesitation. All the while, she held him in her eyes, smiling without falter.

"Well met, you majesty," She complimented his impeccable step with a glance. "But you look surprised," Faryn added.

The humour in her voice reminded the Goblin King of his purpose. One side of his mouth tilted up in a characteristic smirk. "With reason, dear lady; you surprised me."

Faryn's smile broadened, causing the Goblin King a shameful burst of pride. "Did my mother's victory teach you nothing?"

It was his turn to lavish her with a grin. "The Labyrinth and I have had ample time to forget that humiliation."

They wound between dazzling glamour-constructs and beatific fallen humans to the lilt of her laughter.

"Did you love her?" Faryn's features dimmed as she asked, changing the openness in her eyes from confident woman to desperate child. Jareth wanted to wipe that look away.

The sudden internal strike at his gut, however, told him not to lie. "Not as much as I thought I did," his lips said without the permission of their ruler.

"So, is this also Sarah's dress," Faryn asked, quickly changing the subject. She seemed to have plastered a smile on her face that she desperately wanted to be true.

To honour her, Jareth took it as truth. "Her gown was meant to be rose," he corrected with a slight toss of his head. "Your own mimics the lilac."

The raven-haired beauty frowned, as though the flower explanations were given in another language entirely. "What's the difference?"

Jareth playfully spun her thrice about a confused dreaming couple, letting a simple smile sit on his lips. "Only the obvious," the Goblin King answered in all seriousness.

Faryn's lips twitched into a smirk she was heavily resisting. "Now," she directed with the air of royalty. "Pretend I'm not a nix and answer that again."

A flash of genuine smile crossed his face before he could control himself. Jareth briefly argued with himself that there was no reason to behave as the child he was portraying. The argument was wiped from his mind as his dancing lady widened her eyes and dipped her chin in askance. "Lilac blooms later than rose."

"Ah."

Time stood still as the king of the Labyrinth twirled his lady about his constructed dream. They spoke as easily as friends to melody after melody; an act Jareth found great comfort in. Aside from the goblins and the fallen ones, there were only the Lady Advisor of the Nixes Kingdoms and her entourage to talk to. No one to simply banter with. Faryn broke the spell by stating that she wanted to ask him something frank. If she had asked for his physical heart to sacrifice at an alter of her father's design, he would have given it to her.

Faryn locked his gaze, asking, "Why do you do this?"

Jareth offered a benign smirk, mocking himself. "It's an ancient ritual to lure and accept the sacrifice of a virgin. In that respect, the Labyrinth is a dragon and I am her bait." The Goblin King did not sigh in relief - he could not decide which question was more deadly.

He expected resistance, but Sarah's daughter only nodded. "This labyrinth lives on the souls of those that fail to solve it?"

They dodged the enthusiastic grace of a tired dream, reminded Jareth that time was against him, by his own rule. "No. There is only one Labyrinth and all of its faces are supported by your innocence and dreams. That benefit lays in not needing your failures." The King of the Labyrinth smiled as a proud parent, adding a secret against his better judgment. "Hope is more potent."

Faryn chuckled, twirling from his hand and back with the rhythm of the dance. "Then why not simply engender hope," she asked as if it were the most logical thing in the world. It was. But the Labyrinth was a vast and hungry child. Jareth did not stop the shrug of his shoulders as he answered. "It is easier to lure with a threat than a promise." "That's a bit backwards from where I lived."

The Goblin King was perplexed by her use of past tense, yet did not let it hinder his response. "More people will chase their siblings into dream than simply believe that they can have that dream."

The dark haired girl offered a faint smile, tossing her head to brush curls back across her shoulder. "I'm not most people."

This time, Jareth held his tongue as he mulled over her responses. He had not imagined it. She was offering exactly what she seemed to be. She danced with patience as he stared, drinking in her easy smile, and dark, dark curls.

Her face was Sarah's, but those eyes were pure Eric. For a moment, the Goblin King saw his ward's features over those of the woman who had beaten him. A stab of pain took him, suddenly, in the heart.

Faryn wanted to stay. Eric had wanted to stay.

Faryn had all of her father's potential and more. Her father's potential.

She had beauty, grace, perfection. She could raise Jareth's status as Eric had - a reputation his ward had then destroyed.

Their similarities were a cruel reminder of his failure. A mistake he could not, would not, repeat.

Faryn frowned at the same time he came to his conclusion. Jareth said nothing, swirling and twirling them faster and faster though the construct. The blurred scenery behind Faryn changed with its King's will.

They spun to a stop in the middle of a cobblestone bridge. The orange sky replaced the lace and darkness of the dream. The dim forms of the Enchanted Forest and the Bog of Eternal Stench far below the wall beneath their feet took the place of the whirling dancers.

Ignoring her expression of shock, Jareth brought his hands to Faryn's shoulders. He had intended to shake sense into Sarah's daughter, but was stopped when she pushed her hands to his chest to hold him at bay.

Jareth did not want her afraid of him

The Goblin King wrapped his arms around the proclaimed Lorialet, pressing Faryn's head to his chest and his lips to her hair. Jareth held as tightly as he dared and still felt miles away from the human woman.

Woman indeed, he mocked himself. A slip of a human, not even two decades old, ruled him. It was unheard of.

Jareth didn't care.

"Finish this task you have set for yourself," The King of the Labyrinth encouraged. "Break Eric's spells. Come to my castle, but deny me when you arrive.

"Do not say the words I've seen in your eyes."

Faryn's fingers curled against the lace on his chest. She didn't seem inclined to move. "You've seen my world, Jareth," she whispered against his arm. "It's nothing like this."

The Goblin King shook his head, bringing her scent into his nose. "Don't give up something you've only begun to understand."

"I didn't understand the bruises on my body or the blood of my dying mother," she snapped, pushing away from him.

Jareth didn't let her go. He relaxed his hold just far enough to look into her mismatched eyes.

Faryn struggled no farther. She looked hurt, and the expression affected the Goblin King more than he expected.

"Should I have wanted to explore those," the dark haired woman asked softly.

The arm around her shoulders moved of its own accord, bringing his knuckles to brush Faryn's entrancing hair from her more potent eyes. "No."

"What happens if I choose to stay?"

Jareth never got the chance to break an answer to her, as a scream beat him to it.