Chapter Two.
The whisperings of dawn caressed Ferdinand's face, and he uncurled, stretching his lean body out. Pushing himself up on the pillows, he looked around him. Renersa was curled around Jareth's form. Elsia and Lendara were a mass of marble white limbs, and silver and red hair. Rising up from the extravagance of the covers the Duke stood, his bare feet touching with the cold stone floor, a chill going through his body at the touch, making every hair stand on end. He saw a thin silk robe hanging on a hook by the balcony door, he grabbed it and slipped it on, its green fabric resting lightly on his skin. Slowly he opened the glass door and stepped out into the light. A rosy pink dawn greeted him and slowly the remorse crept through his brain, he remembered watching such a morning with his sister, before her wedding.
"Her first wedding," he muttered, clenching his fists. She had been scared of the duties that were to be expected of her as a wife and as a Duchess. He had stayed up with her the entire night, soothing her fears and listening to her troubles. He rubbed at his eyes so that his vision might clear of the morning fog.
"How do you like my kingdom?" The Goblin King's voice whispered on the back of Ferdinand's neck. Slowly turning to face him, Ferdinand's clear blue eyes met with the dark unmatched gaze of his liege.
"So far, your highness," he bowed his head, "I find it quite pleasing. Indeed if all my time here is to be spent such as this," he gestured to the bedroom "I will be easily convinced that indeed I did die, and betwixt Hell and Heaven here is some isle of pleasure in which I managed to find myself most pleasantly waylaid."
Jareth caught Ferdinand's hand in his own, bringing it up to his lips, he kissed the inner wrist and promised, "That was only the beginning, my boy, only the beginning." With that he dove off of the balcony.
Ferdinand rushed to look over the side. He saw the Goblin King's naked form gracefully plunging down to the topiary below. The body of a monarch was then replaced with the body of a small white barn own, which quickly flew back up and away over the labyrinth kingdom he ruled.
The whisperings of dawn caressed Ferdinand's face, and he uncurled, stretching his lean body out. Pushing himself up on the pillows, he looked around him. Renersa was curled around Jareth's form. Elsia and Lendara were a mass of marble white limbs, and silver and red hair. Rising up from the extravagance of the covers the Duke stood, his bare feet touching with the cold stone floor, a chill going through his body at the touch, making every hair stand on end. He saw a thin silk robe hanging on a hook by the balcony door, he grabbed it and slipped it on, its green fabric resting lightly on his skin. Slowly he opened the glass door and stepped out into the light. A rosy pink dawn greeted him and slowly the remorse crept through his brain, he remembered watching such a morning with his sister, before her wedding.
"Her first wedding," he muttered, clenching his fists. She had been scared of the duties that were to be expected of her as a wife and as a Duchess. He had stayed up with her the entire night, soothing her fears and listening to her troubles. He rubbed at his eyes so that his vision might clear of the morning fog.
"How do you like my kingdom?" The Goblin King's voice whispered on the back of Ferdinand's neck. Slowly turning to face him, Ferdinand's clear blue eyes met with the dark unmatched gaze of his liege.
"So far, your highness," he bowed his head, "I find it quite pleasing. Indeed if all my time here is to be spent such as this," he gestured to the bedroom "I will be easily convinced that indeed I did die, and betwixt Hell and Heaven here is some isle of pleasure in which I managed to find myself most pleasantly waylaid."
Jareth caught Ferdinand's hand in his own, bringing it up to his lips, he kissed the inner wrist and promised, "That was only the beginning, my boy, only the beginning." With that he dove off of the balcony.
Ferdinand rushed to look over the side. He saw the Goblin King's naked form gracefully plunging down to the topiary below. The body of a monarch was then replaced with the body of a small white barn own, which quickly flew back up and away over the labyrinth kingdom he ruled.