Toby barely noticed the stone-walled room he was in, or the noisy throngs of creatures around him. All he knew was that his eyes were tightly fixed on Jareth's face, hating the half-goblin for what had just happened, for the stinging slap he kept replaying in his mind.
Eyes of two different colours glanced at him before the Goblin King turned to holler for peace. The goblins cringed back and retreated to the walls. Jareth slowly sat down in his throne and regarded the boy now standing alone before him. Sunlight filtered through the open windows, striking flecks of gold through his blond hair. Sky blue eyes glared malevolently at him and, for just an instant, Jareth felt a whisper of concern slide down his spine. "What shall I do with you?" he settled on, smiling slightly to cover his discomfort.
Toby's anger deepened if that were possible. "Whatever you like. I'm now your property, my Lord," he sneered, folding his arms.
Jareth's dark brows steepled in surprise. "My Lord?" he questioned dubiously, "We are bonded. We are lovers in the spirit and might perhaps be something more. Such formality is not for us."
A general gasp at the news from the goblins along with a few giggles and leers.
Toby flushed and hunched slightly in shame. "I'm not your damn lover!" he snapped, "And I never will be, so get that through your thick head!" Outright laughter greeted the insult.
Jareth went paler than he was, but felt the beginning of molten fury sift through his veins. "Quiet!" he snarled, a hand outstretched. The goblins stopped instantly. Jumping lightly from his seat, he decided instantly that he would make this unruly bond mate submit... one way or another.
Toby stood still, the angered angel in a dinghy room filled with creatures steadfastly of the earth. And circling him- neither angel nor earthy creature- a being more divine and more murky than either of those groups. The mortal told himself to stay still, told himself not to betray his apprehension. But he couldn't suppress a gasp as his arm was caught in a vice-like grip, so painful his knees buckled and his eyes watered.
"Do not defy me," the Goblin King warned, tightening his fingers just that pinch more. He saw hatred intensify with the fear. "If I were you, I would remember the feeling of my fingers on your flesh. It will happen again and I can indeed be cruel, child." Toby wrenched his arm away once the pressure dropped and clapped his other hand to the bruises. But Jareth's hands were now on his waist, pulling him closer. "And if you are, as you say, my property," he purred.
Toby's eyes widened a split second before he forced himself out of the half-goblin's powerful hold. Falling to the floor, he scrabbled backwards, only to find a thick wall of goblins blocking his way.
Trapped! He was trapped with a prowling predator in front of him and a blockade of minions behind him. Toby got to his feet and clenched his fists, his head hammering and his senses still disoriented from the past hour. Jareth grabbed his wrist easily and spun him, forcing the trapped arm up against the smooth back. The goblins cheered, even though their King didn't notice them, tuning them out in his characteristic indifference to their presence as he concentrated on establishing his power once and for all.
Toby's mouth was gasping in shallow gulps of air against the pain. It felt like his shoulder was being ripped off; the grip was far too tight. He felt the hold jerk suddenly and bit the inside of his lip against the pain.
"Does it hurt?" a soft voice whispered in his ear, "You know how to make it stop?"
Toby shook his head in answer. He didn't know this Goblin King. How was he supposed to know what to do? And he was damned well not going to apologize in public. He wouldn't! He had the feeling that this was beyond apology in any case. The grip was only getting tighter and he couldn't think straight. The fear and the panic and the reckless anger made him want to just shut the rest of the world out. Never mind. It didn't matter. If he concentrated, he could tell himself he was only dreaming. That it wasn't happening. It was just another Dream.
Jareth felt Toby tense against him and he pushed the arm just a little higher up the thin back. He couldn't do this much longer. Toby's arm wouldn't stand the strain and Jareth preferred to conquer this without actual pain or harm. "Let your instincts guide your actions. What am I asking to release you?"
The voice was so close to his ear, that raw silk voice, and the spell broken instantly. The pain was worse than before and he clenched his jaw to keep from asking for it to stop. But in spite of that he would do anything! Say anything to stop this! Toby shut his eyes, ignoring the knives of pain gliding into his flesh and concentrated- Jareth was a complete bastard... no, that wasn't helpful in this situation. Jareth was proud... that was it! Toby had offended his pride by denying him. So now what? A small thought, as slight and slender as a ray of sunlight filtered discreetly through his blood. A notion of something inside him knowing what he was being asked for... sighing inwardly in defeat, Toby pressed firmly down on his anger and relaxed backwards.
The hold miraculously lightened. A hand stroked his abused shoulder soothingly, as a master would pat a spirited horse. "Good," Jareth chuckled, "You see what I mean? Look more to break my grip."
Toby didn't like this game. He was directly facing the crowd of goblins and the avid interest in what should have been private was sickening. This was all just another Dream, he reasoned. He didn't have to fear because he'd soon wake up. So he could afford to shut his eyes and go back to that sunbeam in his head.
Jareth waited, Toby's hair was soft against his face. And the smell! If he could bury himself in a smell, it would have to be Toby's hair- fine silken hair like a heavy tapestry. And the body he was holding slumped backwards into him, still tense, but allowing itself to be held in defeated submission- triumph. Jareth let go and helped Toby to steady himself, carelessly rubbing life back into the wounded shoulder with his gloved hand.
Blue eyes wouldn't look at him, choosing to stare at the uneven patterns of the floor. A goblin spat at Toby's ankle and the boy still wouldn't raise his head.
Jareth reacted instinctively. He hauled the wriggling creature out and tossed him to the ground. "Apologize," he ordered, the riding crop suddenly in hand.
The goblin whimpered and cowered. Toby wouldn't respond.
"Now!" The blow landed.
"I's sorry," the pitiful being whined, licking his lips.
Toby looked up, but not to the goblin, to Jareth. The entire hall quietened. Large sky blue eyes shone tears, echoing a sad lament of misery in any who saw them. The goblins whispered and nudged each other, stopping the games and jeers in sorrow. Boisterous they might be, but they had hearts of gold and a love for beautiful things. Jareth was merely entranced.
"You cry so easily?" he asked, "Away with you, goblins, and leave me with my bond mate." The goblins looked confused. "Oh, just get out, the lot of you!"
Toby barely heard the noisy clatter of people leaving. He didn't even notice that he was alone with a half-goblin who had expressed an interest in something he'd never thought to give any man. No, he wanted to go home! He wanted to be able to talk with his father. He wanted to tease and be teased by Sarah. He even wanted his mother to give him one of her harried kisses on his forehead, though he wouldn't admit to it. And now he never could.
"Come here, child," Jareth ordered. Toby hesitantly stepped forward, a dull suspicion on his face. "So timid," the half-goblin crowed, more for the challenge it represented than anything else, "So untrusting of anything not your own kind. Quite elvish, in fact."
"Elvish? Like elves?" Toby noted his voice was echoing in the now empty chambers. It felt the stones themselves were laughing at him.
"Have you mortals not heard of them? Slight, slim beings, they are, with a propensity for great pride and great fun. Also for excessive shyness," the Goblin King added smugly, "The description suits you, now I think of it."
"I'm not an elf," Toby snapped bracingly, shivering as a cold wind blew through the narrow windows, "And if you'll excuse me, I'm not in the mood for fun. Either your kind or mine!"
"So be it. But you are greatly indignant of your person. And you are shy."
"I just don't like creeps touching me, which is exactly what you did. And for your information, I am not shy! Just because I didn't fall into your arms and beg, 'take me, take me', doesn't mean zilch."
Jareth was quite enjoying this conversation. It was so refreshingly juvenile. And the boy was going red about the ears at the very thought of sex. "You might yet," he replied cryptically, "Your life is young and I am immortal."
"Well, you'll need it! Because that's how long you'll have to wait for me to turn gay."
"Gay?" That word again. It was familiar but Jareth couldn't quite grasp it in his mind. He frowned once more as he propped himself against a wall. An absent hand straightened a few disarrayed locks. "What does that mean, precisely- gay?"
"Oh. Um..." Toby tried to think of a way to say it, "Gay is slang for homosexual. It's more common and a hell of a lot shorter."
Jareth sighed and shook his head, his unruly hair wisping around his face. "Mortals," he mourned, "Why search for a half-witted attempt at coyness when 'homosexual' does as well? I'll never understand it. And your father does not approve?"
"Did you think that slap was a blessing?" Toby asked, turning again with his hands shoved in his pockets. Seeing as how his jeans were already far too loose, Jareth placed a little bet with himself on whether or not the added stress would drop them.
But that was neither here nor there. "You need to sleep," he said, jumping to the topic as if it were the most natural one in the world, "Follow me."
Toby was suspicious. He really wasn't in the mood to go trotting through the Castle only to land up in the Goblin King's personal bedroom. Surely Jareth wouldn't do that? He'd all but admitted to never having experienced another man before. So the half-goblin wouldn't expect him to adjust so soon?
He needn't have bothered. Jareth was not generally of the type to like unwilling partners. Seducing the inexperienced was fine; that was sport. But he would appreciate getting a reaction that didn't bore him with dull acceptance. He said as much, lowering the harshness of his commands to a softer tone- "I do not expect you to sleep in my bed on any night but the one when you are willing. No, do not tell me that that is never because never is a long time. I did not want this bond either. I knew of its existence only six months after you were gone, but kept away, hoping its very vagueness would enable me to forget it. Unfortunately a bond mate is never easy to forget."
Toby remembered Sarah once saying that Jareth had watched her run the Labyrinth in his crystal. He shivered at the distasteful thought of being spied on. "If you knew, how come you never told me earlier? Did you spy on me after you found out?"
"I am not a sexual predator," Jareth snapped, whirling on his guest with a snarl, "I do not spy on people and as I said, I tried to live without. Oh, don't look so flattered. You might not feel the same, but to the immortal, a bond mate is a serious thing. Unlike your mortal divorces, one cannot get rid of a bond mate without a great deal of trouble." He was getting rapidly more frustrated because he knew what bonds should be like and his was none of it! After all that work and study and careful planning, it had fallen to this! Toby was retreating with every threatening step he took, eyes wide in panic and that just made things worse. "A bond mate is someone who exists beyond love, exists beyond want... exists beyond the very fabric of life and death itself. I may live without you, but I can only be happy when your presence is near because that bloody bond does not appreciate being stretched between two different worlds!"
The last shout died out in the echoing stone corridor. Toby found himself two feet from the wall, blinking because they were inside the Castle and no lights had yet been lit against the shadows. It was a little flattering to hear someone say they couldn't live without him, but frankly, he didn't think he'd be getting tied down to anyone after just turning sixteen!
"I, uh, didn't know," he muttered.
"There is a lot you never will," Jareth retorted contemptuously, "Now follow quicker. I'm getting a headache dealing with you."
The walk was silent after that. Toby needed to keep close to keep his swift- footed guide in sight. There didn't seem to be any ornamentation to the Castle at all, leaving it cold and bare to his fascinated eyes. The stones were rough and worn with age, but still strong. Here and there a deep gash marked their smooth surfaces. Toby could only hope that those gashes weren't claw marks.
"In here."
Jareth stopped so abruptly that Toby almost walked right into him.
The door they walked through was a light wooden structure. Toby was glad to see that it had a lock on the inside, the old fashioned key lifting his spirits before any other furnishings had the chance.
It was simple enough, not overdecorated with frills and furbelows. But the dark wood furnishings had a grace and elegance in their austerity and the light that flooded the room was bright enough to blind. The cloth used was rich, however, being velvet or quilted silk. And the rug by the bed was fur! Toby was glad he wasn't an avid animal rights activists or he'd have screamed on the spot.
"I suggest you make this room to your liking," Jareth commented, looking around with a disinterested eye, "You'll be spending a lot of time here. You may come and go as you please; this is no prison. You cannot go back to the Aboveground in any case. I advice you not to lose yourself in my Labyrinth; it does not take kindly to mortal strangers and I might be too busy to save you. Clothes will be provided for you. Meals will be brought up here should you wish it, or you may partake of them in the dining hall. I am rarely there. The servants should be able to provide for anything else you desire."
"Wait!"
Jareth turned and raised a cold eyebrow. He was more furious with the situation he was in than he was still angry with Toby. He had been prepared, after all, for a tumultuous beginning. He was upset that he had lost his temper so easily.
Toby looked around and opened his mouth, only to shut it again. Everything sounded fine, as far as the bare minimum went, but for the rest of his life? "What am I supposed to do here?" he asked awkwardly, "I mean, what? Is there a library I can look through? Are there people I can meet? Even if you don't keep me locked in a room, I'm going to go mad if I have to sit on my ass the whole day with nothing to do."
Jareth sighed- such inelegance! "My library is open to anyone who wants to read. Just summon a goblin and they will show you. As for people... I'm afraid you'll have to find someone on your own. There are no people in the Castle except myself and my goblins." It was pure hurt pride and stubbornness that made his end, "I think you will soon see how resisting me is not a wise decision."
Toby stared as the door closed behind his bond mate with a soft click. Resisting him? Not a wise decision? What the hell was that all about? Did the Goblin King really expect him to let him have his way just so he could talk to someone? Toby flounced away and flung himself into the window seat. Realizing the window was open and not precisely made to prevent falls, he made a mental note not to do that again. But at least it gave him an escape. The way he was feeling right then, he'd take a dive through the window versus Jareth any day!