Chapter 33: A Pleasant Day for a Ride
"Sarah, you look smashing," Jareth told her when she entered.
"Thank you for the clothes. Any particular reason you wanted us to dress as twins today?" Sarah was discovering the straightforward approach was best with him, no matter now trivial the subject.
He grinned. "Well, it's my favourite outfit, and my favourite person. Why not put the two together?"
"Very nice. Anything else?" Sarah raised her eyebrows and waited.
"Of course," he said. "There's always something else. I rarely do anything without a reason, Sarah."
"That much about you I know already! Do I get to hear the real reason, or is that on a 'need to know' basis too?" she teased.
He said nothing, but merely offered her his arm and led her away down to the stables. The groom had two horses saddled and waiting for them, and he bowed as they approached.
"Good morning, Your Majesty. Good morning, Your Highness," he greeted them both.
Sarah stopped dead. "Your Highness?" she whispered to Jareth.
"Later," was all he said.
Sarah found to her delight that horse riding wasn't that hard. Jareth had given her a very gentle grey gelding named Dover, who walked along quite nicely beside is own chestnut mare, Janna (which he pronounced Yanna). Jareth showed her acres and acres of the maze that she'd never seen on her first trip, and then headed out to the lands beyond the Labyrinth. They stopped to picnic on a large flat rock overlooking a luscious valley, while the two horses grazed quietly behind them.
Sarah only invoked the Goblin King once, by accident, when she asked him how he came to be King of the Goblins. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, her amiable companion was gone. The Goblin King, in his open shirt, tight vest, and wild hair was sitting there smirking at her.
"The question, lovely Sarah, is not so much how I came to be king, but how I shall convince you to become queen." He stood up and strode over to her.
How could any two-legged being move so much like a cat, Sarah wondered? Not wanting a repeat of his performance in her car—
Not wanting? Are you sure? Her body asked with a tingle.
Not wanting. Very sure, her mind answered firmly…but added a very quiet little …yet.
Sarah, wanting to ask him a couple of questions in his formal capacity, ignored the strong attraction that flared up when she saw him, and decided to go with the direct approach.
"Won't you sit down, Your Majesty?" she asked, scooting over to make more room on the rock next to her.
"Are you afraid of me, Sarah?" he asked with a mocking smile.
She shook her head after just a second's hesitation. "No, Your Majesty, but I do find you a little intimidating when you're acting amorous. It makes me feel pressured, and if I'm pressured I'm likely to get stubborn and end up refusing your proposal. Since you claim to not want that, would you mind terribly if we just sat together and talked?"
With a knowing smirk he gave her a royal nod and lowered himself to sit next to her. Much too close, of course.
Sarah ignored his proximity as best she could and asked him, "Your Majesty, do you have a choice about how to show up when someone speaks your title as opposed to your name?"
"There are always choices," he replied.
"What I mean is… well, what I'm wondering is whether…" Sarah heard herself babbling and forced herself to continue. "How do the two parts of you fit together? Are you both required to show up when someone calls your title or your name?"
The king laughed darkly. "Is that what Jareth told you?"
"S-sort of."
He shook his leonine head. "We are two parts of the same person, my dear. It is a matter of which aspect is required at any given moment that dictates which of us shows up. It is a measure of how much I trust you, darling Sarah, that I allow myself to be Jareth around you so much."
"I appreciate the compliment," said Sarah, for she really did. "But which one were you twelve years ago when you came to get Toby?"
"Ah, you had called on me formally. I appeared to you in this incarnation." The king was quiet for a moment, remembering, and then spoke again. "As soon as I was out of your presence, though, young Toby appealed to my softer side. It was Jareth who sang to him and fed him and kept him entertained." He pulled her closer. "You would have a royal persona as well," he murmured as he began to gather her into his arms. "Once we're married, we'll be able to interact on a number of different levels… like this one." He kissed her: hard, hungry kisses that left her body humming. He pulled away to say something, but—caught up in the moment—Sarah grabbed the back of his head and pulled him closer to kiss again. He lifted her up onto his lap and pressed his lips to her neck.
A/N: All right, y'all can stop the picketing for "more fluff" now. I hear ya, I hear ya! --wink--