Chapter 45
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To Forgive
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"Ouch!" Sarah cried irritably as her foot was stepped on once more.
"Sorry!" Gavin winced, blushing at his clumsiness.
"When is this ball again?" Sarah snapped.
"uh the new moon?" Gavin laughed nervously. Sarah rolled her eyes and placed one of Gavin's hands back on her waist.
"We've got a lot of work to do." Sarah muttered. The new moon was only a few days away.
After a rather painful dancing lesson Sarah went to look for Jareth. She finally found him on the balcony off the throne room. "Why wasn't I informed about the Ball?" she pouted. Jareth had heard Sarah coming and could tell by her heavy footsteps that she was not in a good mood. He slowly turned after she had spoken, he was expecting her to say something about this sooner or later.
"Hmm?" he raise a brow. "I was not under the impression that you would want to attend. Seeing that you don't have a partner." he kept an uninterested tone.
"Why would I need a partner? I've gone to many balls without a date." Sarah crossed her arms.
Jareth conjured up the invitation in his hand. "Well it does state couples on the invitation." he waved it in front of her face.
Sarah batted the invitation away from her face. "Oh and I suppose you're too high and mighty to take me?" she fumed.
Jareth raised a questioning brow. "She would have us go together?" he thought to himself. His surprise quickly turned to anger. "Oh you would just love that wouldn't you?" he spat. "Living in a castle in the Underground isn't enough for you is it? You still have your pretty little head up in the clouds and now you want to play at beauty and the beast." unknown to Sarah his anger bore her a clue to his disease.
Sarah stared at the Goblin King as if he were mad. Jareth stared back down at her with wild yet passionate look and then the last rays of the setting sun fell onto her ring and he caught a glimpse of the painful reminder. "But you wouldn't save this beast." he took up his ranting once more. "No! You'd stand by his side with those cruel eyes and watch as he shriveled up into a powerless monster."
Sarah felt tears slide down her cheeks. She did not feel the familiar anger rise up within her, instead she felt only sadness and pity. "If I knew how to cure you I would!" she stated forcefully after finding her voice. "I would never wish this fate upon you." she shook her head, hurt by his words. When he said nothing she turned and fled to her room.
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The Ball
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Gavin swayed with Priya to the beautiful music of the elven orchestra. Priya laughed delightfully, "Where did a poor farm boy like you learn how to dance so well?" she questioned truly surprised and amused. Gavin grinned widely, after Sarah had chased him around the room threatening to kill him if he crushed her toes once more he took to dancing much quicker. "I took lessons after supper." he confessed.
Priya scrunched up her nose. "Lessons?" she exclaimed. "With who?"
"Sarah!" Gavin laughed.
"Sarah?" Priya laughed with him. "That must have been interested."
"Indeed! My life was threatened on multiple occasions." he agreed.
Later Priya and Gavin were able to sneak away into a private garden to escape from the constant chatter and gossip of the court. "So do you think Sarah will figure things out in time?" Gavin asked Priya.
Priya sighed sadly as they sat down on a bench. "I don't know, I use to have hope...but now..." her voice trailed off and the gazed into the dark with sad eyes. "The curse will be complete in two moons and you can hardly even call them friends. Perhaps on good days...mostly they just tolerate each other."
"But you told me that the King loves her?" Gavin protested. "The realm will be in a heap of trouble if the Duke takes the throne."
"He does love her, very much. That isn't enough though, you know how he is. They're the same you know, too prideful." Priya lamented.
"No matter what happens, I'll take care of you." Gavin whispered.
Priya smiled again, sadly. "How shall you take care of me? You'll grow old and weary and I shall still be in my youth."
Gavin looked down at the dirt mournfully. How cruel was life for him to fall in love with two women in the same year, neither of which he could ever be with. "It isn't fair." he finally commented. "How is it that a King can fall in love with a mortal yet I cannot love a fae?" he confessed to her. "How is it that Sarah can marry the Duke and I cannot be with you?" Priya cupped Gavin's face with her hands and pulled his face towards hers, she kissed him gently on the cheek. "Sarah is not mortal."
"What?" Gavin exclaimed standing.
"Shhh!" Priya pulled Gavin back down. "Quiet. No one is to know of it, not even Sarah."
"What do you mean she's not mortal?" Gavin whispered unbelieving.
"Her family comes from an old lost bloodline, they escaped during the last war to the Aboveground and mated with humans. It was fate that brought Sarah here the first time, the bloodline has returned home. The essence of the fae became dormant but it has become alive again in Sarah and her brother. They longer they stay here the less human they will become." Priya explained quietly to Gavin.
Gavin shook his head. "But if she doesn't know, why would she agree to marry the Duke if she believes herself mortal?"
Priya rolled her eyes. "Sarah's a very silly girl. Jareth is right she does have her head in the clouds. I don't know what she thinks will happen. I do know that the Duke would have tossed her aside the first moment she started to show any real aging. If she was mortal." Priya spoke angrily now. "And you're right it is not fair. I should want to have you for as long as I could, but I could not bare to watch you wither and die? I should not have encouraged your affections, it was wrong of me. You should fine a sweet mortal girl that you can have a real life with."
"If I cannot be with you. Then I shall be alone." Gavin stood and made his way back to the ballroom, leaving Priya to watch him go.
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Back at the Castle
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Jareth found Sarah sitting in her favorite spot in the dilapidated garden. He stood and watched her for a moment, her eyes were sad and distant as she gazed of into nothing. How he yearned to rekindle the fires in her eyes.
Sarah felt Jareth's presence behind her but she did not stir, she was still upset by his words from the day prior. Suddenly she felt arms wrap around her from behind and a strange flower was offered to her. "Forgive me" Jareth silky yet slightly husky voice slipped into her ears giving her goose bumps. Jareth had always kept his distance especially after the transformation and the closeness of him made her nervous. As if he sensed this he pulled away hastily and sat down next to her.
Sarah did not look at him but regarded the flower that she had accepted from him. It was strange but beautiful. "Like him" she thought to herself with a small smile. "What happened here?" she asked him referring to the dead and decaying garden courtyard.
Jareth steeled himself at this question. He questioned himself and if he should tell her the truth. "What more could I lose?" he thought before he answered her. "I built this for you, it wasn't here when you first came to win back your brother." Sarah turned and looked at him, shock written all over her face. "I thought you would stay after you won. As soon as you saw Toby you had won, but you were so insistent upon going further, you had to say those words and then you left." he stated bitterly. "For a time I thought you would return, as many had. This garden was a constant reminder of you and what you had done, so one day in a fit of rage I destroyed it and let it sit and this is what has become of it."
The two sat in silence for what seemed to both of them an eternity. Neither of them knew what to say next or what to think. Long ago Sarah had placed the Goblin King into a box and had defined his being and character, each day that she spent with him in this Castle he grew too big for the box until it reached the point that Sarah could no longer keep him in that box. She could not categorize him, he was beyond her explanation and reasoning. It made her feel small and unintelligent. Why would he build a garden for her? She could not face the possibilities, after all she had her Duke to think of. "I forgive you, if you can forgive me." she was the first to break the silence as she stood and walked away. As her words registered in Jareth's mind he did something he rarely did, he acted on impulse without thinking. Sarah felt his hand wrap around her wrist, he quickly pulled her round to him and stole a quick but passionate kiss from her lips. Sarah was startled and stared up into his beautiful mismatched eyes as he released her from his grasp. Part of Sarah felt a need to be back in his arms but another part of her screamed that it was wrong, she was engaged and she would not betray the Duke. Sarah reached out her hand and softly touched to gnarled and deformed half of Jareth's face. "I'm sorry" she whispered and turned and ran back to her room.
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Author's Note: Again thank you thank you for the reviews! And Cloud97 I really wish you would register so I could reply to your reviews! lol. And your question did make sense. So yeah another chapter, 5 more to go. I told someone they'd get fluff so there was an teenie tiny bit but it was kinda sad and angsty too. Sorry!