Chapter 11.

Sarah waited with the rest of her family. Looking at her father's face she felt he could not really handle another shock, and she knew there were so many more to come. Giles stood with the family in the great hall, waiting for the King to return. Karen looked about the hall and began to wonder just what she had agreed to.

The Fae King came though the portal holding the wiggling hound in his arms. "Yes, yes, I know." He put the dog on the stone tiles. "Sit." He ordered.

Robert stared as the beast obeyed the order. "He never did that for me."

Mismatched eyes went to Sarah ignoring her father altogether. "The rooms on the second floor of the west wing, I think. What do you think, my dear?"

Sarah narrowed her eyes; he was enjoying this excessively. "That's fine. I'll help them settle."

"No." The King commanded. "I've need of your counsel. Giles, help the Williams get settled in the suite." He looked at Robert. "I'll have an escort come to bring you to me in the morning. Until then, go, rest and be grateful I'm overly fond of your daughter."

Sarah handed Kerry to her father and watched as he followed Giles. "That was unnecessary."

The Fae nodded. "No, but it felt so good." He looked down. "Come with me." He extended his arm, almost challenging her to resist. Sarah placed her hand on his arm and followed. He looked down at the dog. "Stay!" Merlin looked at the King with a rapt expression on his face.

"Where are we going?" She asked.

"Somewhere we can talk." He led her past the war room, right for the wizard's tower. "And to save time…" He opened the door and transported them to the upper floor.

"Are you alright?" He asked as the re appeared.

"OH just dandy…Peachy even…NO, I'm not alright!" She swatted him. "Why did you have to antagonize my father? What did you think you were doing threatening to take the kids…and where the hell is Jareth?"

Quinn could understand Jareth's obsession with the fiery girl. Her eyes were like hot pools of melted emeralds with blue flames in the fiery depths. "He's right, you are one of a kind." Quinn teased. "Now let's take your questions in order…Why? Because; your father pisses me off. What? Oh I don't know, I thought it would save time rather than dickering and using bargaining chips…and as to Where…." He shrugged. "If you can get him out you're welcome to try. Lord knows I've done everything short of threatening to …violate you…and now I can't even use that threat, and he knows it." He had been circling her, then stopped. "Damn, now I'm even using his moves."

Sarah looked up at him, "No one's noticed?"

Quinn shook his head, put his crooked finger to his upper lip and began to pace. "It's like they all just accept that I'm Jareth." He stopped pacing and looked at her. "How is it that you always know when it's me?"

Sarah frowned, "I don't…not always." She took a seat at the worktable. "I don't know much about this merge thing as it is. Before I left …when it happened…he didn't want to discuss it and every time I've been back…We've had the other things to take care of…as you well know." Looking at him, she frowned. "Just how often has it been you?"

"Often and on for two years, whenever he needed." He took a seat beside her, he looked tired. "I was hoping with you coming here, it would ferret him out. I was thinking he would want to be on the outside to be with you…"

The girl was not sure she wanted to trust the darker side of the Fae. "Do you have any idea of why this is happening? Could something have been done wrong during the original merge?"

The Fae shook his head. "No, everything was done as it should be. We should have assimilated. The soul should have more or less welded itself back together."

Looking a bit sheepish Sarah broached the subject. "I really don't understand much about this whole meld thing…"

Quinn could not feel Jareth, and it frightened him. "He's gone silent again." He said sadly. "Sarah I'd be happy to tell you what I know." He was working on being accommodating.

"Your father told me that there was only suppose to be one child born…."Her voice went still. "Which one?"

Quinn shook his head. "That I can not answer."

"Did it hurt…the merge?"

He shook his head. "No…it didn't hurt."

Sarah stood up and began to pace the tower room. "Ok, so we have two sides of a Shattered Soul…one good one evil…"

"Stop…that's wrong!" Quinn was leaning draped over the back of the chair watching her pace. "I'm not evil and neither is Jareth…"

Sarah glanced at him. "One has to be good, and one has to be evil…if the soul was divided it would divide along…" She stopped. "Wait…you mean…you both have the capacity of good and evil equally?"

Lounging over the chair, Quinn nodded. "We were incomplete because we each only had half of the whole." He moved off the chair with movements a dancer would have envied. "Each of us had talents attributed to the soul. Each of us had strengths, and weaknesses."

"The soul compensated…" Sarah suggested. "It more or less adapted to being shattered." She frowned. "So it really is two people in there."

Quinn looked down at his body. "Yes. Only one body could be maintained, so we incorporated."

"This is just freaky." Sarah groaned. "Why won't he come out?"

Quinn shrugged. "If I could answer that, I'd be able to find a way to fix this. Have you any idea how hard it is? Answer to a name that is not the one you are use to? You are his bonded woman! I thought for sure you'd be the bait to get him to stop hiding."

"Quinn, were you…. Watching…er …aware of our…relationship since the merge?" Sarah felt very uncomfortable discussing this. Even if it looked like Jareth, it was not Jareth.

The eyes on the Fae looked bluer, deeper, less like stormy seas, more like jewels.

"I know he has been most restrained in his handling of you." A throaty growl sounded softly, as he continued. "I would not have been."

Sarah looked at him, "So you were …watching…"

"I was aware…I could see when I chose to look, yes." Quinn felt some of the old antagonisms toward the girl return. It has always been fun to needle her. He smiled at her as if she was a dessert, and he was starving.

Sarah refused to play his game she looked away. "I suppose if you're stuck in one body, you can't help but be aware." Turning her back on the Fae, she prayed her face was not flooding with color.

Quinn placed his hands lightly on her shoulders. "I never saw nearly as much as I'd have liked to have seen." He growled in her ear. When she tried to move out of his grip, he tightened the fingers. "Not so fast. Quinnie is not ready to let go." He felt her flush; "It does pose an interesting set of circumstances, does it not? You, him…and me."

"You make it sound like a ménage à trois." She accused.

"Yes, I do." His hands slid down her arms. "And if Jareth would pay attention, it could be quite interesting." Hot breath at her ear caused a shiver. "You must be getting tired of the white knight act by now…perhaps a darker knight would be to your liking."

"Do you really enjoy embarrassing me?" Sarah groaned.

Quinn licked her ear. "Yes…I do."

Sarah swatted him with her hand. "Cut it out!"

Quinn laughed. "You make it too easy." He watched her scurry away.

"This is not going to work." She warned. "You expect me to behave as if I'm with my …my…" She looked up, not sure what the relationship was.

"I believe the human term is fiancé, Sarah." Quinn teased. His face turned serious. "He did explain to you, didn't he?"

Sarah shook her head, "No, the subject never really came up."

The feral look returned, much the way the King had looked when she first saw him in the crystal ball room. "Would you like me to clarify?"

"I'd prefer to discuss it with Jareth, but that does not seem to be possible." Sarah stated, trying to sound calm. Her movements belied her state of mind.

"You know you are marked. That you and Jareth shared a special bond, right?" She nodded. He edged closer. "Soon you will become the wife of the Goblin King and be crowned his Queen."

"His wife." She knit her fingers together. "How can I be his wife if he's not here?"

Quinn looked at his body again. "Well, part of him is."

"So what is it to be, a marriage by proxy?" Sarah asked, her face twisted with concern.

The Darker side thought about it, then shook his head. "No," he shrugged. "I'm not that virtuous. If you are wed to us, you will be abed with us. That I can promise."

"I can't go to bed with you…" she protested hotly.

"Why not?" He asked.

"Because…you're not Jareth!" Sarah gasped.

"But Sarah." He reached out tenderly to stroke her cheek. "I am. I am Jareth, or at least I am part of him."

"Oh we are in such trouble here." She shook her head sadly.

"Sarah I need your help…we need your help." Quinn pleaded. "I can't do this alone…and Jareth is not able to help me, not now…I need you…The Kingdom needs you." He tipped her chin up. "Will you help me? Help me."

Sarah sighed deeply and nodded. "Yes, Quinn. For the Kingdom…I will help you."

"Remarkable woman." He praised. "He was so right about you."