Chapter 19.
Quinn drew a crystal from the air, "Show me the girl." He ordered. Her image filled the orb; she was sitting on the hillside outside the gate, alone. Her knees drawn up to her chin and her arms tucked around them. Her face buried in the fabric of her skirt. Quinn chuckled softly as he disposed of the orb. He focused and appeared behind her on the hillside where his other half had stood and warned her. "Turn back, Sarah. Turn back, before it is too late." He said in the soft concerned voice Jareth had used.
Sarah turned on the hillside, looking up at him. 'Oh I suppose you find this all too amusing." Her eyes were wild with hostility.
Quinn had changed his garments, to the same regalia Jareth wore to answer a summons. He was still watching her intensely; slowly he walked toward her and knelt down. They faced each other on the windswept hilltop. His eyes dancing with excitement, hers with apprehension. Alone on the hillside, with on one to interfere he leaned toward her. "Here we are, just the…three of us."
"Where is he?" she pleaded, much as she had for Toby.
Quinn crossed his arms; his face mirrored the face of his brother with minor changes he chuckled. "You know very well where he is."
Sarah shivered as if cold under the burning sun of nearly noon, "Please, Quinn bring him back, please." She heard herself speaking in a small voice. "Please! I need him."
"Sarah ..." Jareth sighed frowning, and shook his head. His expression was full of yearning for her. His lips moved slowly, as the haughty expression melted into one of deep desire.
Pulling back and sitting on her haunches, she raised an arm to ward him off. "No, I can't." she gasped.
"Don't defy me," he warned her I a tone that was dark and sensual. With one hand, he pushed aside the obstacle of her raised arm. "You are no match for me, Sarah."
"No, Quinn," She was tangled in her long skirt and fell back. "Not here, I can't." she rolled to get away.
His nostrils flared, as he shot out one hand and pulled her back flattening her to the hillside. "Turn back, Sarah. Turn back, before it is too late." The voice he used was low, and gentle. He lowered himself over her, pressing against her with his full weight to trap her.
Sarah quaked with fear. "I can't, don't you understand?" She shook her head cautiously, to herself, quietly, repeated, "I can't." the words echoed her first hours with Jareth.
Quinn lowered his face until it lightly touched her craning neck. "What a pity." He murmured.
"No, don't do this." She begged as his touch filled her with memories of Jareth.
"You are no match for us, Sarah." The voice warned, and strangely sounded like it was in stereo.
Sarah looked at him. "It's not…"
The face looked up from her throat his eyes met hers. "Fair?" Slowly he lowered his face and went back to caressing her throat with his lips.
"Not here." She begged. "Not here, Quinn."
Leisurely, he moved up to her ear. "No, dear, not here." He whispered as he pressed closer. "This is just a preview."
Sarah was exhausted and nearly without breath. "Why?"
Stroking her face, he smiled. "You are to be our wife." he chided her softly. "We think you should get use to us."
"So you accost me on his hillside?" she accused indignantly.
"His hillside, my hillside…why not just call it our hillside?" He began to cuddle her.
"Stop that you…masher!" She struggled anew.
Quinn laughed, "Darling, do you even know what a masher is?" His arms were like steel bands tightening about her. He pressed closer, considered her words and the situation and laughed. "You may have a point." She struggled and he groaned. "Sweetheart, if you'd like to remain pure as the driven snow, I suggest you stop moving about like that…I find it most arousing." He growled throatily.
Sarah looked at him, then looked away, suddenly very aware of him. "Let me go."
He shook his head, "Not this time." He murmured in her ear. "Sarah, give old Quinnie half a chance." Again, he buried his face in her neck.
Sarah closed her eyes, only to find the assault was even more powerful. She opened her eyes again. Her struggling had ceased, and she lay still, at his mercy.
Quinn rose on an elbow and gazed at her. "Is it really so unpleasant?"
"No." She admitted. "And that's what frightens me."
Tipping her face towards him, he coaxed. "What, what frightens you?"
"How easy it is to be with you." She would have looked away if his fingers were not holding her chin.
"We, you and I…we must bond." He stated. "Would you prefer it to be difficult?"
Before she could answer, he put a finger to her lips. "Sarah, you made a bargain with me…A bit of making a deal with a devil to be sure. Had things gone differently, I would have forced you to keep the bargain before the entire court and I would have broken the bond you and Jareth were building." His confession did not come as a surprised. What he said next did. "After severing the bond, I'd most likely have run off with you my self." He stroked her cheek again. "I told myself I was saving Jareth from himself and a huge mistake. I come to realizes the truth is I too had fallen under the Sarah Williams spell."
"Just what is that suppose to mean?" She asked.
Quinn sat up and looked at the Labyrinth beyond the gate. "Coming into contact with you, is like moving though the Labyrinth." He looked at her, still lying on the hillside. "Even if you reach the center…."
"You'll never get out." She finished. "Is that what Jareth felt, or you?"
"Both." He said honestly. "For a person so new to magic, you're very powerful. Intoxicatingly so!"
Leaning up on both elbows she studied him, "So you've no more objections to my being Jar…" she paused. Looking for a better way to ask her question. "You've no more objections to my being the Goblin King's Queen?"
Quinn snickered, "Sarah, the longer I live in his… place, the less I object."
"If I asked you something would you tell me the truth?" Her eyes were wide.
"Ask." He teased.
"Why did you say such awful things to me when we first met? I mean if you had these shared…thoughts…"
Quinn stood up and gave her a crooked smile. "Envy."
Sarah stood up, looked at him. "Asking me to be your pear closet is hardly…."
"I was a nasty little kid!" he said viciously. He held out his hand. "But I could be a real good man." Her hand slid into his. "Give me a chance, Sarah."
"Quinn," she hesitated. "I don't trust that healer…the one Oberon sent. There's something …off about him."
Quinn enfolded her, the way Jareth had wanted to when he brought her to the hillside that first visit. "I think you may be right, Sarah."
She looked up at him. "So what now?"
"I court you." He said softly. "And when the time is right we bond. Then the pieces will fall together and the two will be one. One man, with everything where it should be."
"And that nasty little bargain you made with me?" She looked at him with a bit of mischief of her own.
Quinn tipped her face up, "You don't get off my hook so easily. I can kiss you, deeply and it will not count as a marking kiss. I am going to get my payment before I let Jareth have the whole shebang." He gave her a throaty laugh. "I'm just biding my time, looking for just the right spot to demand that kiss. When I find it, you'll be the first to know."
Sarah was about to protest, when over head she spotted a coach drawn by winged horses. "Are we expecting more guests?"
"No." Quinn frowned. "Just what we need…uninvited guests." He tucked her arm into his. "That's a court coach. I guess we'd best go see who's crashing our little party."
Sarah placed a hand to his chest. "United front?" she asked.
"Yes, dear…you, me…and him." Quinn waved his hand and they vanished.