Chapter 32.

Robert and Karen were settling the children in their places when Quinn and Sarah joined them. Robert looked with gentle concern at the pair. "Are the rest of our champions not joining us?"

The king shook his head, as he bowed slightly toward the Archer's wife. "They are busy on a project. I fear your husband did not have time to send you word, Lady Celestia. I do hope you'll stay with us for the meal."

Celestia smiled softly. "With pleasure, Sire. I fear I'd only be in the way if they are working on something intense."

The Fae King pulled out the chair for Sarah, and watched as she seated herself. "It is a bit involved." He admitted. "Sarah and I both felt the need to clear our heads."

Karen smiled over at her stepdaughter. "I suppose we had best get started on the plans for your wedding soon. When would you like to start?"

Sarah looked like a deer in the headlights, she turned to the Fae King. "Our wedding…."

Seeing her disorientation, Quinn jumped in. "I think we can afford a few days of getting use to Ryan and Anne's marriage before we tackle the planning of a Royal Wedding." He suggested placing a comforting hand on Sarah's. "I think a few days rest is called for. You and Sarah worked so hard on the wedding, and deserve a respite." Karen seemed mollified for the moment, and Sarah breathed easier. Quinn patted the hand under his. He looked over at Robert, "How are the plans for the new court house?"

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Solea took over policing the area, she directed the servants as they brought in the mid-day meal for the group. She knew that Anne and Cairbre needed the table where the scrolls and parchments lay kept clear of other debris. She poured water in goblets and brought them around.

Anne sipped the water as if it were the nectar of the gods. She had been working with Goblins so long; she was starting to think like them. "Cairbre, you may be a excellent Bard, but you don't know jack about puzzles!"

The Bard's eyes widened and he looked mildly amused. "Really? Well suppose you educate me?" He sat down and leaned back.

"Laurel is a Oracle." Anne stated. "By their very nature they speak in riddles and rhymes. The trick is to decipher it without losing the meaning. It is a puzzle. Not unlike the stupid things in the complex, that Zaker set up. It has twists, turns, and double meanings. I say we scrap everything and start with a clean slate. We need to come at this not as Fae, but as blind folk."

Solea turned. "As what?"

"Blind folk, we need to feel our way though this sucker." Anne stated suddenly proud of herself. "That's it…we're not feeling our way though it!"

The Bard slapped his head, "That's bloody brilliant!"

Anne turned to Ryan, "I need a chalkboard and some chalk."

Ryan turned to Giles; "We got anything like that?"

Giles looked at the Court Scribe, "Give me about ten minuets." He looked at the food that had been brought in. "Don't wait lunch on me."

The Bard rose to take the plate his wife had dished up for him. "Thank you, my angel." He kissed her brow.

"You are most welcome, husband." She enjoyed looking after him.

Anne watched the pair; "You must have been married a very long time." She commented. "To be so easy with each other."

Solea looked amused, "On the contrary, Lady Anne. We have been married only a few years. Two to be exact."

Anne raised a quizzical brow. "Really? I would have thought it was far longer than that. You seem so…in tuned to each other."

The Bard slid his hand over his wife's shoulder pulling her into his lap. "We are soul mates." He stated. "Much like you and the Paladin are." He nibbled more on his wife then his food.

Solea nodded happily. "We've known each other, and we've been in the same social circles. Our finding each other was easy."

The court scribe nodded, "Sometimes it works out that way…. And it's a good thing." She looked down at the wedding band only on her hand a few hours now. "Some things just work out for the best." A fleeting sadness swept over her. "And others not so."

Cairbre sipped the goblet his wife offered him, gazed at the former student and asked. "How so?"

"Jareth being suppressed…Quinn," She shuddered on the name, "being out…this entire mess with poor Sarah at the center." She pushed her plate away, suddenly not hungry any longer. "Why couldn't it be the other way around? Why does it have to be that … one out?" She began to pace. "It must be far harder for poor Sarah…having to tolerate his touch."

"I seem to recall you have some misgivings about Jareth's motives where the fair Sarah are concerned." The Bard intoned.

Anne grimaced. "Had I known that he was going to be taken from us, I'd have gift wrapped her and delivered her to him myself!"

"He's not truly taken." The Bard stated softly. "He is still there…"

"Stuck in a merge with the 'Prince of Darkness.'" Anne snapped.

Solea felt a bit of sympathy for the younger woman. "Lady Anne, surly you understand that Quinn is not a evil man. Look at the sacrifice he made."

The girl with red hair turned. "He was going to use the rescue of Jareth to break the marking. He demanded the payment of a Kiss." Her voice shook with anger. "So excuse me if I don't see his sacrifice as being all that noble." She paced again. "I would bet he did something wrong, and that's why the merge didn't work if I was not sure it was not meant to work all at once."

The Bard watched her pace. "Lady Anne, you are very hostile."

Anne held up one of the long tresses of red hair, "No kidding."

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Karen had taken the children to the play yard, and Robert had returned to his office. Quinn sipped his water and watched Sarah play with the food on her plate with a fork. "Not hungry?" he asked.

"Worried." She admitted freely.

"About?"

"The wedding." She sighed.

Quinn's feral eyes watched her like a bird of prey. "If I were you, I'd be more distressed and unsettled about the wedding night." He said in a menacing tone.

Color, like that of a spring rose, flooded Sarah's cheeks. She wanted to hide. "Ok, I'm worried about that too. Are you happy?"

"Deliriously so." Quinn cooed. His eyes watching her and demanding she return his gaze.

"What if the merge is not complete?" She asked.

He shrugged, "It matters not." He shifted slightly in his seat. "You are the betrothed of the Goblin King, and it is the Goblin King you will wed."

"Which Goblin King?" her voice shook.

Quinn rose from his seat, moved slowly to her side, bent down and brought his face within a hair of hers. "There is only one Goblin King, Sarah. Two halves of a shattered soul, to be sure…but one body."

"But if you're in control…" She protested.

"Then you'll be in for a adventure, ma petite." He never took his eyes off hers.

Sarah pulled back; "Does he know you talk this way to me? Can he hear you?"

Quinn straightened up, stood at his full height, and haughtily answered. "At times yes, he does. Sometimes he even makes squawking about it." He was amused.

Sarah blinked. "But he can't stop you, can he?"

A hand roughly pulled her out of the chair, and forcefully against him. "No, he can't." He looked at her with an expression she had never seen on the face of either brother. It was a look that was dangerously sensual. "And you don't want to, do you?"

The young woman looked at him shook her head and admitted. "No, Quinn…I don't want to." She hung her head in shame.

Gently his fingers lifted her chin. "There is no need for shame, Sarah. You are our beloved. There is now and will ever after be just one."

"I loved…Love…" she murmured in confusion.

"You love the Goblin King." He finished for her. "Then dearest Sarah, love all of him." The voice deep within spoke and it shocked the brother in control. 'court her.' He shifted his hold and it became a tender embrace instead of an owner's grip. "Love us both, sweet Sarah." He suggested gently. "Love us both, faults and virtues."

"I don't know you." She whispered. "I barely knew him."

Quinn found hope in her words. "Then get to know me."

"How?" she moaned.

Quinn held her at a distance of a hand and suddenly she was within a vortex. "AS you got to know him…Sarah." He watched as she was taken from the room. He drew a crystal from the air, and watched as the magic placed her in the room it had all begun in on a stormy night in what had seemed a lifetime ago. "Once upon a time." Quinn said softly. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful young woman."