Chapter Thirty Three

Poison Pen Letters

Clovis had been teaching the Sarah the Goblin language now for just over four months. From the moment she entered the Chatelaine's office until the lesson ended, they spoke nothing but Goblin. In that time, the two had forged a friendship of sorts. It helped Sarah understand how Jareth felt about the subjects of the Kingdom, especially the Goblin Race. While they may not have been the prettiest to look at, they were fiercely loyal. Clovis' loyalty to Sarah was without question.

It was from Clovis that Sarah learned of the customs of the old Goblin Race. When the Fae took over the Kingdom, the old ways had been discarded by Fae Kings. The Fae had expected the subjects of the new Kingdom to celebrate Fae Holy Days and Holidays. They had expected the little Goblins to bend to their will. It was Jareth who had brought back the old ways, and the old leaders. Goblins had sacred scrolls, Clovis told Sarah, scrolls that told their history. When the New Fae Kings had taken over the scrolls had been divided among the clerics of the Goblins. Even now only descendants of Clerics kept the scrolls. She, Clovis, herself was in possession of three of the old scrolls.

The lesson had ended, and the pair walked side by side down one of the corridors. "So Jareth preferred that the scrolls be kept by the Goblins?"

"Aye," the Goblin woman cackled. "Smart that one! Said if any tried to take the Kingdom from him, he'd rather my kind was in control of the sacred." Beady eyes danced. "Thinks like Goblin that one does."

"High praise." Sarah laughed gently.

"Goblin not as dumb as look," warned the other. "King, he live like Goblin for so long, he thinks like one. Acts like one too. Takes woman like Goblin would!"

Sarah stopped walking, "Say that again."

Clovis cocked her head to one side. "Think we not know what goes on? He make you run Labyrinth to break down resistance, then in moment of your weakness he fills you with his seed. He thinks and acts like great Goblin Warriors of our Past!" She cackled joyously. "You like Goblin too, devious, plotting, and living in moment. King make good choice…. You two fit." The woman moved her hangs together.

Sarah blushed. "Really Clovis!" She looked the other way.

"Humans not like to be honest bout needs, wants and desires. You don't like him sometimes, but you always needs and wants him." Clovis teased. "And you loves Kingdom! It radiates from you."

Sarah snorted. "Clovis, you have one hell of an active imagination."

"Tell self lies if you must, Chatelaine. But I is Cleric, I see!" the little woman scampered off cackling joyously.

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Jareth was going over reports with his Steward. "And the Chatelaine? How is she doing?"

Carlin leaned back in his chair, "The woman is a wonder. In four months she's learned the Goblin language well enough to be able to converse with almost any Goblin in the realm. They come to her for their needs, and they have come to trust her judgements."

"And does she make wise judgements?" Jareth asked.

"Her instincts are amazing." Carlin admitted. "She is much like you."

"She is getting stronger." Jareth stated. "The Kingdom has never seen the likes of her before. She is the strongest Chatelaine that has ever been here."

"She is the only Chatelaine who has ever carried an Heir." The Steward stated. "And the only one who ever learned the common language."

"Such a pity," Jareth sighed sadly. "Would have been nice to have been able to crown her…now that's out of the question. She is safer as a Chatelaine."

"From others or from you, Sire?" Carlin asked half mockingly.

Jareth snorted lightly, "She will never be safe from me, Carlin."

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Sarah had returned to her office, wanting to get an hour more of work out of the way before joining the family for a run though the Labyrinth. She could sense the presence even before she saw the package on her desk. "Jareth!" she called out, "I need you here, now."

A sparkle of mist and the smiling Goblin King appeared. "You are getting very good at the call." He said. He sniffed the air, his smile faded. "Grizbine."

Sarah pointed at her desk, staying in the hall incase something could harm the child she carried. "I opened my door and found that."

Jareth admired how protective she was of his unborn child, not that he would ever tell her. "He starts his game." The Goblin King moved toward the desk and without touching the package, assessed it. "Amateur." He grumbled. "He must really think you are like the rest of the human race." He looked closely. "The package reeks of enchantments."

"I thought so too." She kept safely behind a wall, peering in. "What is it?"

"Let me defuse the magic, and we'll see." He stood back, closed his eyes and disentangled the spells on the package.

"Doesn't Grizbine know you can do that?" Sarah asked as she watched.

"Few Fae know how, Sarah. My father felt it was best if I did." He opened his eyes and motioned it was safe for her to enter. "The wrapping paper had an enticement spell on it. As if that could break our bond." He handed the package from the wrapping to her. "Open it, let's see what the sod sent."

Sarah giggled, "Sod, that's expressive. Mild, but expressive." She opened the little box; within was a string of beads. She didn't touch them. "Let me guess…enchanted?" She dropped the box and its contents back on her desk. "Is he kidding? Are all Fae as overconfident as he is?"

"Some of us are even more." Jareth teased. "He thinks because he is one of the High Queen's favorites he can do anything. He has no respect for anything or anyone. Not even the High Queen I suspect. One would think he'd know better than to try to trick a woman living with me."

Sarah laughed. "I've been tricked by the best."

Jareth bowed. "Thank you , Madame."

Sarah sighed. "I see it came with a note. Could you disenchant it so we can read it?"

"How did you know there was an enchantment on the note?" He asked lightly.

"Logic."

The Goblin King nodded, turning his attentions to the note on her desk. He worked a spell and the page turned green. "Oh he's desperate." He picked up the note when the glow ended. "That was a poor attempt at an attachment spell."

"What, he wants me to attach myself to him?"

Jareth sighed, "He thinks if he can prove you faithless, he can contest our little bundle."

"Not a chance!" Sarah denounced.

Jareth placed a hand on her now expanding girth. "My son will rule this kingdom, not him."

"Son is it? Are you so sure?" She asked placing a hand over his.

Jareth winked. "Of course I'm sure." He gave her tummy a gentle squeeze. "That's my son growing in there!"

"Just like a man." She teased.

Jareth rested his chin on her head for a moment. "I won't have Grizbine take our child's birthright, or ruin this Kingdom."

"We won't." She corrected quietly. "I've a vested interest here too, you know."

Jareth looked down at her with mismatched, but happy eyes. "To look at us, one would think we are like any other couple expecting."

"Hardly." Sarah replied. "If we didn't have Grizbine to focus on, we'd be at each others throats."

"Would we?" He asked, his voice dropped.

Sarah smiled back. "Perhaps not."

"We may never be the lovers we were once fated to be." He said sadly. "Too many hurts on both sides. We can however be, if not friends, comrades."

"I wonder how many Kings and Consorts have had as rocky a start." Her voice was calm. "Yet, every time you come back with a child, or I see the Goblins doing their daily work…I know we can not allow anyone like Grizbine to rule here!" She looked at the King. "The more I learn about this place, the more I understand that I knew nothing."

"It's a kingdom that was underrated and overlooked." Jareth agreed.

Sarah looked down at the note and gift. "What do we do about this?"

Jareth lifted the note, "May I?"

"Go ahead, I've no interest in what that sod wants." She took her seat behind the desk. "Arrogant twit."

"He makes me look like a gentleman," commented the King as he read the note. Jareth began to laugh, sat down and roared with laughter.

"It can't be that funny." Sarah watched him.

He passed the note to her, "Read for yourself, Sarah."

'Dearest lady,

Forgive me for having inflicted

damages on your beautiful garden.

Allow this pretty bobble to make up

for my actions.

Your servant,

Grizbine'

Sarah looked up at Jareth, "He thinks that's an apology?"

"No, darling. He thinks that's a flirtatious come on." Jareth laughed. "The beads and the note, and the wrapping paper were meant to sway you from me."

"Arrogant twit!"

Jareth grabbed the note back before Sarah to tear it to shreds. "Temper, temper, pet." He cautioned. "We can use this to our advantage."

"How?"

The King stood up and paced, tapping the note to his chin. "Give me a few moments to think on it. He wants court intrigue…. We could give him some. That is if it does not turn your stomach too much."

Sarah laughed wickedly. "You want me to accept his gifts and his attentions?"

"Why not?" Jareth picked the beads, disenchanted up. "They are pretty bobbles, and would look very nice on my Sarah."

"You are twisted." She laughed.

He tossed the beads to her. "Put them on, he's bound to have spies here. He'll want to know his gift was 'appreciated'."

"Now what?" The beads fastened to her Fae styled gown.

"We must write a thank you note." Jareth sat on the edge of her desk. "Something not too flowery, or too mushy. With just the right amount of hesitation in it, and also the right amount of come hither." He let his dangling leg rub against her.

"You want him to think I'm unhappy in our arrangement?"

"I want him to think he can charm you into his bed and out of mine." Jareth admitted. "And then I want you to publicly laugh at his attempts, and humiliate him as he's never dreamed of."

"And what is my reward for performing this service for my King?" she teased, standing up and leaning toward the man.

"What would the Chatelaine like?" He responded to her nearness.

"No, not the Chatelaine."

Mismatched eyes darkened, "What would Sarah like?" His voice was low, sexy and husky.

"That kiss that's been promised." She teased. "And dangled like a carrot."

The king cocked his head to one side. "Deal."

Sarah leaned toward his ear. "You'd better make it worth my wile, Sire."

He leaned toward her ear. "I'll make your toes curl."

"Is that all?"

Jareth felt the breath catch in his throat. "I'll have you screaming for mercy."

"Doubt it." She teased.

A growl formed back in his throat. "I'll rock your world."

"Perhaps I'll rock yours." She countered.

Jareth bit down on her ear lob. "Tease."

"Bastard," she whispered back lightly.

The King pulled back, "Before we forget ourselves, shall we write that note?"

"Yes, lets." She giggled maddeningly. She returned to her seat, picked out her personal stationary and found her quill. "You want to dictate? If I write it, it will come off with too much sarcasm. Besides you know far better than I want kind of praise and flattery are likely to hit the mark with a conceited Fae like Grizbine."

Jareth nodded as he scooted off the desk. "Grizbine is like a lot of the High Court Fae, conceited and arrogant. He thinks the world revolves around him, or for his pleasure."

Sarah watched her partner. "He's what they think you are."

Jareth feigned being struck by an arrow. "Woman, you wound me." He slumped to his chair.

Sarah put quill to page. "I can't start it out with My dear, or my dearest… too.. over the top. I've got it… Sir," she worked to make the letters just perfect. "That will get his attention."

Jareth nodded. "Now the hesitation, write that his words of apology do not make up for your trampled flowers. That his pretty beads do not take away the sting of having lost your feeling of safe haven."

"Safe haven, oh that's good." She wrote as he dictated.

"Tell him that as a measure of goodwill, you will accept his gift. And sign it Lady Sarah. No other title or words." He watched as she did. "Now fold it and spay it with your perfume." He saw her look up at him as he handed the spay bottle of perfume to her that appeared in his hand.

"That's not mine." She said.

"He does not know that." Winked the man.

"And they say women are devious." Sarah spritzed the letter, then placed it in a envelope and addressed it. "Now what?"

Jareth motioned for her to place it in the basket of out going correspondence. "Now, we wait to see if the fish takes the bait." He tipped her face up with his fingers. "Are we having fun?"

"Yes." She hissed slowly. "Tons of fun."