Chapter 13. Romance and all it's Strategies
Sarah found it difficult to keep her mind on her studies the next morning. Her mind would not let go of the phrase that kept playing in her mind over and over. 'We're choosing the path between the stars'. Over and over it repeated itself, but not as a phrase from a poem. It was a song, the rest of which was eluding her. She could hear part of the tune, some distant memory of melody.
Riha watched her, with the same quiet eyes that she'd had on Sarah all weekend. When the girl's study hall time came up she asked for a pass to the library, saying she had some work she needed to do. The pass was given and she hobbled over on her crutches.
Dr. Rygil looked up when the girl tapped on his door. "Miss McMannon, what a pleasant surprised. Come in my dear, come in and be seated."
Riha face was serious as she entered the office and she closed the door so others would not over hear her conversation with the man. "Dr. Rygil, I need your vast stores of knowledge," she began quietly. "I need everything you have on the Fae Chosen, and a place called the Labyrinth."
Silvery bluish gray eyes peered at her from under heavy thick brows. "Where did you hear of the Labyrinth?" His voice had dropped several octaves, and was barely above a whisper.
"In a book…" Riha also whispered. "Sarah has a book called…"
"The Labyrinth…" Dr. Rygil finished for her, placing fingers to his lips. "Yes… of course…." He looked at the Irish girl. "You believe Sarah is Fae Chosen?" The girl nodded as the man gathered his senses. "I see." He pushed his chair back and regarded the Irish girl for a long dark moment. "Miss McMannon, it would be best you forgot what you think you know."
"I canna." Riha sighed. "I need to be sure."
"Why?" Dr. Rygil shook his head, "If she is you can not help her. Once chosen, a mortal is in essence lost to humanity."
"I canna turn my back on her…she's my family." Riha protested.
Looking out toward the main floor of the Library, the wise man noticed the eyes on them. "Do you know what you are taking on, child?"
"I'm a daughter of the standing stones," she proclaimed urgently. "Aye, I know what I'll be a facing."
Rygil shook his head, "You can not begin to know…. The Labyrinth is the domain of a Son of the Seelie court… He is the Goblin King." He looked at the teen girl in the main room trying to observe the pair and their discussion. "We are being watched…." He said quietly. "Have you and Sarah made enemies here?"
"Not by our own doing." Riha stated.
"You have more to fear from the mortal realm than that of the Fae, I think." Dr. Rygil turned to his computer. "I will gather all the information I think you need."
"Even though you don't think it will help?"
The man looked at her with slivery lights in his eyes. "I too am a Celt, child." He confessed. "Come back here when classes are finished and I'll have the file ready for your review. You may use my screen…I'll not print any of this out… what I have must never leave this place. The only protection for it is in the realm of the written word."
"Thank you." Riha stood up carefully with her crutch. "I'll be back around three thirty."
"Until then," Dr. Rygil was already keying in codes to bring up files he preferred kept secret.
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Sarah found Riha heading toward the Library when the days classes had ended. "Would you like me to take your books back to the studio?" Sarah offered. Riha handed off the extra books and thanked Sarah, telling her she had some thing she was working on, that she would see her cousin later for dinner.
Sarah walked the promenade alone, with her thoughts her only companion. She took no notice of Megan and her friends following her, nor did she pay any head to the taunts being directed her way. As she neared Bell Hall, the other girls began to hang back.
"Sarah!" A voice cut though her thoughts and she looked up to see Jareth ordering a crew of men about. "Hang on there; I want to talk to you."
"Ok." She called up to where he stood on a ladder.
Agile and completely at ease in his body, Jareth came down the ladder with grace. He cut the distance between them in a few swift steps. "I've got something for you."
"Oh really?" Sarah asked batting her lashes innocently.
Jareth ignored the pretences of innocence, and guided her to one of the company trucks. Opening the door he pulled a large flat box out, handed it to the girl.
"What's this?" she asked suspiciously.
"It's a present." He said, then looked as if he were remembering something for a moment, but it passed quickly. "Open it." He commanded.
Sarah looked at the box, "My mother said I should never accept gifts from strange men…"
Jareth placed his hands on the box. "Well if you don't want it."
Sarah pulled the box back out of his hands. "I didn't say that…" she lifted the lid and looked at the contents. "You've got to be kidding." Her hand lifted the black leather jacket from the box and she looked up at the man. "You've lost your mind." She said as long fringe fluttered in the wind.
"You own a pair of jeans?" He asked ignoring her previous comments, when she nodded he commanded her again. "Go put them on, and the jacket. I'm taking you for a ride." When she didn't move he turned her and gave her a gentle push toward the building. "Go."
Sarah moved toward the building shaking her head and looking at the jacket in the open box.
Jareth moved toward his bike, and picked up his own jacket. Sliding his arms in he found himself feel a sense of excitement.
"Excuse me." A voice cut into his thoughts.
Looking toward the direction of the voice he saw the owner, a pretty girl with cold eyes. "Something I can do for you?" he found himself feeling very negative toward the girl.
"Something I can do for you is more to the point." She said suggestively.
Jareth let his eyes rove over the girl; she had a pretty face in spite of the cold eyes. Her body was shapely and it was obvious that she knew how to use it to get what she wanted. "Now what would that be?" He played her like a fish on a line.
"Far more than you'll ever get from little miss goodie two shoes." Megan let her body talk for her. "She doesn't have the first clue."
"Is that so?" Jareth crossed his arms, as if thinking over her offer. "And you do?"
"I know the game, and the rules." Megan simpered, thinking she was making headway.
"I'll just bet you do." He said suddenly insultingly. "I'd image you've played the game once too often."
Megan felt the chill in his voice cut though her like a knife. "What?"
Jareth looked past her to where Sarah was coming down the path. "Some of us prefer the sweet young things to the… used and broken in." He advised as he pulled the extra helmet from its place. He tossed it toward Sarah who caught it as if she'd been use to having a helmet tossed at her. "Let's move it, Cait Sidhe. " He ordered.
"Hold your horses Goblin," Sarah said as she began to fasten the strap on the helmet. Moving closer to the bike she stretched her leg over the seat then slid her hands over the chest of the man revving the engine.
"Nice talking to you." He said snidely to Megan who was watching Sarah.
Megan looked at Ellen and at Whitney, "Who the hell does he think he is?" she asked feeling more anger then she knew was possible. "Did you hear him snub me… and in front of Williams!"
Whitney motioned her to quiet down. "From what I hear, he's a very powerful man…his family has more connections than your father ever dreamed of."
Anger was blinding the usually careful Megan. "He needs to learn a lesson…and so does Sarah Williams."
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Jareth pulled out of the school's long winding drive and out on to the open highway. Heading west of the school he took the road that lead up into the rising hills just beyond the town.
"Where are we going?" Sarah shouted to be heard over the roar of the engine.
"You'll see." He promised as he took a cut off that was little more than a dirt road though a wooded area. He slowed the bike as they came to a clearing where the trees gave way to a grassy and wild flowered knoll. He pulled the bike over on a flat spot where, and turning off the engine parked the bike. "We're here." He said to the girl who was already getting off the bike.
Sarah handed him the helmet and shook her hair free. "Where is here?"
Jareth removed his helmet, placed both on the bike and took her hand. He led her to the grassy knoll and motioned her to sit beside him. He pointed down toward the town and the school far below them. "This is here."
"Oh," Sarah gasped as she took in the beauty of the view. "Oh, Jareth…" She leaned on his arm. "This is wonderful."
"It's a world unto it's self." He agreed as he looked down at the valley below.
"Who owns it?" Sarah asked worried about trespassing on someone's property.
"I do." He sighed. "Have for a long time now." He leaned back resting on his elbows. "I call it my castle."
"I can see why…" she smiled softly at him, "You can see everything for miles." She unzipped the leather jacket and looked down at the valley. "It's befitting a King."
Jareth slipped his hand up under the open jacket, caressing her back tenderly. "Every King needs a Queen, Sarah." She glanced over her shoulder at him. The caressing hand moved to her side, pulling her down to him. He felt the tremor as it raced though her. Gently he lowered her to the hillside and rolled to his side. "I will have no other for my Queen." He murmured as he began to kiss her softly, coaxingly. Like the wings of a butterfly his lips brushed hers, soft and light. As he sensed her warming to his touch, he let the kiss intensify but kept it gentle. Tracing the line of her lip with the tip of his tongue, she quivered. He gazed into her eyes, seeing desire awaken in her, and beg to be given fire. "You've never been with anyone, have you?" He asked delicately.
Lowering her eyes, suddenly afraid of what they showed she answered. "No."
Tipping her chin upward, Jareth let his tongue taste her throat. "It's nothing to be ashamed of." He assured her. "That I'm the only one to touch you is very exciting." He moved his lips to her ear. "You do want me to touch you, don't you?" She nodded, not trusting her voice. "I'm going to devour you, sweet thing." He moaned as he kissed her again, this time pressing his tongue between her lips and licking the roof of her mouth. His hand slid under the jacket and came to rest firmly on the soft fleshy mound of her breast. She gasped and his tongue slid deeper toward her throat.
Startled she made an alarmed sound, her hand pushed against him and he backed off allowing her to gasp for air. "You…told my father we were… just friends…" she reminded him.
Pressing her into the hillside, he looked down at her, his face rigid with resolve. "I also told him I would not speculate where our relationship was going." He said darkly. "I know full well where I'm planning on going with this, Sarah."
"Would you like to clue me in?" she asked as his hand gave her breast a gentle squeeze.
"Sweet young thing," He crooned placing his lips to her throat. "Your body is food for the gods."
"Jareth…you're scaring me." She whispered in a rasp.
He slowed his assault. "But you like it too, don't you?" He gazed up toward her eyes. "You like my hand on you, and my lips." Sarah gazed back into his eyes, her lips parting to speak, and no words issuing forth. Blanketing her with his body he kept his eyes level with hers as the sun went down behind the hill and the first stars of the evening began to shine in the sky. "I will have no other." He promised.
Winding her arms over his shoulder and about his neck, the girl took the first steps to surrendering herself to him. "I will have no other." She repeated.
Jareth rolled to his side, pulling her into his caress and close. "Under the moon and stars…vow it, Sarah. Promise before the cosmos that you will be mine."
"I promise." Her voice sounded foreign to her. "Under this moon and beneath these stars, I vow I will be yours."
Pulling her closer he said in a dark tone. "I'll place the moon within your heart," his voice was breaking as he buried his face in her neck.
Sarah wound her arms tighter, swallowing tears that had gathered in her eyes. She lay within the circle of his arms as the night sky kept silent watch over the pair.
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Lilith looked at Gilgamesh, "A promise is not much…. And is easily broken…as you and I both well know. I'd prefer a declaration and a coupling!"
The old Babylonian advised in a wise tone. "Allow them to simmer and begin to take on each other's flavor, Lilith."
The Queen of the Night and Air frowned, "More talk of soup?"
"Love is very much like soup, my dear." He watched patiently.