(Greetings my darlings- this story is not dead! Here it is alive and walking. As some of you know, in the last nine months I have moved and given birth to a beautiful baby boy. Being a mother is an all consuming job. But my writing was never ignored. Here is chapter 19 and 20 is close on its heals, running with the need for vindication and justice. Be patient, my precious, and you shall see who is served their entrails as the main course.)

Nineteen

1

Jareth caressed her head, running his fingers though her dark hair. He felt her body respond leaning towards him. The line of her body against his would be a sensation that would forever thrill him. Knowing that she awoke his passion made his toes curl; knowing that he did the same to her stroked more than his ego.

Hiding his satisfied smirk in a kiss, he eased her away from the door.

They both were going to have to survive the day with very little sleep. With the amount of endorphins carousing through his veins system though Jareth felt as if he could stay awake a whole week just so long as she kissed him. Every few hours. At least. This high would serve him well enough.

With a reluctant groan Sarah began to pull away. "If we get caught-," she began to chide.

He shushed her. "Who would dare to enter the king's chambers so early? And without a proper invitation? I would reorder time to relive the last several hours over and over again." He watched her face melt into a delicious smile.

"Still, we must be ready for tonight. If all goes as planned we shall have plenty of reason to celebrate."

"Indeed."

"I must get back to my room before any one wakes up."

He held her against him. "I'll poof you back. Steal a little time."

She suddenly gripped his arms and pushed away. "Oh no you don't," she snapped. "You are tired as it is. I won't have you expending your energies any more." He scowled like a child being denied his favorite candy. "We need to be alert," she reminded him gently.

"You are right. Very well- be off with you then. Oh Sarah," he exclaimed softly catching his as she turned away. "Wear something dark blue this evening."

She raised an eyebrow. "Is my lord begging me to wear his color?" she asked coyly.

"Yes, but wear it under your dress." Sarah slipped out suppressing a giggle.

2

King Oberon was very curious as to why the Goblin King so urgently needed his presence and on so short a notice. It was not unlike Jareth to make odd demands or behave fastidiously (obsessively drinking peach wine there for several years). Oberon often wondered at times whether living with goblins simply drove one slightly mad. Still King Jareth had made improvements to the kingdom and was socializing with neighboring royalty. He did like the Goblin King and enjoyed the possibility of the improbable.

Oberon watched as Jareth fidgeted with his cravat, adjusting and readjusting some minute fold or crease. From where he leaned against the door frame Oberon smiled amused. "So you have called me here to what, then, add spice to an otherwise dull party?" he asked dryly.

Jareth let out an agitated sigh and switched his attention to some nearly invisible strand of hair that wasn't behaving. "If I wanted spice," he said. "I would have invited the Fieries from the Forbidden Forest, and not some droll court leader." Looking over his shoulder, he flashed a mischievous smile at the High King.

"The goblin influence rears its slimy head," remarked Oberon. "I am here Jareth, but I can disappear rather quickly if you do not explain what is happening tonight."

"Do you know Count Wimberly?"

"Yes, he's your neighbor. There's rumor in court that you intend to wed their daughter. Of course," he paused straightening and examining his finger nails. "There's also rumor that you've taken on something of a consort." That statement gave Jareth pause. He turned to face the High King and received a mockingly mischievous smile in return. "Lord Edenberge sends his respects," Oberon added.

Jareth snorted. "Believe me my lord when I say that marrying Leslie is the furthest thing from my mind. I have little desire to continue any sort of association with the Wimberly's."

"And has it to do with this newly acquired distraction?"

Jareth smiled. He couldn't help him self. Sarah was more than a distraction, she was the Goblin Queen. 'All will be revealed,' he reminded himself. 'in due time. One problem at a time this evening.' Explaining his sudden marriage to a recently turned young woman from the Above was not a conversation Jareth could handle at the moment. "It has everything to do with her my lord," he said speaking in generals. "What do you know of human slave trade?"

Oberon knitted his brow and grew serious. "It is an act that I openly discourage. While I concur that the humans can be very tiresome I do not like my kin behaving so debase with any race. Why?" Jareth gave him a rather poignant look. Oberon took several steps towards him. "You suspect the Wimberly's of human slave trafficking?"

"Not suspect, I know. Count Wimberly is a debase fae with little respect for female humans, a fact I plan on proving tonight."

"At the ball?"

"In front of every slimy goblin and courtier if I must."

Oberon regarded Jareth weighing the severity of the situation. "You had better tell me everything you know and suspect."

Jareth started from the day he found Sarah Williams, dragged in by her hair before the court by Lord Edenberge. Oberon had been at court that day, he recalled the disheveled girl. "How I know her is another story for another time," Jareth added when the High King grew curious. "The point is I took her in, healed her wounds, and began to unravel the mystery of her circumstance." He went into great detail about the lingering smells that were not only deeply imprinted on Sarah's subconscious, but on the fluids left on her as well. "We assumed the man responsible for all of her injuries was Lord Edenberge. The night she confronted him though she learned that he had acquired her from another fae, a count."

"And how do you know that the count in question is Wimberly?"

"Sarah had not heard his voice since the incident until very recently. It brought back everything, every detail, every emotion. That, and my own physician matched his smell to fluid recovered from Sarah's rape kit."

"As a matter of honor she has every right to confront him," Oberon responded. "Challenge him to the death even. Why am I here? Why do you need her to be in good standing with me?" When Jareth failed to answer, Oberon continued, "It is all ready apparent that this Sarah is important to you, whether by morbid curiosity or some far greater emotion. She means something to you. She is your consort?"

Jareth sighed sharply. "More or less."

Oberon leaned back and braced his chin against his hand. Things were never boring in the Goblin City. "Is there more?"

Jareth nodded. "As you know I had been entertaining advances towards Leslie Wimberly. I know her: she's a sweet young woman. It has come to my attention that the count beats his daughter. Leslie is an innocent, as was Sarah Williams prior to her attack."

"And to a man who cares for wished away children, hurting an innocent is most deplorable."

"Most," Jareth reiterated.

"We fae are hardly the most judicial of races. We are the most ruthless when we feel slighted. This is personal Jareth, isn't it?"

All Jareth could do was nod. Count Wimberly had touched his life in far too intimate a fashion.

Oberon nodded his head with resolution. If the goblin way of life had any influence on King Jareth it no doubt would be prevalent in his choice of women. Oberon felt his own curiosity rise. "You have two women who can testify to Count Wimberly's debased actions: I will sanction any judgments they deem worthy."