Niamh took a deep breath through her nose and raised her hand to knock on the polished wood of the door. Her sensitive hearing picked up the heavy footsteps from inside just before the door opened to reveal her husband. They were the same height, but her slim body was still dwarfed by his bulky frame. Once he realized it was his wife at his door, his face filled with surprise. Niamh pushed down her disgust and forced a civil expression onto her face. "Are you alone?" she asked.

"For now," Tiernus grunted.

"May I come in?"

Suspicion was quickly replacing surprise on his face, but Tiernus stepped back and swept a hand out to invite Niamh inside. She nodded and stepped into the room, inhaling the sickly sweet scent that he always insisted on wearing. She moved over to the fireplace and ran her hand along the smooth wood of the mantle, organizing her thoughts. Tiernus cleared his throat behind her and she turned to see him standing with his arms crossed, reminding her forcibly of their son. "Well, wife? Care to explain what you're doing here?" he said.

Everything in her wanted to raise her chin and defy him, but she lowered her eyes and folded her hands demurely in front of her. "I wanted to apologize," she said.

She glanced up to see that the suspicion on his face was now blatant distrust. "You did, did you," he said, his eyes narrowed into slits.

She waited for him to say more, but when he didn't, she murmured, "I put my son before my husband and king, and I'm sorry. I should have told you about Jareth's perversion."

Tiernus's eyebrows drew together in thought as he studied his wife. Finally, he heaved a sigh and took a few steps closer to her. "Yes, you should have. What brought on this change of heart?"

Niamh forced herself not to step away from him. "I want to be completely honest with you, my king. I keep trying to get closer to Jareth, but he's stubborn and disrespectful. He could be a great king if not for his inability to follow rules, I realize this now." Niamh took a tentative step closer to her husband. "We used to be so close," she said softly. "When we were first married, I couldn't keep my mind away from you." It wasn't a lie, but generally she was pondering how much she hated him. She closed the last bit of distance between him, pressing her chest against his folded arms. She felt his breathing hitch. "My love," she whispered. She looked into his brown eyes and saw the lust stirring beneath suspicion and had to fight the bile rising in her throat. He sighed softly and raised a hand to brush his fingertips along her cheek. With an iron will, she leaned her face into his touch.

"You understand why I had to punish you… yes?" he said as he ran a finger across a yellowing bruise below her eye.

She swallowed before she said, "Of course. I won't pretend that I wasn't angry then, but now I know that you were protecting the laws of this kingdom. That's why I knew that I had to come to you now. I've just come from the Goblin Kingdom—"

His hand instantly went from caressing her cheek to gripping her jaw so tightly that she gasped. "You know that I have forbidden anyone from contacting the Goblin King," he growled.

"My lord, I'm sorry! Please, I'm trying to tell you that he's planning something!" She forced the words out of her trapped jaw.

His grip on her loosened, but he didn't release her as he said, "Tell me."

"He's making the girl run the Labyrinth. She's already inside and he's petitioning someone on the council to witness."

"You were right to tell me," he said. "Perhaps you aren't as much of a waste as I thought." Without easing his grip on her jaw, Tiernus leaned in and planted a swift kiss on her lips. Then, he dropped his hand and turned his back on his wife, marching purposefully out of the room. Niamh quickly concentrated on conjuring a crystal and watched her husband head toward Kennan's chambers. Once she was sure he was out of earshot, she picked up her skirts and ran straight to Maireen's quarters.

""""

"I'll do it," Sarah whispered.

"I know you will," Jareth said, with something very like regret in his voice. Sarah's eyes narrowed at him for a moment and he realized that he had let his guard slip. He quickly arranged his face into his trademark smirk and said, "Let's get to it, shall we?" Before she could respond, he gathered his magic around all three of them and travelled to the outer edge of the Labyrinth. Sarah was breathing hard from the unexpected journey by magic, and Hoggle was cowering behind her with his hands covering his eyes.

Sarah looked around her in shock. "Why are we here?"

Jareth tilted his head in confusion. "I thought we just went through this."

"You mean you want me to run the Labyrinth now, right now?"

"Trust me when I say there is no time like the present," Jareth said, stepping away from her. "You have thirteen hours to reach my castle, or your friends will remain locked in their cages with nothing but their stink for company. Succeed, and they go free."

Sarah gave him a narrow-eyed look of loathing that cut him deeper than he thought possible. "Why do you do this?" she said, her voice low. "Why do you torture people like this? Are you that pathetically bored?"

Jareth marched angrily toward her. "Be careful, Sarah. Never forget that I am king over these lands. There can be far worse things than cleaners in these walls if I wish it. Thirteen hours." Once again, he stepped away form her and turned to leave.

Sarah's eyebrows drew together in thought. Just as Jareth was about to leave, she glanced back at Hoggle and said, "Then why would you let me take Hoggle with me?"

Jareth had been hoping she wouldn't ask that question, that she would just be grateful that he would allow one of her friends to remain with her. Truthfully, he wanted one more measure of security for her. If a council member were going to be witnessing her run through the Labyrinth, the amount of help Jareth could offer her would be limited. While the dwarf was useless as a bodyguard, he did know his way through the Labyrinth and would ensure that Sarah didn't wander into anything too dangerous. Even on her first run through the Labyrinth, Jareth had been watching, making sure that she didn't come to any lasting harm while still trying to convince himself that he didn't want her. The baby certainly hadn't been what he'd wanted, after all. However, he'd lived so long with the notion in his head that he was above falling in love, and most certainly above falling in love with a human. With or without his mother's influence, Jareth had indeed been disturbed by the intense yearning that arose in him at the sight of that young girl who could get so lost in her stories. He'd manipulated her into running the Labyrinth, the only test there was to determine whether a human was worthy of being the Goblin Queen, but he'd made it as difficult for her as he could. Attempting to convince himself that there was no way she could survive the hell his world would put her through. But she made it, she took everything he threw at her and still managed to fight her way to his castle. When he saw her in the Escher Room, desperate to save her brother, he'd never been so in love. When she rejected him, it tore him down.

Now, here he was again, giving her the same offer. Only this time, he wouldn't let her go. Even if he couldn't intervene magically every time she was faced with danger in his Labyrinth, he could still offer her a guide. He sighed and did the only the thing he knew how to- he lied. "Sarah, there are rules that even I can't break. Every runner encounters a gatekeeper at the start of the Labyrinth. Otherwise no one would even get into the maze, and what fun would that be?" Hoggle lifted his head behind Sarah, looking up at Jareth in suspicion. Jareth shot him one warning glance and hoped Sarah would mistake it for a look of disdain.

Sarah's face cleared of confusion and she nodded. "I should have known," she murmured. Jareth clenched his jaw against the unfamiliar stab of pain. He shoved it down inside of him and told himself that he had centuries to earn her forgiveness. He just had to get her through the Labyrinth first. She squared her shoulders and looked him in the eye as she said, "I'll see you at the castle, then. I've beaten this thing once before and, forgive me your majesty, but you'd be a fool to think I can't beat it again."

The corner of his mouth lifted in pride despite himself. "I look forward to seeing it, Precious." This time, he gathered his magic before he could find an excuse to stay and disappeared from her view.

Immediately after arriving in his throne room, he conjured a crystal to see Sarah and Hoggle make their way toward the Labyrinth gate, Hoggle leading the way. Just before they walked through the archway, a fairy landed on Hoggle's shoulder and yanked on the dwarf's ear. Hoggle swatted at it, falling behind Sarah. Once her back disappeared into the maze, Jareth saw his opportunity and quickly took himself back to Hoggle's side. His feet landed in the soft earth and he immediately threw a crystal above himself and the dwarf, casting an invisible bubble around them, effectively silencing their words from Sarah's ears.

Hoggle was still trying to rid himself of the fairy and didn't notice his king's presence at first. It wasn't until Jareth crouched down next to him and slapped the fairy to the ground that Hoggle's eyes widened in fear once again. "Listen to me, Hoghead. Stop that quivering; I won't hurt you, you pathetic creature. This trip through the Labyrinth will be different from the last. This time, if you let anything hinder Sarah's progress through the Labyrinth, I will not only dip you in the Bog again, I will drown you in it." Jareth's face was deathly serious as he stared into Hoggle's eyes.

Hoggle took a deep, steadying breath and asked, "Why are you doin' this?"

Jareth ignored his question and said, "Remember what I said. From this moment on, you will protect her and get her through the Labyrinth as fast as you can. I will have to throw obstacles in her path to make it look real, but know that I will be relying on you to secure her safe passage. Do not disappoint me, and don't tell her anything I've just said." Before Hoggle could open his mouth to ask anything else, Jareth removed the magical barrier around them and disappeared.

Hoggle's eyes darted back and forth, thinking furiously about what had just happened. He was no closer to understanding his king's behavior when Sarah's head peeked back out from around the corner of the entrance and she called, "Come on, Hoggle!" He started, but decided that for once, his goals seemed to be the same as his king's. He hurried after Sarah as she disappeared back into the Labyrinth.

Things are going to get pretty hairy from here on in. I'm looking at changing some things up and I hope you like it! There's going to be some decisions made and some lemons written… hopefully.

Review, please!