CHAPTER 2

He led her to a dining hall. The table was large with candelabras but only two places were set up with cutlery and plates. She was to sit to his right. Sarah sat down and he pushed in her chair and then seated himself. The goblins and a human man set out dishes for breakfast in the center of the table. Jareth poured himself a cup of tea and started dishing up his own plate of food. Sarah followed suit and had coffee with cream. She ate fruit and eggs with sausage and a biscuit.

Jareth said in a nonchalant way while buttering a biscuit, "I would like for you to be my paramour and let me court you." Sarah stopped eating and cleared her mouth of food. She couldn't believe he just bluntly put it out there on the table, that he wanted to have sex with her and date. Sarah was stunned. Where did the gentleman from yesterday go?

Sarah cleared her throat and asked, "Excuse me, but what did you say?"

Jareth leered at her and said, "I would like to court you and you would become my paramour." Sarah was shocked he was acting like this was a normal everyday thing. She decided to be direct.

Sarah said slowly, "You mean you want to have sex with me and date me as the king's consort?"

Jareth said looking at her, "Yes. I wish to take you to events like balls and court. You would go with me to most places outside of the kingdom. I will have you share my bed and eat my meals with you everyday. I will let you come and go to the Goblin City, but not in the Labyrinth. It is a different place now that you are older there are many traps and dangers. It is much more dangerous than before. The Labyrinth may not know it is you because I have not been formally introduced yet." Jareth had never taken a consort before. He had bedded many women but he would never keep them around like he wanted Sarah to be. She is so very lovely, he thought.

Sarah said, hiding her anxiety and swallowing hard, "Do I have to answer you right this minute? Can I please have time to think about it?" Jareth looked at her wondering what she was thinking. He figured he would give her a couple days for her answer being she just got here yesterday.

Jareth said, "Give me your answer in two days. I'll give you time to think it over since you just got here last night." Sarah nodded and lost her appetite but drank her coffee.

When she went back to her room. She sat down at the vanity looking in the mirror wondering what she was to do. She never in her life was asked so directly to have sex with someone. Sarah figured that it must be normal here to approach someone so boldly.

She thought, 'Why would he ask me that? He doesn't know that Josh was going to rape me and being I fought back made him hit me repeatedly. If I say no, what will he do? If I say yes, then he will want to use my body to satisfy his sexual urges whether I feel like it or not. Not that it would be so bad, but what if I get knocked up. He said to court me and that is a formal agreement to betrothal and marriage, right? Can't we start out as friends first? I mean, I just need to get used to him. I haven't laid eyes on him for over a decade and he springs this on me not even twenty four or twenty six hours later. That's what I'll do. Ask him to be my friend first and get to know each other better then see where it goes, then I'm not saying no and shutting the door to hurt him. Oh God, what if he gets mad or forces me to comply. This is nerve wracking.'

Sarah put her head down on her vanity on top of her arms. As stressful as it is she knew she could never go back to her life and had to come to terms with it sooner or later. If she didn't it would drive her crazy. She didn't know what to expect from anyone or anything here she was in unfamiliar territory. She didn't know how humans were treated here or nothing of the other common creatures in this world. She felt so lost out of her element. She laid down on the bed and must have fallen asleep.

Jareth was sitting next to her on her bed caressing her cheek to wake her up. She was startled awake and was scared from the surprise. She screamed and bolted across the bed away from him. Jareth was puzzled at her reaction waking up.

He said, "Sarah, why are you frightened?" Sarah was panting and trying to get herself together.

Sarah said, "Do you know why Josh beat me up and I had to hurt him to try and stop him?" Jareth shook his head no.

Sarah said, "Because he was trying to rape me." Then it dawned on Jareth and he was angry.

Jareth said angrily, "He will never touch you again, precious. You are here now and nobody will do that to you."

Sarah asked, "Your offer stirred up my feelings about how I got here just last night. I haven't been here a full day yet and haven't seen you in a decade. I want to get to know you before…. I will sleep with you." She was waiting for him to get upset.

Jareth was looking down listening to every word. He realized she hadn't been here for a day. He was angry about that boy trying to force himself on her and traumatizing her. Jareth also knew that if he didn't make the claim on her as a human female, she would be a target for every fae male or female in the Underground to claim her. Perhaps, he should tell her about the human laws in the Underground.

Jareth said, "Sarah, come sit by the fire with me. We will have lunch here. I need to tell you something you need to know about this world." He created a crystal and dropped it and a small table appeared and there was food on plates. He and Sarah sat down. He started dishing up roast, vegetables and a salad and fruit.

Jareth said, "The Underground is very different from your world. Humans are treated differently unless they are changelings. The children I collect go to good fae homes after they have been changed to full fae. They are loved and revered because they have less fertility issues. The fae have problems reproducing because we are so long lived I suppose is the cause but our population was getting lower and lower in numbers." He took a bite of his food and poured them both a glass of wine. Sarah was picking at her food waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Jareth said, "The human children were given good lives to live and the handicapped or extremely damaged children the magic of the Underground changes them into healthy goblin children, if they live. My job is not about taking children from good homes, but most come from bad homes or sad homes where poverty, drug abuse, violence, neglect and such things cause them to be wished away too." Sarah thought, 'Ok, that's not so bad.' Sarah ate her salad.

Jareth said, "The sad part is the child, ever so often, may die before I can help save them. I know you thought I take children indiscriminately but that rarely happens. Most just give up early into the run or don't run at all. They did not have the conviction you had, love. Fae love their children and every child deserves a good home. I have more human citizens that are free to live in communities but not outside of my kingdom." Jareth knew he had to tell her that her kind were slaves elsewhere in the Underground.

Jareth said. "Sarah, there is a reason why I asked you so soon to let me come to your bed. The royal or titled fae men and women outside of my kingdom claim and enslave humans, especially females. I do not do that because a great deal of my citizens are protected by fealty to me. You on the other hand are not protected completely without joining with me to make the bond. If I take you out into the Underground, you will be fully protected by me." Jareth noticed Sarah had stopped eating and was looking down at her plate staring.

Sarah looked up at him with tears in her eyes and said, "I 'wish' I was fae."

Jareth shouted standing up, "Sarah! No! No!" But he was too late. Sarah's body started twitching and magic swirled around her. She fell to the floor by the table on the floor going through what looked like an epileptic fit. Jareth sent a crystal to his healer. He knelt down on the floor and took her in his arms. The elven healer arrived and Jareth told him what happened.

The healer looked grim at the King and said, "I have never seen a human adult to be able to withstand the transformation. She may well die from this. The healer did a diagnostic spell on Sarah and looked puzzled.

The healer said, "Did you know she has a large amount of fairy venom from a queen in her blood and it is rapidly multiplying to protect her from this?"

Jareth looked surprised and said, "No, I didn't. Come on Sarah, fight to live, love." The elven healer was surprised to hear the king profess love to a human girl.

The healer said, "Make her comfortable. It will be about eight to twenty hours before we will know if she will survive the change, sire."

Jareth picked up Sarah and took her to her bed. He took off her shoes and put her in the bed after he changed her clothes into a soft long nightgown.

He sat next to her and said, "I forgot that I gave you that power. You could have killed yourself, we shall see, you silly woman. If you survive I still want a relationship with you, Sarah. I want only you permanently in my bed. I know I want only you and I am a selfish man. You do belong to me even as a fae being you were wished away. I am still your king. Your fealty belongs to me and my kingdom. I want you to be my consort queen, now that you are no longer human. I must have your heart Sarah, it is all I want other than an heir. I will force you to marry me if I have to. I will possess your lovely body. I have watched you for the last eleven years undressing. I know just how incredibly beautiful your body has become." He kissed her head and left to come back and check on her every few hours.

—--day 3

Sarah was in a dream state. She was floating in a warm lake on her back in complete silence. It felt so peaceful. All she could see was a clear blue sky. She heard a soft voice say, "He wants to possess you and take your body and soul from you to enslave to his will. You will be punished if you deny him. He must learn that he cannot have you as a pet and possession. You were meant to be his equal. You must wish him not to be able to see you if you run from him. I give you a gift, the complete magical knowledge of the fae. You can readily use magic, but do not show him you can use it or he will bind you. You must remember your will is as strong as his, and your kingdom is as great as his. You are no man's pet or possession, but his equal. Beware his punishments."

She began to rise up out of the murky depths and became afraid to wake up. She had a fleeting thought, 'The voice said he is going to harm me.'

Sarah laid there in her aching body listening to the sounds around her. She heard a man talking. It was Jareth and he said, "... I will have her body to my uses because I have her fealty by default from being a wish away. I will force her to marry me if I must. Marry me she will. I will spread her legs for me to produce my heir. She has no choice but to comply with my desires. It would have been easier to get her enchanted by being human and joining with me in the bond. Now she is fae and I must use more difficult means. She is very stubborn."

Another man said, "Your majesty, she will be a full fae, how can you treat her in this way? She is from a different world. You need to be patient with her. There is no immediate concern now that she cannot be enslaved and sold by others as a human anymore. Woo her, do not force her. You need to take your time and court her properly, instead. You must learn about who she is before you bring sex into the relationship. It will cause less contention and the transition will occur to what you want to achieve."

Jareth said,"I am her king now. I will not be denied my rights to do with her as I please. I will care for her and watch over her. She will have to be trained in magic but I will keep her ignorant for now. At least until I marry her."

Sarah was beside herself listening to how he talked about her when he thought she couldn't hear him. She was weak as a kitten and needed rest to get strength back before she could think of a plan to how she would handle him. The voice said she was to be his equal not his possession or slave to him and he needed to learn that lesson. She had wish magic and fae magic. She guessed she had to teach him that he can't always get what he wants. Until then, she would get back her strength. Sarah let out a moan.