"Your Majesty?" anxiously asked one of the goblins.
The Goblin King had remained motionless for a long while, standing in the middle of the throne room with his eyes closed, as if asleep.
"Let me go, Jareth!" Hoggle shouted, trying to break free from the tight grip that held him.
But Jareth was too strong; attempting to escape was futile.
"I knew one day he would lose it," said a chubby little goblin next to them, bursting into coarse laughter.
"Lose what?" asked a dangerously soft voice.
The Goblin King opened his eyes and released Hoggle, who fell heavily onto the marble tiles of the hall.
"Nothing, Your Majesty. It was just a joke... a joke," stammered the poor thing, retreating towards the closest door without daring to meet the King's gaze. "A harmless joke, Your Majesty."
Jareth began to advance slowly towards him, like a cat ready to pounce on its prey.
"I understand. Only a joke, you say?" By now, the unfortunate goblin trembled so much that even nodding was a great effort. "Because for a moment, I thought you had mistaken the immense concentration required to assume the form and voice of another living being for a loss of sanity. But you, who have no idea how magic works, weren't suggesting that, right?"
The little goblin looked around, searching for help or an escape, only to find with horror that all the other goblins had long fled to safer areas of the hall.
"Where do you think you're going, Hoggle?" the Goblin King asked, his gaze still fixed on the trembling mess in front of him. "Looks like we need the chains again."
"You're a rat, Jareth!" Hoggle shouted. The dwarf had almost reached a window while the King had been distracted. But now he was busy avoiding the other goblins' attempts to re-chain him. "You stole my kiss! It was mine!"
The plump goblin took advantage of the chaos in the hall to flee, but Jareth didn't seem to care. The game was always more interesting when the prey ran, and anyway, he had enough fun with the dwarf as it was.
"Hobblerth, don't make a fuss over something so trivial. That kiss means nothing," he calmly explained, settling back into his throne. Having taken Hoggle' body, even if just for a few minutes, had left him exhausted.
"It means nothing to you because you don't..." Hoggle gave up, letting the gnomes chain him again.
"Because I don't love her?" the Goblin King burst into laughter, as if he had heard the best joke of his life. He was practically in tears. "I knew you had fallen head over heels for her from the moment she blinked twice in front of you. But love? Am I going to receive love lessons from the most repulsive dwarf in my kingdom?"
He was too tired to keep laughing, but there was nothing but contempt in his gaze.
"But she just said she likes me," Hoggle protested weakly.
"I can recognize compassion when I see it, Hobarth. Just as I've recognized love, or what they believed was love, in the eyes of countless women."
Hoggle said nothing, but there was no need for words to show how much Jareth's words hurt him.
Sir Didymus wanted to intervene, but ultimately thought better of it and remained silent. Only Ludo spoke, letting out a guttural sound, like a groan.
Jareth began laughing again. "Love... I doubt something like that can truly exist."
"You'll never feel it or understand it. Not even by looking forever into the eyes of all those women you've deceived so far, because they never loved you," Hoggle said chained again, but his voice firm.
Jareth started juggling the crystal ball. There was something hypnotic in the fluid movement.
"And so what? I got something better, something real. Lust, passion, desire. And let me tell you this now to save you from further disappointment in the future: you'll never experience those sensations either."
"But I had that kiss, even if I couldn't feel it. A true kiss from the person I love. I don't need anything else," Hoggle smiled.
The Goblin King let the ball fall into his lap and fell silent, trying to come up with the most hurtful reply to punish his insolence. The audacity to suggest there was something in some world he couldn't obtain! That was a thought he couldn't bear, as he had always gotten what he wanted. Well, almost always.
Everybody in the castle understood it was safer to leave him to his troubled musings, but after a few minutes of tense silence, it became essential to speak.
"Your Majesty, we don't know how, but she has found your private garden," the bravest of the goblins said, approaching the throne but avoiding eye contact. "But... but... we'll activate the traps, so there's no way she can..."
"Don't do it," Jareth interrupted. And he began to smile again, but it wasn't a pleasant smile.
The goblin was so perplexed by this unexpected order that he hesitated.
"But, Your Majesty..."
The Goblin King's smile wavered on his lips.
"Are you going to question one of my direct orders?"
"No, of course not. It's just that I thought..."
"At times, I wish you were also brainless in the literal sense of the term," Jared muttered after a long sigh. "Anyway, I feel like listening to some music. Something real, you said?" he added, addressing Hoggle. "We'll see about that."
And he disappeared.
But the atmosphere of the Throne room remained tense and oppressive, as if he had never left.
"His Majesty is facing an unfamiliar situation that is forcing him to evolve," said a despondent Sir Didymus. "We can only hope that, by some miracle, the change will be for the better."
At that moment, guided by the music, Sarah entered into the garden. It was a sweet and gentle melody, like a lullaby, but at the same time, it had an unsettling undertone. She couldn't recognize the instruments, or any of the species of the hundreds of different flowers that grew uncontrollably everywhere. Despite their abundance, their fragrance wasn't overpowering; it was faint, very faint. As if, despite their vivid colors, all the flowers were dead.
It was an incredibly beautiful and melancholic place, as if time had forgotten its existence.
"It's like a dream," Sarah thought, and a sudden suspicion made her pause. "A dream? But I've been careful not to eat or drink anything until now. How could he had brought me inside this illusion?"
She turned to closely observe the garden's boundaries, and could still clearly distinguish the path she had taken to come in. It wasn't a dream.
"It's him," Sarah finally understood. "The tension that usually surrounds him has disappeared. Somehow, he's relaxed, and he's communicating that feeling to this garden."
Now she could see him, they were only separated by a fountain.
But the fountain didn't release water; instead, colorful bubbles scattered in the air, and each time one of them burst, it released a note contained within, creating a surreal rain of color and music.
"Yes, he likes music," Sarah stubbornly thought, "but that doesn't make him any better... whatever he is."
They stood face to face, Jareth acting at first as if he hadn't even noticed her intrusion.
"Do you like it?" the Goblin King ended up asking.
Sarah nodded, fearing that one wrong word could ruin the moment.
But the magic was broken; Jareth started moving towards her, without any animosity. She wondered if it was a trap and considered the possibility of running away, but he closed the short distance between them long before she had time to make up her mind.
"Maybe it would be better if we clarified the situation once for all," Sarah thought. She then added aloud, "Do you still hate me?"
He nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"I see... so in that case, I better continue on my way," she said ready to turn and flee.
"Are you afraid to stay here with me?" Jareth asked kindly.
"I think I have good reasons to be," Sarah replied, standing her ground.
The way nothing she said seemed to affect him was particularly irritating.
"I wanted to propose that we end this game right now," the Goblin King said, still maintaining an unsettling amiability.
Sarah observed him closely, trying to read the truth in his eyes. She knew she couldn't believe a single word he said.
"I could believe that it was a very generous offer on your part, if I weren't convinced that if you ended our game now, it would only be to declare yourself the winner."
"Of course," he conceded.
She felt a wild urge to shake him and force him out of the strange role he had adopted. When Jareth acted calmly and reasonably, she didn't know how to react.
"In that case, there's no deal," she said. At least that was a straightforward answer.
Sarah took a step back, ready to leave. Jareth took a step forward in response.
"Please, Sarah. If you could put aside your ego for a moment, you'd understand that..."
"It's not a matter of ego," she cut him off. "And even if it were, you wouldn't be the most appropriate person to talk about it," she thought.
As if everything were an elaborate strategy to infuriate her, he continued to speak almost gently.
"Is it possible you still haven't realized?"
"Realized what?"
Jareth took Sarah's hand and briefly placed his lips on it.
"The attraction between us," he said.
"There's nothing like that between us," she protested, blushing violently and too surprised to immediately withdraw her hand.
"Really? Then we should remedy that unfortunate circumstance promptly," Jareth pulled her closer with a quick gesture and kissed her. He held her firmly, convinced she would try to escape, but she didn't. It was an urgent, demanding kiss, and she was starting to fully accept it when the sound of her book hitting the ground startled her.
Sarah pulled away then.
"I'm beginning to regret letting you take that damned book with you," the Goblin King said, smiling despite his disappointment.
"How dare you...?" she asked, still catching her breath.
"Would you prefer to kiss your little dwarf instead?"
If there was something that could increase her growing disgust towards the Goblin King, it was precisely his way of despising all the inhabitants of his Labyrinth, especially her friend Hoggle.
"Of course, I would prefer that. I don't love you, and I don't even like you. Why should I enjoy kissing you?" she asked.
He shrugged his shoulders, infinitely amused.
"Because there's so much more beyond that beautiful hollow concept you worship and call love. You should have discovered that a long time ago; you're no longer a child."
"What I may or may not have discovered throughout my life is none of your concern, Jareth."
They were physically close, but she couldn't feel more distant from him. They were completely different.
"You reject what you feel simply because it doesn't measure up to the height you've elevated the concept of love. But how can you be so sure it's something better than simple desire? Have you ever truly felt love for anyone?"
His tone of voice was still kind and considerate. She didn't know what to respond and avoided his gaze.
"I could have easily deceived you again if I had wanted to. Everything related to love, sweet words, small gestures, gentle caresses... Do you think I'm not familiar with that role? I've played it so many times that I can do it almost without thinking."
Sarah started to fear that he was being completely honest with her. It was a dangerous sign.
"Why didn't you do it this time, then?"
"I have my reasons."
This time, it was the Goblin King's turn to avoid her regard. Somehow, his insecurity gave her strength.
"I don't know what kind of new game you're playing with me now, Jareth, but I won't be your lover, not now, not in a million years."
"Why?"
This time, the Goblin King looked directly at her with such intensity that Sarah felt her determination waver. But she had an excellent response at hand.
"Do you not already know the answer?" She was astonished by his audacity. "You kidnapped my brother and you threaten the tranquility of hundreds of innocent children."
"Those would be excellent reasons not to love me, but that's not what I'm asking of you."
There was no hint of irony, he meant it.
"You're sick," Sarah said, seizing the moment to bend down and pick up her book. She felt no desire to continue listening to him. "Don't speak as if you knew anything about me because you don't. You couldn't manipulate me when I was fifteen, and you won't start now."
"Do as you please, then. Run away."
Sarah was stunned. Something in his gaze had told her that he was determined to end their game at that moment, one way or another. She had never thought he would simply let her go.
But Jareth turned his back on her, lost in contemplation of one of his fountains, and Sarah forced herself to leave him, her mind and heart filled with thoughts and feelings so contradictory she thought it best not to analyze.
"Winning is not enough," the Goblin King said after she was long gone. "I need to make her love me, betraying all her beliefs and outdated moral concepts. And once I've achieved that, I'll send her back to her world to suffer for me for the rest of her days." He added with a smile, "Yes, that would be the only thing that could please me this time."
But an important obstacle stood in his way. She was right; he didn't understand her. He needed to know what was important to her, the weak points he could exploit. And although the answer might seem simple at first, considering Sarah's previous journey through the Labyrinth, the implications were not so straightforward.
The Goblin King kept smiling while thinking about that chubby baby. It had been interesting having him in the castle, in a way, almost... pleasant.
"But I can't take Toby again without someone wishing it so. There are rules that not even I can break. Besides, what I need is information. I don't want to blackmail her into loving me; that would ruin all the fun..."
He needed information about Sarah, and someone in the Labyrinth would provide it.