Chapter Twenty-Seven
Sarah
What would be Day 25 of Quarantine.
Underground.
The Labyrinth.
Sarah woke in an unfamiliar bed to the call of strange birdsong, punctuated with the occasional scratchy crow of a rooster. The crisp tang of autumn was on the air, and she breathed deeply, keeping her eyes closed as she hugged the blankets and furs to herself and buried into his scent.
Jareth must have had spellwork in his room to keep things clean, for, unlike most of the castle, it was in no disservice or disrepair. It had still smelled much of him. Ozone, petrichor, magic. Leather and, now, sex.
Their lovemaking had been a sweet thing the night before. He had stayed up long after she had gone to bed, but the moment the mattress dipped with his weight, she awoke, reaching for him. He had been nude already, accustomed to sleeping that way, and she spent some time kissing down his body and bringing him to the edge before she slipped over him, riding him with their fingers laced together, gazes locked.
After, she had fallen asleep in his arms, and now?
Now, she sat up to find the bed beside her cold, the tower room filled with a dim dawn light which illuminated sumptuous and ornate furnishings.
She could sense a zip of electric power within her mind and body, a natural calling she sent out in search of him.
The Goblin King was several levels below, she could feel, and she had the sense of the enormous horned throne.
Before going in search of him, however, she explored.
Jareth's room was smaller than she imagined, space sacrificed for the magnificent views of the tallest tower. A balcony ringed the structure, with two ways to access it unless she wanted to climb through a window. She stepped onto it to find that plants were thick about the place. Magnificent, exotic, waxy-leaf, vines, and flowering profusely were everywhere, so it seemed she walked a wind-swept jungle. He must have used magic to protect the plants from the elements, for she could sense his magic over it all.
Touching some stalks, she swore that the petals bent to her. Enchanted, she wandered back inside and found his bathroom next, her body's needs calling louder. It was smaller than she had thought it would be, his tub about the size of a Jacuzzi back in the Above, with a waterfall shower that looked like it worked via an intricate, silver pulley system. There was a vanity and a toilet but little else. She took her time washing, finding oils and soaps that smelled of him. The water ran just under her comfort level of warmth, and she wondered if she might be able to do something about that, shivering as she stepped naked into his adjoining wardrobe.
Here there were all the trappings of Jareth's love of fashion. He had sacrificed some of the space in the bathroom to accommodate a wardrobe the size of her bedroom back home.
Well, the size it was, she thought with a pang, then shook her head and went to sort through the hanging leather, silk, linen, and wool.
Because Jareth was only somewhat larger than her, his clothes just about fit her frame. She kept his shirt buttoned to the top and found a belt she used to cinch in her waist. Her hips were fuller, so the pants were not as much of a problem, but she decided to go barefoot, his feet too large.
While she wanted to linger on the shelves that lined the walls or go through drawers—nosy, she scolded herself—she also wanted to see him. And get something to eat. She could not remember the last time she had done so.
Pausing with her hand on the door, Sarah realized that she was not even hungry. Her body was letting her know that food was an option, but otherwise? There were no pangs or cramps, no stomach growling or weakness.
And, with another shock of realization, she knew it had been over twenty-four hours since her last meal. Maybe even as much as thirty-six.
There was a rumble in her mind. Something was stirring that she likened to the same force that seemed to guide her hand last night to Jareth's journal. It bade her open the door, and she did not fight the desire, following the gentle urging down the spiral stone steps to the throne room.
Jareth was just where she thought he might be, lounging with one booted foot canted up against the arm of his throne. He had a ledger in hand and was making some notations with a quill pen, the nib scratching the paper loud in the room's silence. There were no goblins or attendants.
"Where is everyone?" Sarah asked.
Jareth looked up and over, his stern expression softening somewhat. "Good morning, precious," he said, his eyes roving down her figure. She thought she could almost feel the touch of him where he looked. "Toby, Rico, and Aldric are still in their rooms. Goblins don't tend to awaken this early."
Crossing to him, Sarah placed her hands on the back of the silk-draped throne and leaned over it. There was a zip of electric contact as she brushed her lips against his and a rumble from that other presence within and around her.
The floor bucked, tumbling her over the throne to sprawl without grace in Jareth's lap. His throat echoed her cry of surprise, and then they held each other, laughing and disentangling themselves enough to see what had just happened.
"Well," Jareth said when they looked at the dais that newly appeared next to his own, containing a slightly smaller, more delicate version of his throne, bedecked in hangings that glittered silver thread on a dark purple background, matching his. "I had wondered what to do about that, but it appears the Labyrinth has its ideas."
Sarah looped her arms around his neck, leaning into him a little as she studied the other seat over his shoulder. "It looks cold over there," she said. "And not as comfortable."
He laughed, fingers brushing the hair back from her face before he kissed her again, the heat of him thoroughly intoxicating.
It did not take long for the ledger to slide to the floor, landing with a loud thud in the empty chamber. Jareth's hands, clad in leather, skimmed up the front of her shirt, brushing against peaked nipples. Pulling in a breath, Sarah leaned away from the kiss, searching his face.
"What's the matter?" he asked, his voice quiet, fingertips playing along her shoulders and neck, brushing through her hair.
She nodded toward the second throne. "Are you sure you're okay with this? Marriage, the queenship—me?"
His smile was slow to spread but infectious. "I believe I've made my desires clear, Sarah precious." His hands had dropped to her hips, and he kneaded the area. "What of you, my love?"
She hesitated for a moment, then pressed her forehead to his. "I'm happiest when I'm with you."
Jareth hummed in approval and grasped her tight. "This is still quite the change. I am comfortable here, but I was raised in Faerie. The Above was your home."
"Was," she agreed, voice sad. "I felt it when I came back here, you know. The moment you brought us back to the Underground? I think it's because of the mark and the Labyrinth's claim on me. I felt nothing like it when I was here before."
"What did you feel?"
"That I'm where I belong," she said, a conviction in her tone. "But I'm not going to give up on returning as often as possible. I still have a family up there. And friends." Plus, a job she had never given notice on, and probably at least a dozen people who would be wondering where she was if not in her fire-gutted apartment.
Sarah played with his hair a little, letting the silky strands slide between her fingers, weaving them in and around, fascinated by the pattern of colors. Jareth caught her hand and brought it to his mouth, never taking his gaze from her as he lay a kiss on the inside of her palm.
"I do not know if you will be beholden to guest rites," he said softly. "If you were to go into the Above now, you might not be able to return for some time, and we all need you here."
"I know," she whispered. "You told me."
It had been the worst of the blows. Losing her apartment was one thing, but it represented so much more. The loss of any sense of normalcy or stability that she was accustomed to. She would have to find her footing here and knew desperately little.
"I want to learn as much as I can about this world. Do you have a library beyond what's in your room?"
He canted his head to the side, smile turning sardonic. "Do I have a library?"
Sarah squeaked when he grasped her fully, arms beneath her knees and back. She fell against his chest momentarily before he transported them into a room that took her breath away.
Narrow windows soared up and up to meet at a great dome high above, filtering the daylight with frosted glass. Between the windows were the stacks.
Stacks upon stacks, rows stretching not just up but outward, she could see, into alcoves and hallways containing more volumes.
They stood dead center, and she slid somewhat reluctantly out of his arms when Jareth moved to set her down, her eyes wide as she took in everything. If what she saw and felt simultaneously was leading her true, then this library was greater than anything she could conceivably access in the States. Perhaps even in the entire world of the Above.
The Labyrinth was in her mind, showing her that floors and floors were more of tomes beneath her feet, stretching in great caverns kept dry and dust-free from spell craft and sorcery.
"Goblins are, save for special cases, forbidden from these rooms. Never forget that a goblin will see a book as a tasty snack. That's why my room is kept locked, as are all the entrances to this library. I never use the doors these days, preferring to do as we did." He paced away from her, spinning a golden globe on a large stand with the flick of a wrist. "You should be able to do your own transportation magic soon, if not already. We need to practice when there's time. Until then, I can bring you here whenever you wish."
"Oh, I wish," Sarah whispered, chest swelling with some yet undefined emotion. Tears were burning in her eyes. She was having some trouble breathing. "How much of this have you read?"
"Not enough," he said. "But quite a bit. Maybe a third. If you want a history and an understanding of Faerie, I know where you can start."
She looked over at him, tears falling.
Jareth's expression flooded with concern, and he was striding back toward her, his hands cradling her face a moment later, smearing tears beneath his leather gloves. "What's wrong?"
Sarah trembled, gripping his wrists, and said, "Jareth… I thought I would die in a few more, maybe fifty, sixty decades? That those few years were all I'd have. I don't even know how to start thinking about centuries, but this? This place? It's—" She swallowed hard and stepped into him, forcing his hands to slide down to her waist. "It's incredible to think I could do something like that. To read this many books."
"Oh, yes," he murmured, nuzzling her neck and giving the spot he had marked her on their first night a light nip. At this stage, it was nothing but some faint teeth prints and a little yellow bruising, but her ability to heal had picked up. What should have been there for at least a week lasted mere days, hours even. "You may write some of your own one day."
"Have you?"
"Mm. Journals and ledgers, love, that's all so far."
She was leaning in to kiss him again when Jareth suddenly gave a snarl, pulling back from her, his expression furious. "What is it?" she cried.
"The bastard," he said, voice a rasp. He had hold of her, and the next moment, instead of the library, they were back in the throne room.
And Aldric was lounging on Jareth's royal seat, flipping through the book discarded with a casual air belied by the fact that his eyes had slid over to them the moment they appeared, watchful.
Letting go of Sarah, The Goblin King stalked toward his throne, power roiling from him in a wave that she could taste like a coming storm on the back of her tongue. "Remove yourself," he demanded. The unsaid threat or I will remove you, hung heavy in the air.
Aldric closed the ledger on his finger. "Your treasury is a mess," he said, voice bland, though he did slide off the throne, moving gracefully as though he had been planning to do this all along. "And your bookkeeping is atrocious."
Jareth snatched the book from his brother, who gave it up without a fight. He threw it casually over his shoulder, where it disappeared with a faint pop. "You're not welcome to go through my belongings. I thought you would have better manners as my guest."
Bristling, Aldric motioned around at the grimy throne room with its remnants of the feast from the night before. The sharp tang of spilled ale mixed with the reek of piss and rotting, fly-attracting chicken bones were in the air. "And what wonderful accommodations you provide for your guests."
Rubbing her arms, Sarah was suddenly uncomfortable being barefoot, even though the spot before the throne was relatively clean. It was not like the immaculate floors and rugs in the library. Then, realizing with a nudge from the Labyrinth's presence in her mind, she did some magic and shod them properly in a pair of knee-high boots. Smiling with satisfaction, she looked up to see the two fae staring at her.
"What?"
Aldric was closed down, his expression a mask of nothing, but Jareth looked incredibly pleased. "Just that you're showing your new skills, precious," he murmured.
"You are a wonder," Aldric said, echoing what he had told her before when last they were in Faerie. His voice did not match the words, falling flat and dull. He pulled away from them, sliding his hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. "I think that, perhaps, I will explore the grounds." He raised his eyebrow at Jareth. "If that is to be permitted?"
Sarah reached for her lover's arm, tucking it into hers. "That sounds like a great idea. It's been decades since I've been here, and last time I didn't have a chance to look around." She leaned into him. "If I know my brother, he'll be asleep until noon, at least, so I think we're safe leaving him and Rico."
Jareth looked at her, the obvious question in his eyes: what are you doing? Because he most certainly did not seem in the mood to go on a leisure stroll with his brother.
Sarah stared back at him, then Aldric, cocking her head slightly.
Dread and understanding took over his expression, and Jareth's words were careful. "I would happily show you both the castle and the grounds."
Aldric looked as though you could knock him over with a feather. "You would give me a tour?"
"Yes," The Goblin King said, then swallowed hard. "And I think there are some things we should discuss along the way."
Looking even more surprised, Aldric glanced between the two of them. "What is this?"
Sarah let go of Jareth and went to his brother. "Something that's better spoken of on the move, I have the feeling. Come on." She took Aldric's arm now, and he let her.
Jareth led them. They were quiet at first, walking down the wide steps that lead from the throne room to the receiving hall, a pillared room wider than thirty people standing shoulder-to-shoulder. Everything was made out of the same grayish-yellow stone, and when Sarah reached out to pet a carved column, she felt the Labyrinth seem to purr in the back of her mind.
"This whole castle is connected to the Labyrinth?" she asked.
"Yes," Jareth said. "Everything within its walls is part of one symbiotic structure. There is all you can see above, and then the tunnels and caverns below. I still have not seen the entirety of it."
"Still?" Aldric asked. "But you've had so much time."
"The Labyrinth is vast and holds many secrets, even from its king." He sounded more fond of the behavior than annoyed as he said this, stroking one of the walls nearest him.
"I would have found it all," Aldric said with smug confidence. "I would have made it show me everything."
Sarah laughed a little, squeezing his arm. The fae lord had been careful to be discreet about it, but he had been clutching her all the while. Despite his bluster, she had the feeling that he was nervous about being here. "From what little I can tell, I don't think that the Labyrinth is one to be brought to heel. It's more like someone you admire greatly and want to be good friends with."
He looked at her, and his eyes swam with something she could not define. "This will likely be why you will excel as its Queen, my lady. You see and feel what others do not."
The Labyrinth seemed to agree, one of the fountains along the wall giving a sudden, happy little burble. They all noticed, glancing toward it.
"You'll begin to comprehend as you see more," Jareth said, his words warmer than they had ever been in Aldric's presence. "Of that, I am certain."
He turned and led them further out of the castle. Aldric leaned into Sarah as they moved. Then, canting his voice low, he said to her, "I have the feeling the Labyrinth has been awaiting you for some time, pet."
Chills ran down her back at his words, but the presence she associated with that massive structure shifted in her mind and radiated a calm born of millennia. She seized it, her heart slowed, and her breaths became more measured. "Maybe," she said, squinting as they took a small ornamental door into the sunlight. "But it's hard to tell." She shaded her eyes. "Oh, wow."
They were standing in an orchard, and every tree was laden with fruit. Cherries, apples, oranges, plums, and tangerines, all inexplicably producing at the same time, the air heavy with their scent under the warm rays.
Breaking from Aldric's side, Sarah went to one and reached up, caressing the soft fuzz of a peach. "Would this bring me back to the ballroom?" she asked, turning to Jareth with a teasing smile.
"No, love, though we can go another time if you wish." He stepped up beside her. "These are some of the royal gardens. The soil here allows that anything planted to remain mature until it is removed, and the flora replenishes itself overnight. So we could harvest everything you see here, and tomorrow it would be just as bountiful."
"Marvelous," Aldric said. "Just as at the Seelie Court, and the tree that grows at its heart."
Jareth nodded. "I have read some of the histories, and the soil is from the Labyrinth. Many millennia ago, it was brought to the Court as a gift by the king two before me."
"How many have there been?" she asked.
"Kings of the Labyrinth? I am the eighth." He glanced at his brother as he said it, and his voice hardened a little. "The Labyrinth chooses its master every time."
She reached out and ran a hand down Jareth's chest so that his focus returned to her. "And I'd be the first Queen?"
"Yes," he breathed, the hand that would bear the mark covering hers. "There have been queen consorts, but that is all. None marked by the Labyrinth such as you."
Another wave of chills and she looked up as a flock of birds suddenly alighted into the air. A burst of colorful wings, the sunlight glinting through them, she smiled to see it. To be here, in general. There was something about this place that sang to her. Something which made her want to delight in simply being alive.
"Easy, pet," Aldric murmured from behind her. "The magic wants to play with you just as much, and such things can be unpredictable."
Sarah closed her eyes, reveling in the sun's warmth on her upturned face. She spoke without looking. "This place smells—feels—incredible. I want to do everything."
"Faerie welcomes you home," came Jareth's voice. "But you have barely seen it. Come."
While she let him lead her on, Sarah kept her eyes hooded, breathing deep, feeling as though each pull of air was the sweetest oxygen she had ever tasted. Jareth and Aldric walked on either side of her, or before and behind, but always with her between. They spoke a little of the history of the features that one found interesting, but something that caught her attention was when they reached a crystalline pool stretching as far as Sarah could see in one direction, curving around the castle's inner wall.
"Care for a swim?" Jareth teased as she crouched on the ledge, fingers dipping into the frigid water. A koi floated to the surface, as long as her arm and patterned like a calico. "That's Ingrid. She's a bit of an attention seeker."
"You named a fish?" Aldric asked with a sneer in his voice.
"She named herself," Sarah said, brushing the glistening scales that moved beneath her hand before the koi dived back into the depths, where the water was so dark a blue that she could see only minimal movement. "She's been here a long time, from what I gather."
She brushed her wet fingers on her trousers and looked at the two fae. Aldric was gazing in open-mouthed amazement, whereas Jareth looked pleased again. "Very good, precious," he said. "Ingrid is nearly a thousand years my senior. She chose that form three decades ago when she was tired of walking the land. She was a doe, prior, and before that, a pigeon? I think she enjoys the water now."
Reaching with her senses, Sarah could feel how the pool led through underground aquifers to more realms than she could conceive of, the water acting as portals between the parts of Faerie. "So she's how you communicate with the outside world? What is she?"
"She was how I sent messages until I lost anyone with which to do so. We call her kind many things. They're shapeshifters and descendants of gods. I believe she can trace her lineage to Ceridwen."
"I don't understand," Aldric said, confusion writ large upon his brow. "How do you have one? How does she listen to you? You're a murderer."
Jareth flinched, and Sarah stepped forward, hands raised to them both. She could sense magic stirring in the air between them, an old darkness that she had not until that moment noticed. Stepping into it, the animosity these two carried for each other wrapped around her, choking. Distrust like shackles, a facsimile of the depth these two carried toward one another.
"I think that's enough," she said, the words soft. Then, speaking past the discomfort, not taking her eyes from Aldric, Sarah reached out and drew Jareth to her side. Fingers squeezing his hand, she said. "I think it's time Jareth told you what he told me last night."
Brow furrowing, Aldric stared between the two of them. "And what is that?"
There was a faint tremor in his fingertips, but The Goblin King took a deep breath and started talking. "After you went to your rooms last night, Sarah demanded I tell her what had happened with Kieryn and Reganne."
Aldric went stock still, as frozen as a statue. Sarah's eyes burned, waiting for him to blink.
"At her request, I will also share the events with you."
"No," his brother said.
Sarah jumped, shocked at the word and the venom behind them, but then Aldric continued.
"You won't tell me anything. You'll show me and her to see if your words match what happened." He lifted his chin and demanded, "Take us there."
Sarah looked at Jareth. "What is he talking about?"
"Unless they are faded, where a fae dies, there always remains a lingering trace of their essence," he said softly. "And there are ways to see the events as they unfolded once more if you have the right magic." He turned his attention back to Aldric. "I have not been back there since that day, brother. I know not what remains or how well we can extract those moments."
"Take us there," he repeated.
Jareth sighed and, tightening his grip on Sarah, said, "Very well."
###
Sarah came back from the memory magic gasping, her head spinning and her surroundings coming into gradual focus around her as she remembered how to breathe.
For a moment there, it was as though she had been in the chamber with them that long-ago day, feeling the fear, love, sorrow, and sheer terror in equal measures. Then, looking around, she found Aldric sitting on the cavern floor, his head between his knees, grabbing great fistfuls of his hair as he cried.
She went to him without thinking, falling to her knees beside his prone figure. "Aldric," she murmured. "Hey. It's okay."
When she put a hand on his back, he stopped pulling at his hair, but he was trembling, his gaze wide and unseeing upon the floor.
She looked up to see Jareth standing in the center of the room, eyes trained toward the ceiling, paler than she had ever seen him.
She knew this had rocked all of them, but whatever she had felt had been a thousand times worse for the brothers who loved those sisters so intensely.
Then Aldric started to cry in great, racking sobs, shaking uncontrollably.
Sarah wrapped her arms around him, holding tight, seeing in her mind's eye what they had just undergone. How Kieryn and Reganne had urged Jareth to take the pendant, and then the tsunami of magic that hit them a moment afterward as the Labyrinth cemented its hold on him.
From the outside, she could sense the power behind the amulet as it settled on Jareth's chest. Floating dream-like between the two consciousnesses of the twins, she knew that they had understood.
Even as his magic ripped their bodies apart, they understood what was happening. They had been afraid, but their words had been just that. There had been no conviction behind their cries. They had been only the spasmodic reactions of two dying women.
They had died holding hands. They had died still with pride in seeing their youngest brother achieve something miraculous.
It had been devastating to witness. To feel.
Sarah squeezed her eyes shut, burying her face against Aldric's back. "I'm so sorry," she said, and began to cry alongside him, silently but steadily.
Only a moment passed before Jareth's palm was on her head. She gave a single sob, noting distantly that the fae she held was starting to slow in his weeping. His body no longer shuddered beneath her, so she loosened her grip minutely, letting him know he could break it at any time.
Instead, he grasped her wrists firmly and leaned into her touch.
His first words since demanding Jareth take them here were, "Why? Why didn't you tell me?"
Jareth's hand fell away from where he was touching her. "You were never in the mood to hear and—I had never come back here. I did not know that Sarah was right. I believed you were."
As Aldric rose, he pulled Sarah with him, so she was the first to see his red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained face. She had only seen him look like this once before, when he was begging her to stay with him.
But, no. This was worse.
Aldric hunched his shoulders, turning his head away so Jareth would not see him. "Could we—" he stopped, swallowing. His voice had been a hoarse rasp. "I would like some time to think."
Jareth's boot scraped the stone floor. "I will be above. There will be a crystal to guide your way." He brought two into being, letting them drift into the air between them all.
"Do you want me to go?" Sarah asked, still held in Aldric's grip, which had gentled enough that she could pull away now.
He shook his head once.
Jareth cleared his throat. "Brother, I… am sorry." He glanced at Sarah, then turned and moved up the walkway to where they had come in through a series of tunnels and ramps. She watched him go, waiting until she could see no more trace of him before turning back to Aldric.
"It's okay," she murmured, pulling back from him, suddenly too aware of him in this space. "Jareth can't see you anymore."
Aldric straightened, sighing as he did so. His chin trembled, and, expression crumbling once more, he slid his hands over his face.
Sarah watched momentarily before going to him, touching his shoulders. Eventually, his hands fell and, tear-streaked, he said, "I killed all those people, Sarah. I thought I was avenging a wrong. I thought I was doing some measure of good. That they were complicit in harboring someone guilty of sororicide. They were twins. Near-holy.
"And I thought," he choked a little, and she pulled him closer, wrapping her arms around him as he wept. "There was a part of me holding on to some hope we could find a way to bring them back."
Sarah closed her eyes, knowing why he had realized such a thing was impossible. Yet, seeing and sensing the events from the essence remaining of the sisters, there was an air of peace to it. An indication that whatever whole this piece may have once belonged to had long since moved on.
And the Labyrinth told her that what Jareth had done was permanent. The Goblin King would have found it long ago if there had been a way.
He could reorder time, after all.
###
Sarah and Aldric talked in that fateful cavern beneath the Labyrinth for nearly an hour. They spoke of everything they had just seen, and small nothings.
He braided a crown from a patch of magically grown wildflowers that he quietly hummed into existence, speaking as he worked.
"When Jareth came out of the Labyrinth all those years ago, he was carrying Kieryn. Reganne he brought behind him on a magically pulled cart." He swallowed and continued, voice low. "I did not understand what I was seeing at first. I did not realize that they were dead. I thought that at any moment, one would smile, wink, or lift a hand to swat me away like the pest of a brother I was.
"But they never did. And when Jareth said it was his fault, I believed the worst."
"So did he," Sarah said, voice gentle.
"I know," Aldric said, his eyes closing in pain. He offered her the finished crown, and she gently set it upon her brow.
Once more, he told her he loved her. Said it while doubled over with the guilt of what he had done throughout the centuries.
She did not respond to it, only stayed near, trying to be there for him. There was little she could say, only that her heart broke for all of them. This was a chaotic mess, tangled networks of pain that wound through multiple mortal generations.
"Are you ready to go back?" she asked when it neared the end of an hour alone. "What do you want?"
He choked a laugh. "I will do as you say, for now, pet. What would you have of me?"
She rose and held out her hand for him to take it. His leather-glad fingers clasped hers, heat baking through the kidskin so it felt like she touched flesh. "Let's go back. My brother and Rico should be waking soon, and I have to make sure they settle in. Have you seen the library?"
Interest sparked in Aldric's eyes before quickly being washed over by grief, but he gave a shallow smile. "If permitted, I would be delighted to wile some hours exploring what books there are on offer."
They followed the floating crystals back through the tunnels of the Labyrinth, emerging into the sunshine of the inner gardens after only a few minutes of walking. Jareth was seated at a wooden writing desk, full in the sun, a quill scratching words on a sheet of parchment as he dictated with a low enough voice that she had trouble hearing until they were just upon them.
"… will resume once the mortal plague is at an end. Signed, Jareth, King of the Goblins and the Labyrinth."
"Lord of dreams," Sarah finished. "Master of illusion."
He smiled at her. "I don't give all my titles in every missive, precious." His eyes flicked to Aldric, who had Sarah's hand tucked into the crook of his arm. "Are you well?"
The fae sucked in a breath as though he had just been punched instead of inquired after, and Sarah wondered how long it had been since the two exchanged non-venomous words. Aldric let go of her hand, sliding his into the pockets of his jacket and rocking back on his heels. "I do not know how to answer that." His voice sounded raw. It had for some time now.
"You don't have to," Jareth said gently and waved a hand, dismissing the table before him and the letter upon it. He rose from the chair a moment before it disappeared and came to Sarah, standing close enough to Aldric that they could touch. "I wish many things could have been different," he said, reaching for her but speaking to his brother still. "But I believe Sarah was right."
She took his offered hand and let him draw him to her. "About what?" she asked.
"Aldric had to know the truth."
###
Sarah stared at the pair of thrones, contemplating. The Labyrinth was pressing from the back of her mind, insistent. It wanted her to sit on the throne. She had the feeling that it would be the true coronation that mattered between her and the sentient structure. Whatever event Jareth surely had in mind, it would be for pageantry, not for real. This, here, was what mattered.
Her choosing.
She was alone but would not be for long. Jareth was on his way to her from taking Aldric to the library.
Stepping forward, she wondered if this had always been a foregone conclusion. Choice seemed an illusion when swept along the tide of magics older than civilizations. But there was a shred, here, a sliver of a path that she could walk.
She could turn away from this. Grab her brother and Rico, make a portal as she knew how, and return to the Above. Ride out the pandemic with her father and Karen. Maybe she would not return to New York, but she could eventually settle in a new city or country. She had never even been outside of North America.
And here she was, hand reaching out to brush the smooth horn of the arms of the throne, preparing to become the monarch of a world outside her own. She wondered what creature had worn those horns, and what manner of beast they might have been.
Sarah knew that Jareth was there even though he said nothing, appearing silently behind her. She could sense his watchfulness. Nothing like this had been done before. Does he understand how significant the moment is? She wondered, but on its heels, yes, because the Labyrinth is talking to him, too. Perhaps even more than to me.
Would the bond between her and the structure change once she sat on the throne? She thought it might.
Smoothing her hands along the fabric draped over the seat, she turned and, without glancing at Jareth, sat the throne.
Everyone took a breath, and then there was a flash of magic, not unlike when Jareth gave her the ring and the Labyrinth glyph first appeared on the back of her hand. This time, however, Sarah was prepared for something of this kind, and let go, flowing into the magic as surely as it swept through her.
The Labyrinth became whole.
The dust cleared from the air. The gray and yellow stone shone white with veins of gold and silver, twining inlaid gems of lapis blooming along the walls in intricate designs. Dust and grime disappeared, and the air was sweet, fragrant with jasmine and almonds.
The power subsided, and Sarah blinked rapidly, trying to clear her vision. Realizing as she did so that she now wore a gown of rich green silk, gathered at the waist with a belt of glittering black diamond.
And that at her throat hung a pendant. Smaller than Jareth and Aldric's, it thrummed beneath her touch. The disk at the center was the twining Labyrinth mark, and the sickle points were sharp against her flesh.
Jareth approached and, without taking his gaze from her, bowed low.
"May I be the first to address you as Queen Sarah of the Labyrinth?"
She smiled at him and reached out a hand. "What of the goblins?"
"You can have that title after the official coronation, precious," he said, his voice silken. "Now, how to celebrate?"
Before they could do more than cast each other knowing smiles, however, Rico and Toby stumbled into the throne room, yawning and looking around with blatant curiosity at the changed surroundings.
"I'm hungry," Toby announced, scratching his stomach as he stretched. "What happened?"
Sarah laughed, shooting Jareth an apologetic glance before rising from the throne and coming to her brother, whose eyes widened at the sight of her finery. "You're related to royalty now, baby brother, so yes. I think we can get you some breakfast."
Author Note:
Hey, folks
One net positive to busting your leg is that you can't jump up every five seconds to "do something important," and being forced to stay in one place for greater stretches of time has gotten me back into the writing habit.
Thank you to everyone who read and reviewed, or commented upon the last chapter. I know that one was a long, long time in coming. Thank you again for your patience.
I definitely enjoyed exploring the Underground a little more this time.
Thank you again for reading, and if you could leave a contribution in the little box, it does help motivate us weary writers. It's hard to be creative when the world is a horror show.
Be well. Drink your water, take your meds, and have a lovely day 💕
~CrimsonSympathy