Chapter Six
Sarah was waiting in Jareth's rooms when he arrived, close to the thirteenth hour on the clock. The windows were open wide to let in the crisp air, and she sat near the fire, basking in its glow, staring into the flames and thinking of all that Hoggle had shown and told her that day. So entranced with the flickering, dancing fire, she barely noticed him until he was within range of the light it cast.
Though she did not jump, her pulse sped, and for more reasons than one.
He was so devastatingly beautiful.
The Goblin King had done away with his formal jacket and his vest hung open, shirt slit to belly to reveal a wide expanse of flesh that her eye fell to immediately. "Good evening, my betrothed," Jareth murmured. "How do you fare?"
His voice was melodic. Comforting.
She glared at him.
"That well, hm?" He laughed and slid into the chair opposite her, stretching his legs out before him as he settled, sighing. "What did our illustrious mayor tell you?"
"Were you going to tell me Hoggle runs The Goblin City?" she asked, words biting.
"I wouldn't say he runs it," Jareth argued, voice smooth. "More that he manages it for me." He smiled that cutting smile of his, eyes roving down her figure. "And we had more important things to talk about."
Sarah tried not to squirm. His words and the way he said them had an effect, damn it all.
She had returned to the only rooms she knew of once back at the castle, and there Sarah had found a new closet adjacent to the one she had explored earlier. This one, however, had clothes suited precisely to her.
She had selected a silk velvet gown in copper, with sleeves that ended at her elbows and a neckline that plunged attractively. The pendant hanging at her breastbone looked both decadent and deadly. In the light of the fire she positively glowed, and she tried to use that to her advantage. I'm not the only one affected by what's between us.
Jareth had his head cradled in one hand, watching her, his fingers cupping his chin as though he were contemplating a sculpted masterpiece. She would be a fool not to see the longing in his gaze.
You can't let yourself get distracted, she chided herself. "I need you to tell me in your own words why you selected me, and for what purpose it was, truly."
Jareth clicked his tongue against his teeth. "What tales did Hoggle spin?" When she did not respond readily he sighed and straightened in his chair. "Very well."
He gestured to the table by his side and there appeared a dark red wine that he began to drink straight from the bottle. Settling back into the chair, he motioned at the fire, which grew in warmth and brilliance for a moment before settling back down, more wood amongst the embers. Magic peppered the air.
"I was not always Goblin King," he started. "That title was bestowed upon me thirteen hundred years ago. The number is important.
"After that number of years the Goblin King traditionally steps down or finds a Queen, a betrothed who can extend his reign. The Labyrinth itself must approve. So far, in all the years that there have been Goblin Kings, there have not been any who were lucky enough to have one annointed by the Labyrinth as Champion and, therefore, worthy.
"I will also note that the previous kings were goblins or other denizens of the Underground, every one. I am the first fae. You are the first Champion there ever was. I do not believe either of these facts are coincidence.
"So there is that, Sarah mine. That is reason one but, like many marriages, this is not one I undertake for a singular reason." His eyes glimmered in the low light. "When you conquered the Labyrinth and rejected me, you were showered with magic. Some from the Labyrinth, and the rest from Faerie itself. You were given trial and found deserving, where legions have failed in the past.
"And that is the second reason I want you. Faerie bestowed upon you a gift, and that gift can be leveraged. Already, your link to this realm helps the flowers bloom and the rivers rise. The moon spins her dance yet again. We have been fading slowly, ever since magic was bound. The world comes alive, because of you.
"Because every time you make a wish, or further strengthen your bond with me, you bring forth more. You are Champion, and you are a conduit."
He fell silent for some time, tapping his leather-clad fingers on the neck of the wine bottle. "I want you because you are beautiful." The words were soft-said, and his gaze was on her still, unfocused a little while he continued on. "And kind. Stubborn. Capable. Delightful in bed."
Sarah could not help but give a soft snort of laughter.
"For what purpose do I want you?" He sighed and leaned forward, elbows on knees. "Does it change anything between us?"
"It might," she admitted.
His eyes rolled up to her. "There is an explanation for what I'm about to say. I ask that you give me time to tell it."
Her stomach twisted.
Jareth took a breath. "I want you because I need that power you can tap into. Your coming was foretold. We have the words of a prophet-god who spoke of your arrival millennia ago, when the worlds were both new and magic fresh seeded.
I need the power of your wishes, the ones you have been gifted by Faerie, in order to release magic from the shackles the fae have levied over it for the last several millennia. There will come a moment, likely not too long from now, when you will make a final wish. When you do, I ask that you use the words I am going to tell you now; that the magic be freed."
Sarah pulled in a breath, skin prickling. "What do you mean, a final wish?"
"You have thirteen of them, precious. You've used one. There will be times in the coming campaign you may find need to use others, but you must be careful. Your words have a particular power here. The wish you made before I came to you was that you wanted to know more.
"And since you have come to the Underground, have people not been most accomodating to tell you their stories? To tell you of the world? You are learning more because your wish is working through us, just as it is now working through me. There have been few times in my long lifetime that I have wanted to speak so freely and so at length with another. It is part your wish, part who you are."
She was quiet, but she felt the truth in his words. They echoed what Hoggle had told her earlier. Though his delivery had been quite different.
"He just wanted to remain in power. That's why he bound himself to you. Because of the power you represent."
Nodding at the memory, Sarah asked, "And what happens after the last wish? The thirteenth?"
"I don't know," he said, the words flat. "No one has won the laurels of Faerie the way you have." He made as though to reach for her, but then took another swig from the wine instead before setting the bottle down. "There were many reasons I asked you to give me your mortality. I am hoping that it will preserve you."
Now the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end, and her lips tingled. "Preserve me?"
"Magic has a cost. It has since the fae took their turns being masters of the wellspring, which they have never abdicated." He gave a grunt of frustration, hand cutting through his hair. "There are thousands of years of history to contend with here, and you are—I am sure you are the one that has long been prophesized to end the reign of the fae."
She could not help the next question that spilled from her lips. "How is it that you are fae but you're going against them?"
This time Jareth's smile was slow to come and viciously sharp. "I broke the rules. I was banished, and ascended the throne of the Goblin Kingdom and The Labyrinth a century later. This was the only territory allowed to me. This and the endless wastes outside our walls, and I had no desire to be some sage of the desert." He gave a soft snort. "No, my desire is to seize what was taken from me. To release magic from its cage. To let all pull from its bounty."
"Including you," Sarah pointed out.
"Including me," he agreed, rising from his seat. "Without the balance needing to be paid, with magic free, you are far more likely to survive the weeks to come. We are going to war, precious. Starting in two days we will march with the goblin armies toward the Summerland, and the wellspring at its heart.
"We are outmatched, except that we have you and your wishes. You can ensure we win this, and that magic is freed for all, if you use your right words." He crossed to her, kneeling on the carpet at the foot of her chair. "The prophecy states the last wish will be spoken at the wellspring. I believe you must be within its sight in order to undo the immense binding it is under. We are marching to get you there."
Sarah's breath caught, her pulse high once more. Her head was swimming with what he was telling her, and how it fit alongside segments of Hoggle's story. Several things locked into place. "Do you think I'll get hurt, or die, when I use my last wish?"
Jareth hesitated, but his gaze did not leave hers. "I desperately hope not, precious, but—if magic remains constant in the regard of the balance, then yes. It has been so long since magic has been wild and free, no one now remembers what it was truly like, and if the balance was extracted in other, less obvious ways. The fae who originally bound the wellspring are most long-dead. Some still guard it, I'm told."
"Why did they bind it?"
"To control it. To keep it theirs. Magic is easy for someone like me. Fae bound the wellspring to the species. They made us dominant. The apex predators of Faerie. Though the creatures of the Underground possess a sort of innate magic, they cannot use it for spell and crafting and the manipulation of the material world. Not the way I can, or you with your wishes."
Jareth reach out and set a hand on her knee, giving it a soft squeeze. "I do not want you to die, Sarah. I want you to live long with me, here, and to see these halls filled with our children, if you wish it as well."
Something burned in his eyes, and her throat was dry as she swallowed. "I haven't thought about anything like that." And it seemed silly to do so now, when there may not be a future.
There were still questions she needed answers to, but more than that she needed to talk to him. Properly.
Her words were choked. "I haven't thought about so many things, Jareth, I—with Toby, and then with dad? I barely made it through college after having to postpone and then…"
She reached for him, and Jareth clasped her hand in his, the linen of his gloves warm as second skin. She was looking at him without seeing him, but she could feel him everywhere. His fingers linked with hers, the drumbeat of his pulse against her palm, the incense and magical scent of him. Hoggle's words repeated in the back of her mind. Whatever he is becoming to you.
Whatever The Goblin King was becoming to her, she would not deny it. She spoke the words closest to the surface of her heart and mind. "Do you know how they died?"
"Yes," Jareth said, simple.
Sarah spoke about it anyway, the words feeling as though they poured from her, something that had long needed a release. "Toby was eight, playing with one of his soccer balls that got away from him… and our street has that blind hill. We still don't know who hit him. The paramedics declared him dead at the scene, and the rest was history.
"Dad shut down. I thought he had been rid of me before, when I was a teenager, but this? He was gone. My mother had died only a month before that, you know? And when it was Toby, it felt like her times a million. I thought I would die alongside them both. I barely remember that year.
"Then dad succumbed, on the first anniversary of Toby's passing. Karen swore until her dying breath that it was an accident, but witnesses say he drove into that river. He didn't try to get out of the car as it flooded. People tried to help him and he sat there looking forward, not moving, as it got pulled under. Their words."
She gave a little laugh. "It was a bit of a family drama, trying to get the church to grant their approval to have him buried in their cemetery. Some people wanted to declare it a suicide, after all. It never officially was. Karen made sure the official death report stated it as a drowning, nothing more."
There were several long beats of silence as the fire crackled and snapped, throwing sparks up the chimney. "I can feel the pain of it still holds you," he said quietly.
"Jareth…" she re-focused on him. "Did you have anything to do with any of it?"
His fingers convulsed around hers. "No, lover, though I know who killed your brother." He gave another of those cutting smiles that made him look more villain than hero. "I ensured she was taken care of."
She blinked. "Who was it?" she breathed.
"A drunk," he said, tone dismissive. "Name of Caroline Agger, and she no longer breathes upon the worlds. I ensured that."
Sarah squeezed his fingers back. "So, you watched me, even though you weren't supposed to? I thought you said you weren't allowed. Thirteen years, was it?"
"I rarely do as I'm told," he said with another smile. "And you are too precious to lose sight of. I made sure that someone had eyes on you at all times, and events were reported back to me. As I told you before, you were never alone. Even Hoggle took a turn or two.
"But I also used my crystals, to indulge in a glance at your face. I caught enough of your life, between it and the stories I heard, to know well what you have undergone. The sorrow you hold for your mother, brother, and your father… it calls to me. I want to pull it from you."
"And what would you do with my sorrow?"
"Drink deep of its bitterly cold depths. I would be drunk for days." He pulled on her hand, and she leaned forward. "What else did Hoggle say to you?"
She let his hand go so she could weave her fingers through his hair. He made a low sound. "That you punished my friends for helping me through The Labyrinth during my run. That you would have punished Hoggle much the same, except his station gave him some protection. He told me that you won't release the curse unless Hoggle agrees to undergo it in their stead." She gripped the back of his neck. He had gone quite still. "Is that true?"
"I have sworn upon my heart's blood I will not release them until he goes in their stead, yes," Jareth said slowly. "It was a hasty decision, I recognize this in recent years, but I was quite thoroughly humiliated. Hoggle has been screaming for me to abdicate ever since you conquered The Labyrinth. He has proclaimed that I am no longer worthy, as I was conquered, too."
She slipped from the chair to kneel on the floor so they were more of a height, the line of their bodies much closer. The heat coming off him was like its own fire. "Were you?"
"Conquered? By you?" He tilted his head. "What do you think?"
Her hands rested on his chest, now, and she could feel the pounding of his heart beneath her spread fingers. Those eyes were keeping a close watch on her, his expression giving nothing away. The question hung between them. "I don't think so," she said softly, barely breathing the words.
Jareth began peeling off his gloves. "I will admit you defeated me, but conquered? Even when the fae council itself banished me, they did not conquer me."
Watching him expose his hands, Sarah asked, "Why were you banished?"
The Goblin King sighed and touched her face. She leaned into it, her eyes half-closing. She was not tired, but, oh, did she love this sensation. Skin to skin. No one had ever touched her like this. Certainly not her parents, and neither of her previous lovers. The closest she had come was the pure, innocent affection of Toby when he was very young. There were friends who had hugged her over the years. No one had treasured her quite this way, touching her whenever possible.
It made her feel infinitely less alone.
"That story is one that is hard to tell," Jareth said. "May I ask for more time, Sarah mine? I will tell you, and soon, but I think the night has wore on long as it is."
Glancing at the clock, which showed a quarter passed one in the morning, she nodded. "I take back my last question. But, Jareth, I need you to let my friends go. Remove that curse. It's not fair. Ludo wakes up maybe once a month now, Hoggle says, and Didymus is barely any better. When they wake they talk of endless dreams, and I know—"
"I vowed, precious," Jareth said, his gaze intense. "I cannot go against a vow to my own heart's blood. But you?" His hand fell to the pendant at her breastbone, and when he stroked it she felt a sizzle of magic along her skin. "You have eleven wishes before the last. I would not deny you use of one to help your friends, even with the war looming."
Her throat went tight and eyes burned a little with unshed tears. "You mean that?"
"Just be careful of your wording, Sarah mine." He ran a lock of her hair through his fingers, and gooseflesh rose down her arms and back. "Think carefully." He grinned at her. "Sleep on it? With me?"
Nodding, Sarah leaned forward and caught his mouth. He let out a little laugh first, and then sighed into the kiss.
Jareth pulled away first. "You just heard," he said between her chasing him for more kisses. "That your entire life, mmph," he leaned into that one, and they lost themselves for a moment. "Is upended," he gasped when they pulled apart, and this time he held her back by the shoulders. "You are remarkeably calm considering all that you've learned."
She stared at him, her lips throbbing, but pulled back, settling onto her heels. "It's like I was saying earlier, I have rarely thought about the future. There was too much happening, too much loss and trauma." Giving a little laugh she asked, "What did you think I was going to do with the inheritance left to me from Karen? All the remained after the illness?"
Jareth tilted his head but said nothing, reaching for her hands instead and entwining their fingers. She adored the sensation of his naked flesh against hers.
"I was going to sell everything and throw a dart at a wall map, and go where it told me." She grinned at his confused expression. "I had no idea what I wanted. I had no more ambitions. Everything died with Toby, and then dad."
But the world is starting to look like it has color again, thanks in part to you.
She did not say that out loud. Instead, she said, "Everything was on pause, Jareth. I don't want to die, I really don't, but I'm not—I wasn't living."
"Oh, Sarah." He let out a great sigh, and crushed her to him.
Sarah tucked her face against his neck and inhaled deeply.
Then she pushed him to the floor.
Jareth was laughing as his shoulder blades hit the piles of carpet and furs before the fire. Sarah slid over him, her dress riding down a little so her breasts spilled out. His laughter died, and she grinned. "Hello, lover." She paused in the act of pulling up her dress. "Is having sex with you making magic?"
"In a manner of speaking, and only when tied to certain events, precious. We were fresh-bonded and consummating last night, which meant something. Tonight is simply for pleasure, if you will have me."
She finished pulling up the long drape of fabric. She had chosen not to wear underwear. His hand slipped under the piles of velvet to find her soaked. Giving out a quiet hiss, Sarah rode down on the press of his fingers, fumbling a little as she freed him to her touch.
There was some resistance—she was wet but not quite ready—but it made the sensation all the sharper as she rode down on him. His hands went to her hips, gripping her and the fabric of the dress. "Don't rip it, please," she gasped, then moaned as he seated fully in her, his length hitting parts of her she had not realized could bring her such pleasure.
Jareth gave a grunt of frustration, and she felt a sprinkling of magic a moment later, as both their clothes disappeared, leaving them naked but for twin pendants around their necks. Sarah did not hesitate but started to move over him, watching the play of shadow and light from the fire across his lovely face and chest, his arms and hands as he held, petted, and gripped her tight.
Relaxing around him, Sarah called his name when Jareth began to thrust up and into her, holding her hips in place as he did so. It felt as though she might come apart, and then she did with a sharp cry and a rush of wetness that made Jareth grin and fuck her all the harder.
He flipped them, grinding her into the thick furs. It was entirely too decadent, with the warm glow and heat from the fire, and the sensation of being filled, over and over, her pleasure cresting not just once but twice more before his mouth covered hers. His hips crashed into her, her legs wrapped tight around him, several more times and then went still while she trembled.
Arms clutched around him, Sarah let the kiss linger and deepen. Tongues carressing, breath mingling, and all the while he twitched and flexed inside her still-sensitive flesh.
She had never experienced anything quite like this.
Abruptly, though, she pulled away. "Shit, Jareth—I missed my pill. At least once, maybe twice by now."
His brow furrowed and he pulled away from her enough that he could roll to the side, between her and the fire. "A pill? Why does this have you so concerned?"
"It's birth control, ass," she said, touching his chest without conscious thought. She did not want to stop holding him, touching him. Her core clenched with further need, even though there washed a cold fear through her at the thought of what she had done. She had not missed one of her pills in more than five years. "I don't want to get pregnant right now."
Jareth let out a laugh. "Do you think I would impregnate you without your consent? No, lover, that will be something you decide. You have nothing to fear from me until that day."
Now it was her turn to frown. "What are you talking about? You're on something as well, or—"
"No, I'm not taking a potion or tincture of any sort," he said, grasping her hand and laying a kiss across the knuckles. "But I am a magical being. We decide when we become fertile. I haven't seen the need yet." He pushed off the floor and then bent and lifted her into his arms. She let out a little surprised sound, but then he was carrying her bride-like to the bathroom. "As I said, you have nothing to fear from me."
He bathed and dried her as he had the night before, and by the time they curled into bed Sarah was yawning fiercely. She could hear night birds, crickets, and frogs singing and calling in the gardens far below their windows.
Jareth pulled her to him, wrapping his arms snug around her waist.
"Will you wake me when you wake?" she asked. "I don't have my alarm." Not that she thought it would work in Faerie.
"I rise with the sun, precious," he warned. Then sighed when she did not respond. "I will do as you ask."
"Thank you."
He kissed the top of her head.
She yawned again, back of her hand to her mouth. "Jareth? You said last night that you were glad it was me. What did you mean?"
"Mm," he murmured, waving a hand that dimmed the lanterns to nothing, plunging the room deep into shadows. She closed her eyes, settling further against him. "Let me show you the prophecy in the morning, Sarah mine, and you will see what I meant."
She nodded, feeling his exhaustion as well as her own. Both of their bodies were relaxing more and more every moment.
Author Notes:
Hello, friends.
Chapter six, fresh off the presses.
Apologies for a fairly abrupt ending but, in my mind, Sarah just straight passed out at that point.
Thank you very much to LovelyAmberLight for reviewing and giving feedback on this chapter. I truly appreciate it.
I hope you enjoyed the chapter and, if so, please leave a contribution in the little box. It helps loads
Cheers,
~CS