From his vantage point above, Randel watched as Kari took her place at the piano, a cycle of different emotions flowing through him.

The song she sang was one of pain. A bottomless well of pain. Pain that he'd caused her. He could hear it reflected in her voice… in her song. It went through him, sharper than any sword could ever be.

In case you failed to notice,

In case you failed to see…

This is my heart... bleeding before you,

This is me down on my knees.

He'd often heard that a heart-bond could make you feel as if your soul were being torn in two. He believed it, now.

I hid my soiled hands…

behind my back.

Somewhere along the line…

I must have gone off track with you.

It wasn't you, Kari… it was me. Me and a thousand different fears…

Excuse me…I think I've mistaken you for somebody else.

Somebody who gave a damn,

Somebody more like myself…

These... foolish games are...

Tearing me…

You're tearing me…

You're tearing me apart.

And your... thoughtless words are...

Breaking my heart.

You're breaking my heart…

His own heart was howling, screaming, in response to the agony in her voice. He felt a suspicious moisture gathering in his eyes as he looked down at her.

"Amorrian."

Startled, he turned to look at Jareth, who was standing beside him. He felt a touch of dread as he recognized, not his lifelong friend, but the Goblin King.

And in this incarnation, he was fearsome. Gone was the genial monarch, the mischievous comrade, the man who'd spent over a thousand years with him in a friendship tighter than brotherhood. This Jareth was someone the Fae on the battlefield would know well…

Someone that could congeal the blood with just one look…

"I have been tolerant, under the circumstances," he said to Randel, his voice as cold as ice. "I acknowledge that Karina is an adult, and as such has the right to make her own life choices without my interference or approval." His gaze narrowed, impaling Randel with his stare. "She is still, however, my daughter. I will not stand by and watch you break her heart a second time."

"I have no intention of breaking her heart again, Jareth," he said quietly.

The Goblin King's voice was still cold, "You know what she wants. If you cannot or will not give it to her, that is your prerogative, but for the love of all the Fates, leave her alone."

In reply, Randel pulled an object out of his pocket and held it up for Jareth to see. Once he was sure his King had seen it, he put it back in his pocket and walked away.


You are three times a fool, Karina.

First, for pursuing a man who most definitely did not want to be pursued.

Second, for losing her heart to that man, knowing he would never want the same things she wanted.

Third, for displaying her heartbreak and failure for all the Kingdom to see.

There was no coming back from this. The heart-bond was still there, for all the good it did her. She was doomed to forever love someone who refused to love her back. For the rest of her life, she would watch as her friends found love and started families, while she sat out in the cold. And she had no one to blame for it but herself.

She'd stayed in the ballroom for as long as she could, trying to at least mitigate some of the damage she'd just done. It wasn't any use. She might as well leave now. As she moved through the revelers, she tried to ignore the looks of pity following her. She felt her father's eyes on her… felt his compassion reaching out to wrap around her, just like when she was a little girl. It made her want to cry.

She didn't get very far when she realized that the music had come to a screeching halt. A hush fell over the crowd. Karina turned, mildly curious as to what was happening.

Randel was happening.

Her thoughts chased themselves around her brain. What is he doing here? What's going on?

The crowd parted as he stalked towards her, his eyes boring into hers. She felt a prickle of fear… absurd, but there it was.

His aura was a mess… waves of different colors roiled around him, black spikes shooting through here and there. With every step he took, her heart thudded painfully in her chest.

Why is he here? Didn't he humiliate me enough?

You did that to yourself, her innate sense of fairness argued. He told you all along that he didn't want to bond with you. You refused to take him at his word.

That thought brought tears to her eyes.

He'd crossed the distance and now stood before her. She was helpless, her gaze held by his own, tears spilling silently down her cheeks. Pain overflowed every nerve in her body, and her lower lip trembled.

She was completely unprepared when he plunged his hands into her hair and pulled her in for a passionate kiss. Right there. In front of the court. In front of her parents.

Her arms went around him instinctively. She was dimly aware of the cheers and catcalls that surrounded her, the passion of his kiss utterly overwhelming.

He pulled back, his eyes afire with a mix of lust and amusement. Without a word, he picked her up and tossed her over his shoulder, turned, and started making his way out of the ballroom.

"What the hell, Randel?" she shouted.

He didn't answer her, just continued walking toward the doors.

"Put me down, you addled ox!" she yelled. She could hear the giggles and outright laughter of the crowd as they parted to let them through.

Randel smacked her backside but didn't slow his stride. "Silence, wench. Don't make this any harder than it has to be."

She looked around for aid from her awkward position over his shoulder. Jacen was laughing his ass off… no help there. Uncle Toby was chuckling. Aunt Lily and Uncle Garthan were whispering together, their grins obvious. Her parents…

Mom had her hands over her mouth, her eyes wide with disbelief. Karina's gaze skipped to her father. He looked down at her from his throne, his expression impassive.

Then he winked at her.


Ignoring the startled looks of the Ughlánas and castle staff as they passed, Randel didn't set her down until they'd reached his chamber. He carried her in and kicked the door shut behind him before setting her on her feet.

"Just what do you think you're doing, Randel? Carrying me off like…"

She didn't get the chance to finish the sentence before he'd captured her mouth with his. After an endless series of scorching hot kisses, she felt him starting to remove her gown. His hands and lips wandered with deliberate slowness over every inch of skin he exposed as he stripped her bare. When he'd removed every stitch, he tossed her, stark naked, onto his bed. He made quick work of his own clothing, joining her on the bed and rolling her under him.

By now she was absolutely on fire. She arched into him, begging him with her body to make her his. She groaned as she felt him comply. He held a fistful of her hair, kissing her again with a liquid heat, then pulled back to look at her.

"Do you fear me?" he asked… his eyes drilling into hers.

"Y-yes… I fear you," she breathed. He kissed her and took a stroke within her before looking at her again.

"Do you love me?"

"Yes… Danu help me, but yes… I love you."

He thrust into her again, nibbling on her bottom lip, "Will you do as I say?"

"I… what? I…" Another stroke had her murmuring, "Yes… I will do as you say."

"Who rules you, Kari?"

"You do… oh sweet goddess, you do…"

And with that, the magic took them over; a spinning vortex of emotion, love, and desire, and in the sweet violence she could hear his ragged breathing and her own soft, explicit cries.

Somewhere in the throes of passion, without even realizing she'd done it, a wish was made… a wish that sent bolts of what felt like electricity rocketing through her veins, and as they reached their climax, Karina fainted.


She drifted back into consciousness, feeling languid and replete. As her wits started to return to her, she became aware that she was lying in Randel's arms, her ear pressed to his chest and his hand toying with her hair. She inhaled his scent, letting it wash over her and into her soul.

Then reality hit her.

"Randel… did we just…?"

Laughter rumbled through the chest beneath her cheek. "Life-bond?" he tightened his arms around her. "Of course we did."

"But… we never courted! You never even gave me your token… how can this be?"

Randel lifted his head to look down at her, his eyes brimming with amusement. "Kari… why are you so surprised that we did everything backwards? Look at us. Did you really expect that we'd do things the old-fashioned way?"

She couldn't help it, she laughed too. "No… I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, really."

He kissed her forehead, then disengaged from her, leaving the bed to rifle through his clothing which was strewn on the floor. He came back to the bed and got in beside her, holding out something in his hand.

It was a courting token. His courting token.

Karina felt tears prick her eyelids as she saw the feminized version of his sigil shining in front of her. Dangling from the sigil was the pendant, a coin…

"Is that…?"

"The coin you tossed at me. Yes." He nuzzled her neck. "It seemed appropriate."

She moved her hair aside so he could put the token on her. When he'd done so, she picked it up to look at it. "When did you have this made?"

"About a week after you'd tossed it at me."

She gasped, "But why did you wait so long? Two years of agony and you had this in your possession the whole time?"

Randel's expression turned serious. "I had to wrap my head around it. It was almost like there were two different people living in my brain. One of them pushed me to have the token made and wanted me to throw myself at your feet, the other spurred me to run away as far and as fast as I could. I suppose you could say that I just needed time."

"Time to decide if you loved me?" she asked, quietly.

He scoffed, lightly. "Loving you was never the issue, Kari. It was living with loving you that was the real problem for me."

"So, what changed your mind?"

Randel shrugged, "I couldn't get you out of my head. Everywhere I went… you were there. I kept thinking I'd heard your voice when I knew I hadn't. I woke up too many times reaching over to hold you, only for my hand to find an empty space where you should have been." He chuckled, softly, "At one point, I thought I'd seen you in the marketplace in Corzina. I chased down this poor woman, grabbed her and spun her around… only to find out it wasn't you."

"Oh… that must have gone over well," she said, laughing.

"Almost caused a diplomatic incident, let me tell you. Thankfully, Queen Erzebet was sympathetic to my plight when I explained myself."

"But… I thought you were moving permanently to Ardalon?"

"I was. When I saw you in the foyer, it took everything in me not to run over to you and blabber out something sickening and sweet. I knew if I stayed, I would end up giving in. Rather than admit how much I needed you, even to myself, I took the mission. I'd transported to the Visitor Center, then had only gotten a furlong into Ardalon when I realized that life just wasn't worth much anymore if you weren't sharing it with me. It was time to 'man up', as your mother would say."

Karina looked down at the token, "Randel… you do realize that… being bonded, children will be a probability, don't you?"

He sighed, "Yes. They do usually follow a bonding." She looked at him, seeing the fear in his eyes. "I won't lie, Kari… the prospect scares the hell out of me. But… I'd rather swallow my fear and have you by my side than live another day without you."

Karina's breath hitched at that. She let her hand wander up to caress his cheek, her eyes hesitant and uncertain. "Randel…" she looked away a moment. When she met his gaze again, her eyes were filling with tears. "I'm so sorry… I… I was never fair to you, not once through this whole thing. I didn't lie about my name, but… I also didn't tell the truth. That wasn't right. I… enticed you against your will when I knew your defenses were down. That's… unforgivable. I took everything you'd ever cared about from my own selfishness." She was now crying in earnest.

"Hush, love," he said affectionately as he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm pretty certain that I was the one who started this whole thing… right there on the sporting field. You told me all along what it was that you wanted… even told me that I wouldn't be the one to give it to you. I could have just walked away then, but I kept up the pursuit, didn't I?" He kissed her temple and squeezed her a little tighter. "And as for enticing me against my will… all I had to do was toss you out of my room. Or call your father. There were a hundred things I could have done to stop it… but I didn't. I didn't because deep down, I wanted it to happen, even knowing the consequences. So, no more of that." He laughed suddenly, "Now that I'm thinking about it… you even warned me ahead of time that you were going to steal my heart. A hundred years ago. You can't say that you didn't put me on notice."

"Well… that's true, I suppose," she said, sniffling and laughing at the same time. "But are you sure about this? Really sure?"

He laughed again, tightening his arms around her, and rolling her under him again. "Oh, you're not getting out of this now, Kari. You caught me. Now, you're stuck with me."


In the morning, they made their way to Jareth's solar. As they came in, he saw the King's gaze go right to the token around Kari's neck. Smirking at the sight, he looked merrily back at Randel. Garthan, who was obviously already informed of the situation by Jareth, had a smooth expression on his face, and amusement in his eyes.

Well, at least they didn't laugh at me. I would have laughed at me.

Helena looked at him wide eyed. Tremane did too, but with a sly smile. Lily patted Randel on the shoulder as she walked over to Kari. Sarah gave him a warm, shining look… and a smile that dazzled, so much like his wife's.

He let out the breath he didn't even know he was holding. Part of him had been afraid that his prevarication had cost him the only family he had. He was relieved to see that this wasn't the case.

Breakfast was a casual affair, full of inane chatter. Jareth told him that Danil was happy to regain his original assignment to Ardalon. He also let him know that he'd dispatched Lord Cyril and Lady Rhylla to the Strigoi court for the next mission. That meant that Randel was going to be home for the duration.

Hmmm. I'd better look into purchasing a manor somewhere in the City. I love these guys, but I think we need a space of our own.

He remembered there was a manor up for sale not that long ago that he'd taken a look at. Now that he wasn't lying to himself any longer, he realized he'd been looking at the manor as a home for himself and Kari even then. He'd have to see if there were any available and take her to see what she thought. For now, he planned to bring her over to the jewel crafter this afternoon to pick out their bonding rings.

He was brought out of his reverie when he heard Kari mention wanting to go to the Samhain ball this year.

"You can't be serious," he said, his eyebrow raised.

"Oh, I can't wait to go back to Ardalon. See the sights, take a spin on the levitating dance floor…"

"No," Randel said sternly. "I hate that place and I'm never going back."

"You were going to go back permanently, just to escape me," she said, smirking.

He snorted, "And turned right back around within a furlong. No."

"Randel…" she said, looking at him with pleading, flirtatious eyes.

"No."

"Please?"

Randel dropped his head into his hands and groaned. Jareth and Garthan laughed, they knew a doomed man when they saw one. Kari proceeded to make plans for the Samhain festivities with Sarah and Lily, every now and then shooting a seductive glance at him.

Randel looked at Jareth and Garthan, shaking his head in disbelief… but then he intercepted another one of the utterly luscious looks his wife was sending him from across the room.

He smiled. Maybe Ardalon won't be so bad this year.

Author's Notes:

The scene where Randel marches into the room and carries her away from the ball was inspired by the end scene in An Officer and a Gentleman, where Richard Gere walks through the factory and carries off Debra Winger. In my opinion, it was one of the most romantic scenes ever filmed. The fact that in his youth, my husband looked a LOT like Richard Gere (and served in the Navy) probably has a lot to do with my love for that scene.

Again, I would like to point out that while in the human world, a family friend who gets involved with his friend's daughter is creepy for sure, to the Othánas, such age differences mean absolutely nothing when the partners are adults. It doesn't bother Jareth at all that his best friend just married his daughter. It's way too common in Othánas society for it to even register on his radar.

Sarah doesn't mind it either, even though she's human. Her own story (15 year old bonding to a 900 year old) meant that she gets it. Her entire objection to Randel was his past… but as Karina pointed out, he was no longer that person.