New Crystals, Old Dreams- Chapter 7

Disclaimer: I don’t own the rights to anything you recognize from the movie and/or the book. The characters and places that you recognize from the movie and/or the book belong to their respective owners. Though, I DO own the rights to all my personal locations and personal OC’s. I make no monetary profit from this story.


Tricking Jareth was going to be a harder task than Sarah might imagine, but Eireach knew that it could be done…over time.  The daunting part of the task was trying to figure out exactly when, where and what they were going to do to make the king jealous.  They had now gone through an entire week of planning and still they hadn’t thought of anything quite good enough.

“So what the heck are we going to do?”  The strained and tried voice of Sarah came from next to him on the bed.  She was lying on her stomach with her feet up in the air and linked.  The look on her face was confusion and frustration battling for control.

Over the past week Eireach had truly grown fond of the girl.  Her stubborn nature was surely why King Jareth had tripped head over heels for her; it was the perfect compliment to his own.  Now if only he could pull his head out of his royal ass and see that for himself everyone would feel a lot better.

“I don’t know my dear.  Though whatever it is I fear we are going to have to go below the belt and play dirty.”  She propped herself up on her elbows and looked at him with apprehensive curiosity.

“And below the belt playing dirty entails what exactly?”  He laughed at the way she always took everything he said the wrong way.  While he was quite comfortable with her, she was still a bit nervous around him when things like that were said.

“It only means that we will have to pretend to be completely enamored of one another while we are outside of this room.”  Her eyes lit up with a mischievous gleam and her lips spread into a wide Cheshire cat smile. “I see that is a terribly discouraging thought for you.”   

“What do you have in mind Obi Wan?” 
“Who the devil is that?”  She chuckled at him.  Sitting up, she ran her hand through her hair and tucked her feet under her so she was sitting cross legged.

“Never mind…you wouldn’t know him.  So what is it that you are planning on doing?”  With a Cheshire cat smile of his own he led her to the closet he had filled with clothes for her, some more revealing than others.  An hour later they were ready to walk out the door and down to dinner.

“King Jareth is going to faint when he sees you in that.”  He stood back, appraising her.  She blushed and tried to use her arms to cover her body in nervous reaction.  Eireach walked over to her and gently took a hold of her hands.  As he brought them down to her sides he looked deep into her eyes.  “We have to be in love tonight my dear.  If you act shy and demure around me no one is going to believe anything.”  Her head nodded slowly.

“I know.  I think…I think we should practice first.”  He smiled at the way she was stumbling through her words.  “You know just so it looks convincing to Jareth and the court.”  She couldn’t even make eye contact with him.

“What frightens you so?”  She shrugged.  “Are you frightened of me?”  A vigilant shake of black locks responded.  “Well, then what is it?”  He held her head up and looked into her eyes.

“I have…never really…kissed anyone before…ever.”  Her voice had steadily dropped through the sentence and everything made sense.  He hugged her close.

“Oh Sarah…I never knew you were SO innocent.”  She smiled meekly at his warm tone and action.  Pulling back, he motioned her over to the bed.  “Come sit, I will teach you and we will make this all look flawless.  It will kill him to see this tonight and I guarantee that he will cave soon.” 

Sarah sat on the bed and folded her hands in her lap.  Running a hand through copper locks, Eireach shook his head at the contradiction sitting in front of him.  She looked like a siren and yet…she had the soul of a virgin.  It was an amazing and arousing site, but who wouldn’t be turned on at the creature sitting there on his bed.  It was very likely that she would be the cause of injuries tonight and now he got to teach her how to kiss.

“Ok.  It’s really not all that difficult and if you can channel the essence of that outfit you are wearing I think you will be a natural.”  He really was trying to be light hearted about this whole thing.  If he was serious and technical with her it might make her draw back even more and they had a serious show to put on.  “You know what we could do?”  She looked up at him hopefully.

“What?”  He wracked his brains for a way to delay this night’s adventure so that they could get comfortable in their play and make rumor spread.  And then it clicked in his head.

“We aren’t going to dinner tonight….”  Her face scrunched up in confusion.

“Why not?”

“We are having food brought here for the next week.  We aren’t going to leave this room till next week.”  Her eyes widened as she caught on to the plan.

“To spread rumor about why we’re not attending dinner.  People have imaginations and they will let them go wild.”  It was gratifying knowing that his ‘partner in crime’ at least had brains.

“And it will give you time to get comfortable with me and for us to get our act down pat.”  She jumped him and gave him a big hug and smacked her lips on his cheek in a big kiss.  He started laughing deeply.  “Well maybe we can go to dinner after all.”  She jumped back, a shocked and frightened look on her face had taken over the flushed cheeked happiness of a moment ago.

“No!”  Again he laughed.  Putting hands on her shoulders, he reassured her.

“Don’t worry…next week.  Next week we will do it.”  She calmed.  “And please stop being so jumpy around me.  I am your friend and your FRIEND I shall always be.  I want no more from you my dear, trust in that.”  Her shoulders slumped and she laid down with her head in his lap.

“Oh I know, it’s just so hard for me.  I have been brought back here…by my own doing…I KNOW, but still.  And what I thought was going to happen didn’t and I have been thrown in with you, no offense.”

“None taken.”  He moved out from under her head so that he could lay down next her.  Propping himself up on his elbow, he looked down at the soft dark tendrils of hair that were splayed across his bed.  He followed them up to her face where her big soulful eyes were pleading with no one in particular.

“And I was turned into a slave AND a Fae no less.”  She sighed and tilted her head to look up at him.  “I guess I am just a little out of sorts, but I will try and stop acting like that around you.  Now that I really have to I guess it’s really good incentive.”  Without so much as a word he leaned in slowly and kissed her lips so tenderly that he wasn’t sure he wanted to back away.

“There was your first lesson.”  His mind and blood were racing.  “And if I do say so myself, you did a marvelous job.”  Her eyes were slightly glazed over and he ran his fingers over her cheek.  “Are you ok?”  She nodded softly and in a rare move of courage moved herself nearer to him and placed her own kiss right back on his lips. 

The raw power of her kiss shocked him down to the very core of his soul.  He hadn’t expected this kind of passion to unleash from the girl, but the kiss was slowly turning into the next step of his lesson and he would be damned if he was going to stop it.  He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss. 

It was amazing the way she purred under his lips.  It wasn’t a sound he had ever heard before, but it was something that he wouldn’t mind hearing over the next few days.  In fact, it was so potent it made things occur that he hadn’t expected and he had a very serious need to end the kiss.  Pulling back he looked into her eyes again.  They were glassed over as before, but they had that carnal look in them this time, that instinctive need.  It was damn near impossible not to take her right there and obey his own instincts, but he couldn’t, he had promised her.

“Wha-what’s wrong?"  She didn’t seem fully in charge of her own mind at the moment.  Eireach placed her at arms length and started breathing deeply to calm himself down.

“Nothing my dear, that was perfect…a little too perfect.”  Sarah must have been coming more to herself because her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t look away from him…progress.  “I will tell you one thing, you do that in front of Jareth and smoke will be pouring out of his ears in no time!”  A light laughter flowed from her.

“I guess if practices keep going like that we are going to have to be a little more careful.”  He nodded solemnly as he fought the emotions flooding through his head.

“Yes Sarah, we will have to be careful.”



Lightening flashed in Morrigan’s eyes.  What was Lord Tur doing!?  The poor oaf was falling in love with the girl!  This wasn’t part of the plan at all.  What if Sarah fell for the kind and sweet Lord too?  Then all would be ruined and all of the Underworld would be in grave danger. 

Jareth needed a kick in the ass soon and HARD!  Why couldn’t he just be himself?  He was known to be every bit as nice and kind as that blasted Lord Tur!  If only he could get passed all that hate and anger towards Sarah and get back to the love.  As the thoughts stirred in her head she began thinking more and more about Eireach and Sarah’s plan.

It had promise, but it couldn’t be overplayed.  If they stuck to the plan and kept emotion out of it, Sarah would be with Jareth by the end of their dinner performance.  The thing that clung to her mind was the terrible chance that they would do just the opposite.  It just couldn’t happen…she couldn’t LET it happen.  In a flash she was outside of Lord Tur’s rooms.  A brisk knock later she was face to face with him. 

“What are you doing here?”  Her brow lifted warningly.  “I didn’t mean it that way…I am just shocked to see milady here.”  He bowed softly and stepped aside to allow her access. 

There was the girl, sitting on the bed just as she had seen her in the orb.  Her hair was disheveled from his hands traipsing through it and she was dressed in a skin tight two piece red out fit.  It was a strapless top with a hem that trailed down to a point right above her belly button and a skirt that started dangerously low on the hip and glided down to the floor.  The skirt was deceptively prude, but when she stood up it revealed its hip high slits on either side.

“You…go somewhere else.”  And from the depths of that shy look came the fire from the courtroom.  This human was a truly amazing creature…she stopped herself mid thought…she really had to start thinking of this girl as a Fae now since that was what she was becoming.

“I will not!”  Strong-willed or not, no one talked to Morrigan that way.  With a wave of her hand Sarah was enclosed in a clear box.  It seemed as if she was trying to talk but had lost her voice, but that was not true.

“What is that?”  Eireach was next to her and pointing to the box which held Sarah.

“It’s a sound proof box.  If she prefers not to leave then she can stay, but this conversation is not for her and I prefer not to hear her.”  She moved the box over into a corner and then sat down in a chair on the other side of the room.  The tall form of Eireach walked over to her, casting worried looks over at Sarah as he did.  “Do not worry about your slave…she is perfectly safe and unharmed in there.”

“What is this meeting about Morrigan?”  She adjusted her robes, in no hurry to begin what she had come here for.  Nothing was worse than someone who tried to rush everything.

“I have come to talk to you Eireach about what, exactly, you think you are doing?”  He looked surprised and he drew back into his chair a bit.

“What are you talking about?”  Oh the gentle lies…how she hated them.  She leaned forward and put fire behind her eyes.

“What do you think you are doing with the girl Sarah!  You are not set to fall in love with her!  STOP!”  He blinked…bewildered.

“I am falling in love with her?”  The poor fool didn’t even know when he was falling in love.

“Yes…while I could care less what you feel…I can’t have her falling in love with you.”  Hurt filled his eyes and his fists balled into white knuckles.  Through sad eyes and clenched teeth he continued.

“And why not?”  He stood up in a fury.  “Am I so horrible?”  Anger obviously was not the way to deal with this man so she tried something that she really wasn’t all that good at…compassion.

“It’s not that Eireach.”  She stood and placed a hand on his heaving chest.  “It’s the fact that she is slated for a different life…for a different mate.  The Underground needs her to love someone else.  If she doesn’t then the Underground will be in jeopardy.”  He still didn’t look convinced.

“Who must she love then…?  And what the hell is the Underground in jeopardy of…a goblin uprising?”  Oh he was acting so…so…so human.  It was frustrating!

“It is not your will to know the Gods plans!”  The fire in his own eyes were surprisingly lethal and she found herself actually feeling sorry for the man.  “She must love and be with Jareth.”  It seemed as if his very soul had been punched.  All fight was gone from his eyes as he slumped back down into the chair.

“Of course it should be him.  He is the king…why should he not have her?”  She kneeled down in front of him so she could see his face.

“I know that you hurt, but they were and are already in love.”  His face flashed anger again, but this time not at her.

“He has a funny way of showing how much he loves her then!  He signed her off to a horrible fate and I took her in.  I take care of her!  He doesn’t care at all!”  It was very draining to sit here and listen to this.  If this was human emotion then she was truly happy that most Fae didn’t possess it.

“His heart was broken in two when she denied him.  All those years in the Darkness made him limp along on hatred to get through.  How happy would you be to be thrown into the Darkness by the one you love and had offered everything to?”  Finally a bit of understanding filled the Lord’s eyes.

“That would hurt immensely.”  He looked over at Sarah. “If she had done it to me I have no idea what I would have done or how I would have acted in his place.”  Those soft coppery locks shook as he finally accepted his fate.  “While I can’t promise not to love her, I promise not to give her reason to fall in love with me.”

“Thank you for seeing reason Eireach.”  She stood to leave, but was stopped by a hand on her arm. 

“You never told me what the Underground is in danger from.”

“And I am not going to tell you…I can not.”  She prepared to leave again, but he cleared his throat.  “What is it!?”  He pointed to the corner where a very perturbed dark haired girl stood incased in glass.

“You could let her out now.”  After an annoyed flick of the wrist she went home.



Jareth was just getting mad now.  They hadn’t been in for any meals for a week!  Hell, they hadn’t even been seen in a week!  There were so many stories flying around the castle about what was going on behind those closed doors and each new one he heard disturbed him more than the last.

It was a gut wrenching feeling to think that he was actually feeling jealous of Lord Tur.  The last thing that needed to happen was for him to go soft and go begging for Sarah to be turned over to him.  How weak would he look then?  But as he sat there at the head of the dinner table he thought desperately to himself about how close he was to doing that very thing.

In a flourish of noise and color the doors were swung open and two people walked in.  He couldn’t tell who it was, but once the gasps and oohs and ahhs started sounding, he didn’t need to see.  It was them…Sarah and Eireach.  Those two names didn’t even SOUND right together!  He told his inner voice to shut up and watched as she, they…came into view.

She quite literally took his breath away.  Her dress looked like it was practically made of air the way if flowed everywhere.  He looked her over from head to toe.  Her ‘dress’ if you wanted to call it that, was more of a bodice.  The color of it was a soft pink with darker pink ribbons around the top and bottom.  It was skin tight and fit snugly down to a point where it covered everything vital, just barely. 

The whole thing was strung with pearls that hung on her shoulders, trailed down to her hips and strung across them in a graceful bough of beauty.  Wispy locks of silken material flowed down from the bodice, creating a skirt of the strips of material that parted as she walked so her legs could be seen with each step. The material looked like one cohesive, flattering skirt when she stood still…highly deceiving.

Her legs were covered with thigh high stockings that were topped with the same soft pink material as the bodice with a darker pink ribbon through the middle.  No shoes adorned her feet as she glided through the room.  Her hair was pulled back almost carelessly and a flower the same shade of her outfit was placed behind her left ear.  The overall effect was almost mind-numbing.

He wanted to get up and go to her, pick her up and take her to his chambers.  He just wanted to make everything better between them just looking at that outfit…everyone in this room was probably thinking things along those lines.  It was probably at the same time that everyone else in the room was watching when she turned and kissed Eireach on the cheek.  You could almost hear the breaking of male hearts through the room.

It was even worse when he turned and picked her up into a lurid display of a kiss.  Jareth had never wanted to hurt another being more in his life, not even Sarah.  Jareth sat, fuming as Eireach lowered his hands till they were grasping her butt.  It was a display that should have been kept back in that bedroom they had been staying in.  Jareth cleared his throat and stood.  They snapped out of their embrace and were now trying to hastily straighten out their clothes.

“If you two are done, will you sit down and eat?  No one needs to see that while they are trying to consume dinner.”  He wanted to grab her and keep her from falling in love with Eireach. 

‘You don’t want to lose her again do you?’  The good voice in his head piped up.  That damned thing always had the worst timing.  He admitted to himself that he didn’t want to lose her again.

‘You aren’t going to give in to wanting her punished that easily are you!?’  On cue, its counterpart vocalized its way into the conversation.  It had a valid point though.  Only a look at her scantily clad and in the arms of another man had almost sent him over the edge wanting to make everything better.

He looked over at the two now.  They were feeding each other their food.  It was a disgusting display of romance.  He was staring at Sarah when her head turned and their eyes met.  She looked surprised at whatever it was that she found there and then looked almost guilty.  His hopes were about to brim when Eireach turned her head and planted a kiss on her lips.  When he was done kissing her, Eireach’s gaze drifted up to Jareth.  The bastard had a smug look on his face that Jareth wanted to rip off, but he wasn’t going to give in this easily.  He let them have their fun and ignored them as best he could through the dinner.

As if sensing his discomfort, he saw his mother motion to one of the court to go up to him.  Of course it was one of those girls that were always hanging around his mother.  What were their names?  Erina and Jeaule…?  That sounded right, but which was this?  It was the sister with the black hair…which was this…Jeaule?  NO!  No, this was Erina.

Her hair was loose and cascading down her back.  Her outfit was not quite as scandalously revealing as Sarah’s, but it certainly gave her and run for her money.  She had on a hip hugging deep red silk skirt that was slit in several places, giving everyone delicious glimpses of leg as she walked towards the king. 

Her shirt, if that’s what it could be categorized as, was a piece of material that was bordering on transparent.  There was a tie behind her neck and one behind her back that kept that scrap of material clinging to her body.  She must have covered herself in a shimmering powder because she seemed to glow as she walked to him.

When she got close enough he could see the mischievous gleam in her eyes.  This was something that she wouldn’t mind doing at all.  In fact, when she reached him she draped herself over him.  A wicked grin crossed his face as he saw the seduction in her eyes and on her lips.

“I have been waiting for a long time for the right to do this.”  She moved forward and placed her lips on his neck.  Jareth looked over at Sarah who was staring straight at him with a look of shock or devastation on her face.  He didn’t have a chance to figure it out because Eireach grabbed her and turned her around.

Eireach pulled her into a deep kiss, but for a few moments it seemed as if Sarah didn’t want to be in it.  Jareth wanted to throw the girl off of him, but jealousy drove him over the edge when Eireach pulled away from Sarah and turned to give him that smug look again.  The king pulled the girl onto his lap and kissed her. 

As he kissed her he felt her stir beneath him, but nothing stirred within him.  Was this the cruel fate he was to suffer now?  There were to be no other women for him if it could not be Sarah?  He didn’t want to think of that, but one thing that he did know was that he didn’t want to be kissing this girl anymore.  Jareth pushed her away after he broke the kiss.  He propped his head on his hand and covered his eyes.  Feeling a hand on his shoulder, he used his other hand to remove it.

“Go sit back down Erina.  Sit down.”  He heard an indignant huff and a flurry of whispers.  Slamming his fist down on the table, he shouted at the crowd.  “Shut up everyone!  That was not the only spectacle of the night!”  His eyes shot daggers at Eireach.  “I am through with dinner.”  This was the last place he wanted to be right now and so he got up and left.



“Well that went well…!”  Sarah plowed into the bedroom she had been confined in for a week…a wasted week.  Everything that they had planned, everything they had worked for had been flushed down the drain thanks to Jareth’s arrogance.  She had to be fair, the little trolip in the skimpy clothes hadn’t helped much either.

“It went better than you think Sarah.”  Eireach’s soothing voice came from the bathroom where he was changing from his dinner clothes.  After Jareth had stormed out they had eaten their dinner in peace and then left.  Eireach poked his head out of the bathroom door to look at her.  “Did you really think that it would be as easy as one dinner?”  She sighed and plopped unceremoniously on the bed.

“No.” She admitted to herself mostly.  “I knew that this would turn into an ordeal thanks to his stubborn ass, but I hadn’t exactly expected him to start drooling over other girls to try and rip my heart out.”  Eireach walked out of the bathroom in all the glory of his birthday suit.  Sarah covered her eyes and threw a pillow at him.  “Geez Eireach…come on!”

“What?”  He looked down at himself and then back at her in confusion.  “Oh I forgot that you have a problem with the natural form.”  He started putting on clothes, but kept talking as he did so his words were muffled at times.  “You know Sarah, you really have to learn to be comfortable with everyone’s natural forms.”

“And why do I have to do that?”  She thought back to all of the naked slaves and the air of normality that surrounded everything. Everyone seemed non-pulsed by the slaves leaning to serve them their meals.  He was right, it was just something that she was going to have to get used to.  She looked back up at the now fully clothed Eireach and waved a hand at his look of amusement.  “I know I know.  I will get over it eventually.”

“You had better.”  He went and grabbed a book to read.

“So…Eireach?”  She scooted on the bed till she was closer to where he was sitting across the room.  He looked up at her and grinned slightly.  “What are we going to do now?”  He placed the book down and walked over to sit by her.

“We keep doing just what we did tonight until he takes you back.  I wish you could have seen the look in his eyes when I would give him those smug, contemptuous looks.  It seemed like he wanted to run over and snag you up right there.  He doesn’t like to be openly mocked and I was playing the ace.”  He ran a hand through her hair and down her back.  “Don’t worry Sarah, you shall be free of me soon enough.”  He hadn’t meant to place that hurt in his voice, but it was already done and now she looked upset.

“What are you talking about…I will be free of you…?  You think I hate being here?”  This wasn’t the card he had hoped to play.

“I didn’t mean that…just forget I said it.”  But with Sarah that was easier said than done.

“Yeah right!  What the hell do you mean?  It not like I am screaming and crying cause I am with you.  I just want to be with Jareth!”  She seemed more shocked by her statement than he was.  “I meant that I would be more comfortable with him.”  She saw the look in his eyes before he could mask it.  “Eireach…”  She touched his shoulder.  “Do you…?”  He pulled away quickly before she could finish.

“No.  I don’t.  I am playing a part.  I promised to get you back to your Goblin King and get you back to him I will.”  She still looked upset. 

“Eireach…”  He spun around.

“I said drop it!  As my slave you are sentenced to do as I say and I want the subject to be closed.”  She pulled back as if he had slapped her.  There was a moment of horrible silence before she turned and got into the bed.  Guilt washed over him like a tidal wave.  “Sarah…I didn’t mean to….”

“No…you said exactly what you meant….master.  Goodnight then.  Tomorrow at dinner we will be ready to play our parts.  I must get to Jareth as you said.”  He hit himself and then mentally berated himself some more as he got into bed and tried to fall into a fitful sleep.

When he woke up the next morning, Sarah was already dressed and sitting by a window reading.  She still looked hurt from last night.  This simply wasn’t how he wanted to be around her.  He loved the light in her and he had succeeded in blowing it out last night with that gust of hot air he blew at her.

“Sarah…?”  She looked over at him with sad and yet understanding eyes.  The book she was reading was placed on a table next to her and she made her way over to him.

“What you said to me last night was about the shittiest thing that anyone here has said to me.”  He looked down in guilt.  She was right, he had treated her worse than anyone had since she had been here and that was saying something.  He felt a hand on his chin and felt the pressure of it guiding his face up.  “I understand why you said it though.”

“I wasn’t supposed to.  I was told not to, but…I couldn’t help it.” She was nodding.

“I know Eireach.  It happened to me too.”  His eyes lit up with hope for a moment, but she raised a hand to stop him from spewing his soul.  “But….”  He slumped back into the bed, his coppery curls falling over the pillow.

“There had to be a ‘but’ didn’t there?”  She looked so sad.

“The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but…I just know I can’t be with you.  You know I can’t be with you.  Trust me…you are the only soul-deep kind person I know here.  I would love to love you, but something keeps my heart from fully falling.  I think I know what it is, but I don’t think I am ready to admit that even to myself.”  He knew what she was talking about.  He had seen it in her eyes at dinner.

“Jareth.”  Her sad nod cut his heart.  “Well we always have until he figures out that he wants to take you.  We could always make the most of that without strings.”  Her hand trailed up his torso till it was covering his heart.

“How much worse would that make our parting?”  Eireach knew she was right, but he took her hand and pulled her down so that her head was resting on his chest.

“It would make our parting terribly hard, but at least we would always have the memories of loving each other.”  He leaned down to kiss her forehead.  “It is far better to have loved and lost.”  Her eyes filled with tears, but she brought her lips up and touched them to his.

“Ok…but when the time comes we both know that this has to end.”  Even though it broke his heart, he would do anything to hold her at least that long.  He knew he was risking the wrath of the gods, but he didn’t care anymore.

“Agreed.”  They both sat there without talking for a while.  It was a terribly uncomfortable silence.  He tilted his head to look down at her and saw that she was looking up at him.  It was less than a second later and he didn’t even see the movement, but her lips were on his.

“If all we have could be today then I want to have something to remember.”  He smiled as she ran his fingers through her hair.  It was so soft, like silk and her skin was creamy perfection.  Her features were looking more and more Fae by the hour.  It was the fastest transformation he had ever seen.  She was no longer a gorgeous human, but a startlingly stunning Fae woman.  Unable to hold himself back any longer, he tightened his grip on her hair slightly and urged her down to him.

“Then I will give you a lifetime of memories.”  She placed a hand on his chest before he could go further.

“I want to warn you that I do not plan on sleeping with you.”  His heart took another nose dive.

“Why not?”

“Because I am a virgin and I don’t want to give that to you.  That’s for…”

“Jareth,” He finished for her.  She nodded.  Eireach leaned back and sighed deeply.  “Being with you when you didn’t know how I felt was torture enough, but now that you know and I know that you care too…it’s going to be hell.”  Sarah crawled over to him and cuddled next to his side.

“There are still plenty of other memories we can share.”  As much as he wanted to, he knew that his heart wouldn’t be able to handle it.

“I think it would be best if we just acted as we have been.  Our act will just be more believable now.  I am sure if Jareth sees the true passion that we share, he will take you from me far faster than before.”  He could sense her getting upset and tears were the last thing he needed to see right now.  Standing up, he reached his hand out to her and helped her up.  “Come on, let’s get dressed and spend the day together.  I will show you around the kingdom and we can have this day as our memories.”  She nodded and walked over to the closet.

When she came out he felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of her.  She was wearing a pale violet dress with sheer white overlay and silver bead work on it.  The sleeves were the sheer material and hung loosely to the middle of her upper arm.  The bodice of the dress had a beautiful whisping design embroidered on it with those silver beads thrown in as little flower designs. 

It had an empire waistline that was created with a dark silver ribbon that was lined with the silver beads again.  From the empire waistline it had an under dress of the pale violet colored material that had a simplistic swirling design printed on it. The sheer overlay was split in the middle by a gorgeous tiny diamond broach at the empire waist.  It trailed down her body and its edges were embroidered with a variation of the bodice’s whirling design.

She seemed to glow wearing that dress.  It might have been the way that the sheer material glittered, but he was sure that it was the Fae magic that was now pumping through her veins.  Nothing better could have happened to her than to have been brought here.    On impulse, he walked up to her and pulled her into a kiss. 

“Wow…I guess you like the dress.”  She laughed lightly and then headed out of the room.  He caught up to her and watched the faces of the nobles as they walked by.  The men dropped there jaws at the sight of Sarah or gave him a light nod.  The women merely admired Sarah’s dress or looked irritated that she was on his arm.  Mostly, everyone was just appreciating the view of what they thought were two people in love.  They weren’t far off…they were watching two people who would like to be in love, but were unable to.

They reached the gardens and he showed her through the many different paths.  It was a lovely day, the sky a warm pink and the clouds low.  It was made even better by walking through the gardens and the palace grounds with Sarah. 

As they were walking through what was known as the Queens Gardens, though no queen had ruled since Jareth had come into power almost seventy years ago, he looked up at the balcony that led to the King’s personal rooms.  It might have been his imagination, but he could have sworn that he had seen a figure move quickly out of the doorway.



Seeing her in the Queen’s Gardens had unnerved him.  It had made him think back to the times where he had thought of her walking those gardens on his arm…as his queen.  Made him think back to how much he had wanted those daydreams to become realities.

‘They could still.’  He really didn’t want to hear his conscious right now and tried to block it out to no avail.  ‘If you want her, then taken her back.  If you play at this game you will only drive yourself crazy.’  Jareth knew that his conscious was right, but he couldn’t bring himself to go down and take her.  He turned to where his mother was sitting, planning the ball that was to take place the next evening.  He heard her reading off the guest list and couldn’t help the groan at the mention of Medb’s name.

“Must she attend mother?  With the god’s already thinking badly of her?”  Maesia looked over at him and scoffed.

“You know very well that I have to invite her.  If I do not, she will be offended and could make things even worse.”  He sighed, but knew that she was right.  That must have warned her as to his mood because she turned to him, concern in her eyes.  “What’s wrong Jareth?  Still worried over Sarah…?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer as she plowed on with the conversation.  Ever since dinner the previous evening she had been practically foaming at the mouth because he hadn’t demanded she be turned over to him.  “Can’t say I didn’t tell you so…” Jareth was tired of her ranting and cut her off.

“Yes mother I know…” but she was not so easily dissuaded.

“Then what is wrong?”  He motioned irritably at the window behind him.  She huffed and got up to check.  “You couldn’t just tell me!?”  He shook his head and watched her cross the room.  He knew the moment she saw them, because she rounded on him.  “I can’t believe you are letting them wander around the grounds together after that dreadful display last night!”   

“What is it that you would like me to do mother?”  He conjured a crystal and looked at Sarah through it.  “She is obviously happy with him, why force her to be with me?”  One glance at his mother and he knew he had said the wrong thing.  Her red hair was wild and she might as well have been breathing fire.

“I am tired of you wallowing around like a toddler who got his toy stolen!  I did NOT raise you to be a sniveling cry baby!”  Jareth knew that provoking her further wasn’t a wise idea, but he didn’t care at the moment.

“You didn’t raise me to be a tyrant either mother.  If I were to go and force her to leave him to be with me that would be exactly what I am.”  Narrowed emerald eyes bored into his mismatching ones.

“What is the difference between a tyrant and the way you treated her the first time she knew you?”  He hung his head because he knew that she was right.  But he also knew that was exactly the reason that he didn’t want to force her away from Eireach.

“That is it mother, I don’t want to be the way I was the first time around.  That frightened her and she hated me.  She thought I was a horrible man.  Why would I want to repeat that?”  His inner voice kicked in.  It always did when he started thinking this way.  It’s like it didn’t want him to give in to Sarah, like it wanted him to stay mad at her forever.

‘So you are done then?  You don’t want her punished anymore?’  He fought his emotions because he knew that a part of him still wanted what that voice was talking about, but he also knew that a greater portion of himself just wanted to forget it.  Most of him just wanted to love Sarah and have her love in return.

“So you are telling me that you are willing to sit at dinner and watch those two practically devour each other at the table?”  His mother always knew the button to hit.  Deep within himself the fires of jealousy kicked on and he was suddenly mad again.

“No, if they do that much more I don’t know what I will do.”  Maesia’s face calmed and she walked over to her son.  He felt her hand glide over his own and he gripped it. 

“Do you remember one of the first things I told you and Sarah when you arrived back at the Goblin City?”  For the first time in a long time, he cracked a smile.

“Which part?  That was a whirlwind of information that day.”  His mother smiled softly and urged him over to the couch.  After he was seated she sat herself down next to him.

“I am talking about the part where I told you both that you cared a great deal for each other, but you just didn’t know it yet….”  The memory clicked in his head and he looked back up at his mother.

“Yes I remember that, what is the point?”

“Now I want you to think back to the trial.”  His heart skipped at thinking back to that day.  He didn’t want to.

“I know it hurts Jareth, that’s one of the points I am trying to make to you.”  She lifted her hand and trailed her fingers down his face.  “If you didn’t care it wouldn’t hurt you like this.”  She stopped for a moment.

“Why do you want me to think of that day?  Just so I know that it hurt me?  That I didn’t want to see her like that?”  His mother was shaking her head lightly.

“That was only part of the reason I wanted you to think of that day.  I wanted you to think back to the look on her face when she realized what you were really doing.  When she realized that you really loved her.”  He didn’t need to be reminded.  That look had haunted him since he had turned down her slavery.

“I know mother.  I know that she cares for me.  I know that if I could have pulled my head out of my ass that day that I might be the one kissing her at dinner and walking with her through the gardens.”  He stood up and stormed over to the window.  He could still see them out there.  “Don’t you think that knowledge eats at me everyday?”  Jareth heard her stand up and walk over to him.

“Then why can’t you do something about it?”  Jareth kept looking down at the smiling figure sitting next to the fountain.  He sighed and drew the curtains.

“Because she’s happy now.”