Disclaimer: If a disclaimer is forgotten and nobody cares, will you get sued anyway?

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-Chapter Seven-

Sarah felt sick. An odd thrill burned deep in her stomach, but her breath was frozen in her chest, and her heartbeat rushed wildly in her ears.

Simple as the stars.

Silly little girl, what have you done?

The answer was there in the possessive curve of hands around her waist, the omnipresent darkness that swirled around his being like a living thing. She had said it herself, hadn't she?

"But what no one knew was that the king of the goblins had fallen in love with the girl..."

And it was not innocent, nor pure, nor anything remotely resembling a storybook romance. He was selfish and terrible and cruel - and she, silly thing, could be exactly the same.

"We are well matched, you and I," he whispered tenderly, lips caressing her cheek, the soft brush of platinum hair against her skin a promise of eternity - if only she would surrender her immortal soul.

She shuddered in mixed revulsion and rapture. So simple. So dark. So deliciously tempting.

Bastard.

"How could you?" she managed, voice cracking. So close to him, so close to her own demise - or was it the rest of her life he held in his hands?

Those brilliant eyes narrowed, flashing with anger. "You were not theirs to keep."

And that gave him the right to take her?

She flung herself backwards, landing roughly on the stone floor. "You had no right to - to - to manipulate this to your own ends!"

"Didn't I?" he snapped, rising gracefully from his chair and advancing on her with the slow, deliberate patience of a predator. "You wished your baby brother away to *me*, you ran *my* labyrinth, you wanted to have *me* back when life got too difficult for you."

Sarah pulled herself to her feet, glowering back through her tears at this avenging angel of darkness. "That's not true! I didn't need you!"

He laughed, the sound as rich as ever, but edged with razors. "Didn't you?" he taunted, sauntering forward, every bit the dangerously affronted royal.

"Dammit! I thought you loved me!" Sarah couldn't see through the sudden rise of tears in her eyes. All a lie? God, how could she have been so blind? Did he just crave posession, having another pretty jewel for his collection? Didn't he care?

"I do love you!" he snapped, and the air tingled with the sudden rise of his power, swirling malevolently through the castle, dark and threatening. She didn't flinch as he stalked closer, tension threading through his slender frame, nor did she blink when he stopped to loom over her.

His voice was bone-chillingly cold and velvety dark as he spoke. "And you're a fool if you cannot understand why all this has happened! Haven't you been paying attention? Haven't you learned?"

She swallowed a sob resolutely and set her jaw. "Learned what?"

He stared at her in disbelief for a moment, confusing her even more. What was the man talking about? She knew he was a possessive bastard, but still -

"Little idiot! You belong to me!"

Then his mouth was burning against hers, and somehow or another they wound up tangled together, tumbling down atop the bed.

How could something be so wrong and yet so absolutely right?

It made so much sense, she realized dazedly, exquisitely perfect sense.

Possession, desire - and need.

Need.

How ridiculous.

How right.

It was love after a fashion, passion with a wildly off-center focus, desperation that had driven them towards each other.

Not a healthy relationship.

And he'd gone and done it, hadn't he?

The fights, the arguments, the way Karen and her father had gone at it - made just a bit more savage by the malicious touch of magic. Poor little Toby, not stolen but changed while he had been borrowed.

All done for her.

She'd learned but a little, it seemed, when her innocence was pure.

Now?

You had to grow up sometimes, and the growing hurt. And you hurt others when you did so.

She had thought she knew what to do. In truth, she had learned only part.

But it would have happened anyway, at another time, in the arms of another man.

Sarah didn't want another man.

She let herself sink back against the bed and pulled him down with her.

Jareth had never been fair - but he had always given her exactly what she wanted.

Playing the victim, then being the victim, then realizing how stupid she had been to do so. A painful lesson, to be sure, but...

Damn him.

Complete, utter devotion. Everything she had longed for. A mysterious, powerful, intimate stranger, one who would attend her every whim, knew her every desire, would worship her - and all he asked for in return was the same.

Damn him to hell.

She had turned him down once - and she could not do it again.

* * *

In another room, in another section of the palace, a golden-haired child slept peacefully in a cloud-soft bed.

And in the throne room, two frightened people clung to each other and wished to go home.

A swirl of magic plucked them from existance, swirled them away from the castle, and left them gaping up at the entrance to the labyrinth.

Such a pity.

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AN: Okay, is anyone confused? Come on now, don't be shy, tell me if I've gone and flummoxed you. Next time - jolly jogging through trecharous terrain.

So, for those of you too shy to tell me, I shall explain in less convoluted terms what happened:
1. Jareth wanted Sarah.
2. Sarah wanted Jareth.
3. At the time, Sarah didn't realize what she was getting into.
4. Now she knows.
5. Much to her own disgust, she likes it. A lot.
email: mjalta@yahoo.com

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