Chapter 9 ~ Heartbreak
The months passed and Sarah grew closer to the King. Her spirits rose and she could almost say that she was happy. Once in a while she would turn away with a tinge of sadness in her eyes. As it happened one evening, they were in the library reading together when the King went rigid.
"Dammit! In the name of all the saints! Sarah, go to your room! I will come for you when I return!"
Startled, she dropped the book they had been reading and rose. The Goblin King stood across the room from her now in his armor with wild hair and a dark gleam to his eyes. "Y…yes Majesty!" She ran from the room as if all the hounds of hell were nipping at her heels.
Jareth felt like a heel. I will fix this later. Disappearing, he reappeared in a familiar looking house. Turning his attention from the disastrous house to the blonde woman standing over the bassinets with the crying babes, he focused. "I have come to take the children which you have wished away. Tell me, Karen Williams, do you truly wish your children taken away?"
"God yes! I cannot do this by myself! With Robert gone and Sarah run away! I'm alone here! I cannot… I will not take care of these squalling brats any longer! Take them away from me! I want nothing to do with children ever again!"
He growled. "Very well, you are barren!" Calling several goblins to take the children, he conjured a crystal. "Take this as a consolation on those dark nights when you are truly alone, Karen, for you will never know a moment of peace from this moment forward!" Waiving his hand, he made them all appear in the castle nursery leaving the selfish woman to scream and sob at her own misfortune.
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Sarah crept down the hall towards the nursery. She'd heard the cries of tiny babes. Peeking in the doorway, she saw the small goblin woman trying to take care of the two smaller babes and a toddler grasping her apron. "Would you like some help?"
The toddler turned around. "Sarah?"
"Toby?" Rushing in, she knelt and threw her arms around the boy. "Oh baby, what are you doing here?"
"Mommy… mommy wished us away!"
Sarah froze. "No!" Tears fell unchecked from her eyes. "Oh, Toby!"
Beatrice was at a loss for what to do. Quieting the two infants, she changed, fed, and laid them into bassinets to sleep. "Young man, it is time you were abed. Come now. You can see Mistress Sarah tomorrow."
Toby stubbornly shook his head. "No!"
Sarah frowned down at the child with stern disapproval and love. "Now Toby. You must be polite. Bea is trying to take care of you. Come now, Bethany and Castor are sleeping. We want show Bea what a good boy you can be right?"
The boy nodded sheepishly. "Yes, Sarah."
"That's my good little lamb. Off with you now."
"Would you tell me a story?"
She smiled sadly and looked at the goblin nursemaid.
Beatrice nodded.
"Sure baby." Taking the boy's hand, Sarah led him to the cot that had been set up for him. "Lay down and I will tell you a story." When he was asleep, she walked stiffly from the room. Once out of sight, she slumped against the wall and sobbed.
Beatrice waited until she was gone before she disappeared from the nursery and reappeared in the King's study. "What were you thinking?"
Jareth looked at the goblin that had raised him. "Bea, what are you talking about?"
"Those babes you just brought to the castle, your Majesty! Do you know who they are? Do you know who just found them?"
His eyes grew huge and owlish. "No! Those are her siblings… tell me you didn't let her near them!"
"I didn't know, Jareth! I had no idea those wee babes and that little tyke, were her siblings! I had no idea to keep her away from them!"
"Oh Gods, Bea… she delivered the two wee ones not four months ago… the boy she practically raised…" He paced away from her. "I haven't even told her yet that her father is gone." He gripped his hair with both hands. "What am I going to do?"
"You're going to go find that girl right now and comfort her. Then you're going to be a man and tell her the truth."
He stopped and looked at her incredulously. "She'll hate me."
"Why ever for?"
"Because I cannot let her keep them. They must go to other families. I will try to keep them together, but I cannot let her keep them."
"Go!"
He slumped. "Yes ma'am." Snapping his fingers, he disappeared and reappeared in the rooms he had given to Sarah. She wasn't there. Frowning, he formed a crystal to find her and was surprised to see her running across the stone bridge towards the Labyrinth. "Damn me!" Throwing the crystal he appeared behind her. "Sarah?"
She stopped. "You! How could you? You stole them!"
"I took them at your stepmother's request. She selfishly wished away your siblings, and I, as is my duty, took them away. They will be adopted by a family worthy of them, love, I promise."
Whipping around to face him, she stared him down. "No! They are my family! I can't… you can't…"
He growled as he stalked closer to her. Wrapping his hand around behind her neck, he pulled her closer, whispering near her ear, "Do not presume to tell me what I can and cannot do, Precious. I am King! They will live a better life than what they would have lived with that harpy, and without your father!"
She gasped and jerked in his grasp. "D…daddy?"
Realizing his mistake, he sighed. "Sarah… forgive me… I…" He pulled her against his chest and held her. "There are so many things wrong with what has transpired in the last hours… please… please…forgive me."
Wrapping her arms around him, she clung as she fell apart.
"Sweet Sarah." Lifting her into his arms, he spirited them away to her rooms. Settling into a chair before the fireplace, he held her to his chest as she cried. "I've got you Precious. Let it all go."
Her tears eventually quieted and she lay against his chest, her fingers curling into his shirt. "What will happen to Toby and the babies?"
Running his fingers through her long hair, he pondered his answer. "They will be given a home with a family that will care for them. I will do my utmost to keep them together if that is your wish."
"I wish only for them to be well cared for, Jareth. Will they remember any of it? Daddy… or Karen… each other… or…"
He brushed his lips across her brow. "I will make sure that they do not remember anything."
"I…" Leaning up she ran her fingertips over his cheek and brushed a kiss at the corner of his mouth. "Thank you for being merciful." Sliding from his lap, she stood before the fire. "I don't want them to remember me… or Daddy… or Karen. If you can keep them together, that would be preferable. However, if it is not meant to be…" She shrugged.
Coming up behind her, he put his hands on her shoulders and turned her around. Tipping her face up to look into her eyes, he sighed. "I'm so sorry for everything, Precious. Let me take away your pain."
Her eyelids fluttered closed as she felt his leather encased thumb brush over her lips. "Ah…"
Touching his lips to her forehead, he caught her as she fell asleep in his arms. Laying her on the bed, he snapped his fingers and clothed her in a simple nightdress, slipping her beneath the covers as he left the room. "Rest well, my love."