Disclaimer: Labyrinth and all its characters belong to Jim Henson and company. I am making no profit from this story. Storyline and original characters belong to me. I briefly allude to “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” at the outset of this story; I do not own that, either.

Summary: Sarah is back in the Underground. This time, it has nothing to do with the Goblin King, and everything to do with his bride. Now complete. Sequel to follow…

Rating: M

The Goblin King’s Bride

“What a waste of money,” Sarah Williams said, laughing, as she walked out of the theater with her family. It was nice to be home for the summer, taking a break from college. “I knew it wouldn’t be as good as the first one. Sequels rarely are.”

Karen nodded, casting a glance at Sarah. “You’re right about that,” she said. “But in this case, even the first one was pretty ridiculous.”

Toby, Sarah’s five-year-old brother, ran along side his sister to keep up. “I thought it was an awesome movie. You really didn’t like it, Sarah?”

She smiled down at him, taking his little hand in her own as they stepped into the roadway, crossing to where their car was parked. “Oh, I wouldn’t say I didn’t like it. It’s just that it was kind of silly, don’t you think? I could have waited to rent it.”

Her father grinned, pulling his keys from his pocket. “At least you didn’t have to pay for the tickets,” he joked, winking. “Actually, those movie gremlins were kind of tame compared to real ones. Not nearly as scary as they should be.”

Toby started hopping up and down. “No way! There are real gremblins?” he asked excitedly.

“Gremlins,” his father corrected, casting an amused glance at Sarah. “And sure -- there are real ones. Green, scaly, slimy… and the worst part is, they mess with the car all the time.”

“Oh, Robert,” said Karen, sighing dramatically. “I really wish you wouldn’t fill his head with such nonsense. Honestly. Gremlins!”

“Gremblins! Gremblins!” Toby chanted.

“Why do you call them gremblins, Tobe?” he asked, ignoring Karen’s scolding.

Toby wrinkled his nose, climbing into the car. Sarah never ceased to marvel at how intelligent and well-spoken he was for his age. “I don’t know. I guess ‘cause I get them confused with the other kind… goblins.”

Karen gasped. “Toby! Where have you heard about goblins?”

“From Sarah’s stories,” he said, shrugging. “Mommy, it’s okay. I like the stories. I’m not afraid. The gremblins don’t hurt you.”

Sarah shot her brother a look, but he was occupied with strapping his seatbelt on. She wondered if he remembered anything about his time in the Underground. When she told him stories of the labyrinth, she’d never said anything about the goblins not hurting people, at least that she could recall.

She would have believed the whole experience of the Underground to be a dream if it weren’t for the fact that she still talked to Hoggle, Sir Didymus and Ludo occasionally. Like she had told them, sometimes she just needed them. She needed to keep that fantastical link alive.

Another reason she knew her experience had been real was that the Goblin King himself had returned just a year ago to ask her for her hand in marriage. He had wakened her from a sound sleep – actually, she had been dreaming of him – and told her he loved her. Then he proposed.

She still had a hard time believing it. She had rejected him again, fearing that he was trying to trick her. But a part of her regretted her refusal, too. She’d had a crush on him when she was younger but as she’d grown older she found that she couldn’t keep him out of her mind or dreams, no matter how hard she tried. And she perversely compared every man she met to him, which left them all wanting.

But his coming to her after more than three years of nothing, and asking her to be his queen, just seemed too bizarre and suspicious to even contemplate. She remembered later, upon reflection, that he had seemed quite desperate, though it hadn’t registered with her at the time. When he left, he’d looked at her longingly, with a sort of sad hopelessness and defeat in his eyes. She often wondered what her life would be like if she had accepted his offer.

“Well, I don’t like talking about them,” Karen replied, still on the subject of goblins and gremlins, glancing back meaningfully at Sarah, who shook off her reverie. “There’s no sense filling his head with nonsense, Sarah. Fairy tales have no place in real life.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. ‘Here we go,’ she thought. Still, she couldn’t resist baiting her step-mother. “Fairytales and folk stories are exactly what all children like to hear, Karen. They need to use their imagination, so they don’t grow up to be stuffy and dull.”

“That’s quite enough,” Karen retorted, her voice brooking no argument. “I resent the implication, young lady. Anyway, I don’t want Toby having nightmares. I’m the one that would have to get up with him during the night.”

“What’s a nightmare?” Toby asked.

“A bad dream, sweetie,” Sarah explained.

Her father, always the peacemaker, broke in, having started the car. “Okay, enough about monsters and nightmares. Where are we going to eat dinner?”

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“Jareth.”

Jareth looked up from his correspondence. His queen of three years stood in the doorway of the library, her hands on her hips, fingers drumming an impatient tattoo on her bony hips. She was also tapping her foot impatiently, so she had probably been standing there for some time, hoping he would glance up and notice her.

“Yes?” he replied coldly.

She advanced into the room, uninvited. “I thought I told you something would have to be done about the kitchens. Cook says they are overrun by rats down there, and I can’t bear to think of our food being prepared in such an environment.”

He raised one eyebrow. “And I thought I made it clear that the kitchens are your responsibility. I cannot be expected to do everything, dear. If cook can’t keep the kitchens clean on his own, then perhaps he requires the assistance of a few gremlins, hmmm?”

“My gremlins,” she said haughtily, “do not do kitchen work. They do not do menial tasks of any kind, and they never will.”

“Then hire some peasants from the village to come in and help, Adrianna,” he suggested with exaggerated patience. “I really can’t be bothered with all these trifling details. I have my hands full with all of the grievances my goblins have against your gremlins and vice versa. The kingdom is in chaos, and you want me to do something about the kitchen rats. Really.”

She narrowed her shocking green eyes, her heavily black-adorned lashes making it appear as if two spiders had attached themselves to her eyeballs in an attempt to suck them dry. “You do not put your share of effort into maintaining this household, Goblin King,” she spat angrily. “One day you will regret your blatant refusal to respect me as your wife and queen.”

“I do not disrespect you, my dear,” he replied, using the endearment out of habit rather than sentiment. They’d had this argument many times and in many incarnations. She was always accusing him of disrespecting her or mocking her behind her back.

“Oh, yes, you do, Jareth,” she insisted.

“You’re being dramatic again, Adrianna,” he said, waving his gloved hand dismissively.

She smirked. “I’ll bet you’re daydreaming about your idiotic little mortal girl again. To think you’d rather have made her your queen instead of me,” she sneered at him. “It’s an insult. You only chose me because you were forced to make a choice.”

This was something he would not tolerate, and she knew it. He closed his eyes, preparing to lie through his teeth. “I am not thinking of Sarah.” He sighed wearily. “She rejected me twice. I have no use for someone who disregards me so flippantly.”

“That is what you say,” she retorted, crossing her arms. “But I hear you calling her name in your sleep. It’s her you see when you’re performing your marital duty toward me!” she accused.

He had long ago had enough of her; now he was ready to turn her out on her ear. “Adrianna, I must finish this letter to the High King before the courier leaves the castle. If it is not sent today, the man will be even more intolerable than normal at the next ball in two weeks’ time. I suggest you leave me to my

duties. Don’t you have someone to steal away from the Aboveground or something? My, your gremlins are a lazy lot.”

“Imbecile!” she said contemptuously. Turning on her heel, she flounced out of the room, her many scarlet skirts billowing behind her dramatically. ‘Such a pity,’ Jareth thought to himself. Adrianna was quite beautiful to look upon, but her personality ruined her beauty for him. She was obnoxious, sarcastic and insufferably rude.

She was the Gremlin Queen, and theirs had been an alliance of coercion, enforced by the High King himself. The Gremlin Realm had been steadily disintegrating for years. The Gremlin Queen had inherited the kingdom by her parents when they were both assassinated in a political uprising, namely all of the surrounding kingdoms growing tired of their livestock and weaker subjects falling prey to the gremlins.

After taking the throne, Adrianna found that her parents had run the kingdom to financial ruin. Unable to build it back up without a marriage alliance, she had supplicated the High King, who had in turn, sought out eligible bachelor princes and kings. After having made his decision to align her with the Goblin King, he gave Jareth just thirty days to find a suitable bride. If, in that length of time, he was unable to wed, he would take the hand of the Gremlin Queen.

Jareth had traveled Aboveground, appearing in owl form at the bedroom window of Sarah Williams, who was, at the time, fresh out of high school. He hadn’t seen her in three years. She had grown even more beautiful, and he had dearly hoped to win her hand. But when he entered her room and wakened her, she had been frightened and angry, assuming that he had come to reclaim Toby.

Try as he might, he was unable to talk her into coming back Underground with him. He had even broken down and confessed to her that he loved her, and that he had loved her since the first time he saw her. Though his declaration had caused her to hesitate, she had finally told him in no uncertain terms that she had no desire to be the Goblin Queen.

Sighing, Jareth shook his head to clear it of past memories. She was always with him, in one way or another. He had found it quite impossible to expel her from his mind. He tried not to dwell on what a beauty she had been on that last visit, no longer a girl but on her way to womanhood. Now, she was sure to be even lovelier.

But it didn’t matter anymore. He had never looked in on her again after that second rejection. Married now, he was forever tied to the Queen of the Gremlins, who was also the Queen of the Goblins. She scorned the title as much as Sarah had, and allowed her gremlins to torment the goblins, to the point that most of the goblins had fled the city.

Jareth pursed his lips together and looked back down at the letter he was composing to the High King. He reread it, and, satisfied with its content, he signed his name and rolled it up. He lit and tilted his sealing candle and watched as the blood red wax dripped onto the seam of the letter. He pressed his signet ring into the wax, imprinting it with the goblin crest, and set it aside for the courier.

He rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. Tonight was what his endearing bride referred to as ‘the weekly chore’. She insisted they be intimate once a week, in the hopes of producing a suitable heir. Once that was achieved, the weekly necessity could be reduced to once a month. Jareth rather hoped she would conceive. Thus he would be spared from the ‘chore’ in surplus of nine months. “Happy thought,” he murmured.

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Sarah sat in her old bedroom, her eyes growing heavy with sleep. Just one more chapter to finish reading, and she could go to bed. She was finding it difficult to concentrate on her book, however, because her thoughts kept straying back to Jareth and that strange night a year ago.

Her dreams about him had become even more intense after that visit. She had always been attracted to him, but what did he see in her? She was a mere mortal, definitely not royalty, not even special in any way, and yet he had come to her to propose marriage a second time.

What if she had said yes? Would she be there with him, right now, sheltered in his strong arms? Would she have born him a child yet? She wanted children some day, she knew that, but her problem was finding a man she was attracted to enough to wish to have children with. No one she met could measure up to him… the Goblin King. It sounded ridiculous, but as she didn’t share this with anyone, she didn’t have to feel ashamed about it at all. Her family and friends did wonder, however, why she never dated.

A knock sounded at her door and she called out ‘come in’, surprised that anyone else was still awake. The knob turned and the door swung open. Karen stepped into the room and stood there with her arms crossed.

“Yes?” Sarah prompted, waiting.

“I told you I didn’t want you filling Toby’s head with nonsense, Sarah,” she said huffily, her hand resting on her hip. “Toby told me that tonight you read to him from that ridiculous book of yours, The Labyrinth.”

“It’s just a story,” Sarah protested, feeling attacked. She was really growing tired of Karen’s uptight behavior. Toby was going to grow up to be just like his mother: unimaginative and stiff as a stick. What was the harm in reading fantasy stories to a child?

Karen held Sarah’s book in her right hand, pointing it at Sarah as she spoke. “Yes, just a story, Sarah, and yet you read this particular book over and over, and have done so since you were thirteen. What exactly is so special about this story?”

“Nothing, it’s just my favorite, that’s all,” Sarah said defensively, reaching for the book. Karen backed up, holding it firmly.

“Do you know what Toby was saying over and over tonight when I went in to tuck him in?” Karen asked angrily.

“No,” Sarah said wearily. “But I bet you’re going to tell me.”

“He was saying, ‘I wish the --”

Panicked, Sarah shouted, “No! Don’t say it!” Her panic was paralleled by her confusion; she never read those words to Toby; they had too much power. Where had he heard them? Whenever she came to that part of the book, she always came up with something else entirely. Did Toby remember her saying it to him when she wished him away? True, he was just a baby, but his IQ was off the charts. What if he did remember?

Karen’s face was a reddened mask of anger and bewilderment. “What has gotten into you, young lady?” she asked, shaking her head. “You do put too much credence in your ridiculous fairytales. Look at the way you just reacted!”

“You don’t understand,” Sarah started to say. “Those words…”

“No, I don’t. I don’t understand you at all. I don’t understand anything about you, and I don’t think you want me to. Lord knows I’ve tried, but I don’t, Sarah. I don’t know what to say to you.” Karen shook her head again, slapping the book against her thigh.

“Can I have my book back, please?” Sarah asked. All she wanted was to get Karen out of her bedroom so she could go to sleep. She was exhausted suddenly, and she hadn’t even put on her pajamas yet. She couldn’t wait to go back to school on Monday. These weekend trips home were more tiring and stressful that cramming for finals.

Karen narrowed her eyes. “No, I don’t think so, Sarah. I think I’ll hang on to it for a while. Maybe you’ll agree not to read it to Toby once I’m ready to give it back.”

Incensed, Sarah stalked toward her stepmother. “You have no right--”

Sarah was interrupted when Toby ran into the room. She and Karen must have awakened him with their arguing. He was giggling and wide awake, probably because of all the candy he’d eaten at the movies, and then the sundae he’d begged for after dinner.

“Sarah!” he shouted, running toward her. “I told Mommy the words,” he said proudly. “I ‘membered it, even though I was little. I wish the gremblins would come an’ take you away… right now!”

As he continued to giggle, flinging himself onto her bed, she thought, ‘It’s goblins. Goblins, not gremlins Thank goodness he didn’t say goblins!’ But she felt herself begin to fade away, all the same. It was a strange, dizzying sensation. She reached for the bedpost, but her hand slipped right through it.

“Sarah?” Karen said, frowning and walking toward her.

Toby looked at her in awe. “Sarah? Where’re you going? Can I come with you and see the gremblins, too?”

Landing hard on her knees, Sarah found herself, not on her carpeted bedroom floor, but on cold, hard stone. Standing up cautiously, she looked around. She wasn’t sure, but it looked as if she were back Underground, in the Goblin King’s castle. But that was impossible, wasn’t it? Toby hadn’t said goblins, he’d said gremblins.

Suddenly she heard a chorus of hideous cackling, and one by one, several ugly, scaly, slimy creatures came into view. Nothing like goblins at all. More like… gremlins. But not like in the movie. No, these were hideous, sharp-toothed, mean-looking monsters. And they were looking at her as if she were a side of beef.

Joining their laughter was the low, amused chuckle of a woman. Sarah froze, then slowly turned around and was startled by what she saw: the Goblin King, sitting in a throne, staring at her in utter disbelief. Next to him, in another throne, was a beautiful woman, wearing a crown.

“Sarah…” the King of the Goblins whispered, frowning.

The woman looked at him slyly. “Yes, Sarah,” she said, and laughed again, throwing her head back. “My, this is just the best-timed surprise I could have asked for on our anniversary, Jareth darling.” She looked from her husband’s shocked, white face to the girl.

“Sarah Williams,” she said cruelly. “Welcome back to the Underground. I am Adrianna, Queen of the Gremlins and Goblins, wife of the Goblin King. And you are now my personal slave.”

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Jareth watched Sarah closely, hoping she wouldn’t let her temper get the better of her. He knew that his wife would not tolerate it at all. When her eyes flicked to him in obvious confusion, he tried to send her a silent warning, and he could have sworn she nodded imperceptibly in understanding. Something else shadowed her face as well, but it was so fleeting he wasn’t sure if he’d really seen it or imagined it.

For the first time, Sarah spoke. “Your Majesties,” she said quietly. Her voice was different now, that of a woman and not a girl. It set a fire aglow inside Jareth that he hadn’t felt in a very long time. “I’m afraid there’s been some mistake. My little brother unknowingly wished me away. He was just playing around. But he meant to say to the goblins, not to the gremlins. He, uh, gets the two confused all the time.”

“What’s said is said,” Adrianna boomed. Jareth wished he’d never said it in front of her, because she said it all the time, now, especially to him. “As you were wished away to the gremlins, you are now under my power and my power alone. I know who you are, Sarah Williams, and I will relish making your every day a living hell.”

Jareth could tell Sarah was angered and confused by the queen’s words, but she was hiding it well. He saw it only because he knew her so well. His wife, however, hadn’t sensed the young woman’s underlying fury. ‘Easy, Sarah,’ he said over and over inside his head, again trying to catch her eye.

Sarah stepped forward, coming into the light. She was dressed all in black – slacks, sweater and boots, and she looked more beautiful than she ever had in Jareth’s eyes. Her hair flowed around her face and down her back in loose curls, her dark lashes stood out against the pale skin of her cheeks.

“Please,” she said, keeping her tone quiet and respectful. He felt grateful that she had finally learned to restrain her temper. “My family will wonder where I am, and I really must--”

“Silence!” Adrianna roared. “Insolent girl. If you behave yourself, I may choose to send you back one day. You are to do as I say at all times. You are, of course, under the counsel of the Goblin King, my husband, as well, but you are under only my power. One misstep on your part and I will give word to my gremlins to tear you to pieces and dine on your flesh.”

Sarah flinched, but nodded her understanding, clearly resigned. Jareth ached for her but there was nothing he could do. It was as Adrianna had said, Sarah had been wished away to the gremlins and was therefore at their queen’s mercy. Had Toby said goblins, things would have been very different…

“Is there no way to win my freedom?” Sarah asked. “I could run the labyrinth again. I—”

“No! Down on your knees,” Adrianna commanded.

Sarah obeyed after only a second’s hesitation. Looking up into the face of the Gremlin Queen with as pride as possible, she awaited the queen’s next words. Jareth was vastly relieved that Sarah wasn’t putting up a fight.

“If you wish to remain alive, Sarah Williams, swear that you will do what I say, without hesitation or disobedience,” Adrianna said with a triumphant sideways glance at Jareth. He ignored her, keeping his eyes on Sarah. He knew Adrianna was aware of what this was doing to him and was taking great satisfaction from it.

“I swear,” Sarah agreed reluctantly, her voice low.

“Very good,” Adrianna said approvingly. “My, you are beautiful, aren’t you? I can see why Jareth wanted to… have you, although you’re a mere mortal. So far below us as to be laughable.”

Jareth felt his mouth go dry as he watched Sarah’s face flush pink in embarrassment and mortification. She lowered her eyes and remained silent, fidgeting with her hands.

“Tell me,” Adrianna went on, clearly intent on making this uncomfortable for both of them. “Do you have feelings for my husband, young Sarah?”

Sarah’s eyes lit up with irritation but she still fought for control. Glancing up, she replied, “The Goblin King is a married man, belonging to you alone. You have nothing to fear from me.”

Adrianna narrowed her eyes, looking like a cat going in to kill an unsuspecting bird or mouse. “You did not answer my question,” she pointed out. “Do you have feelings for my husband?” she asked again, enunciating each word slowly and precisely.

Sarah’s back straightened and her chin went up defiantly. “I do not know the Goblin King well enough to have feelings for him. Though… I find your husband to be quite attractive, Your Highness.” She lowered her voice an octave, her tone almost seductive. “If that threatens you, perhaps you ought to send me home right now.”

Jareth’s breath caught in his throat. He should have known she wouldn’t be able to control her tongue! He knew she was attempting to bait Adrianna into sending her back Aboveground. Not allowing himself to dwell on what she had just said about finding him attractive, not to mention the way she had said it, all he could do was watch his wife to see what her reaction would be. He feared it would be something terrible.

To his immense surprise, she threw her head back and laughed appreciatively. “You, Sarah Williams, are a spitfire. It’s not wonder he is, even now, besotted by you. No, I shall not send you home, which I know was your aim. You shall remain here, and cater to me, and perhaps occasionally… to my husband, if he so desires. After all, many kings have queens as well as concubines.” She paused, ignoring Sarah’s expression of disgust, and turned to Jareth. “Would you like that, pet?”

Outraged and embarrassed that the idea did, indeed, appeal to him, he stood. “Enough!” he shouted. “Do not torture this woman any longer, Adrianna. You have overstepped your bounds this time, though it’s not the first. I demand that you send Sarah home. She was not wished here properly, it was done by a five-year-old child, who didn’t realize the power of words.”

“A little hot under the collar, my darling?” Adrianna questioned innocently. “I’ve already said that Sarah is to stay,” she said, her voice hardening again. “And stay she shall. I do not answer to your demands. If you cannot handle being around her then I suggest you stay away from her. Otherwise, I don’t care if you decided to… play with her a little. After all, ours is a marriage of convenience, is it not?”

“It is indeed,” he said, his voice low and menacing. “But I would not treat Sarah in such a degrading manner. You are much mistaken about me, my queen.”

“We shall see about that, my king,” she replied with an ugly laugh. “We shall see about that.”

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Sarah kept her eyes downcast as the beautiful but cruel queen stood and walked over toward her. “Rise, Sarah,” she commanded. “Follow me.”

Sarah slowly stood, ignoring the pain and cold that had seeped into her knees. She followed the Gremlin Queen out of the throne room without a backward glance at Jareth. Why wasn’t he trying harder to help her? He’d spoken up, yes, but it was clear that Adrianna ruled this royal roost.

“I shall personally show you to your quarters,” the queen said, her voice amused. “I think I’m going to like you, Sarah Williams.”

Sarah felt it best to remain quiet until specifically invited to speak. She continued to follow the queen but was confused when she was led, not downstairs toward the servants’ quarters, but upstairs.

As if reading her mind, Queen Adrianna said over her shoulder, “You may wonder where I’m taking you. Well, my dear, I feel that you will serve a very unique purpose. I want you nearby, so as to serve as my handmaiden. You shall have the room between mine and Jareth’s.”

Opening the door, she showed Sarah into a rather lovely room adorned in shades of violet and deep purple. Along with the door they had just entered, there were two other doors, one on each end of the room. “Does it meet with your approval?”

Sarah gaped, taking in the beautiful room. “Yes, but…”

“No buts.” The queen moved closer, and Sarah tried not to flinch away as the queen reached out a hand and traced Sarah’s jaw. “So lovely. Yes, it’s no wonder he is in love with you still. My husband is a very handsome and virile man. If he decides to come to you, you will enjoy it.”

Keeping her eyes lowered to the ground, Sarah felt her face flush. “I don’t want him to come to me.”

“You’ll notice there are two other doors,” Adrianna pointed out, ignoring Sarah’s comment. “One leads to my chamber and the other to Jareth’s. This is for the convenience of the queen and the king. You are not to enter through either door unless invited, but we may enter at any time, for any purpose we may choose.”

Understanding dawned for Sarah and she looked up sharply, frowning slightly. The queen laughed. “You shall be my lady in waiting, Sarah, helping me with dress and grooming. You shall not be assigned hard labor unless you displease the king or queen. As for Jareth, well, as he is so dissatisfied with me, he may be able to find some release with the object of his desires. You.”

Sarah gasped before she could stop herself. Surely this woman didn’t think she would allow herself to be used in that way! However, she had the feeling that if Jareth did come to her, she would find it very difficult to refuse. She hadn’t lied; she did find him extremely attractive. But he was a married man; he had made his choice. A small voice in the back of her mind suggested that she might be partially responsible. One question could enlighten her, though.

“How long have you been married to His Majesty?” she asked.

Adrianna turned, raising an eyebrow. “Three years. You might as well know that he was handed me after failing to secure a bride for himself – and yes, I know he came to ask for your hand a second time. Foolish girl.”

“I see,” Sarah said faintly, feeling physically ill. She was to blame for Jareth being stuck with this harpy!

Adrianna smiled grimly. “Jareth is not… benefiting from our union and I confess I am not, either. He wanted you, but you refused him. That was wise, my dear, for you are not cut out to be a queen. But we must produce an heir, nevertheless. I’m hoping that he will be less loathe to perform his duties with me if he can… enjoy himself with you.”

“I can’t,” Sarah blurted out, feeling tears at the corner of her eyes. “I mean… I couldn’t…”

“You can, and you will,” she said. “You are in no position to refuse, my dear. And don’t worry, I don’t mind. If I am unable to produce a child, then the task will fall to you, Sarah. After all, for a year we have made the attempt, but it has been for naught. Well, I trust you will find everything you need here… After all, I’ve been awaiting you for some time now.”

Forgetting herself, Sarah said, “What? How can you have been waiting for me? I don’t understand…”

“Silence!” Adrianna shouted. Then, in a quieter voice, she said, “I can be quite manipulative when I need to be, my dear. Your little brother was quite a good little puppet, being so young and yet so intelligent.”

Feeling rage growing inside her, Sarah fought to control her emotions. However, it was better not to express her ire over the queen’s interference with Toby, lest she should decide to steal him away too. “What do you plan to do with me once you conceive?” she asked.

Adrianna raised her eyebrows. “You’re an intelligent girl, Sarah, think about it.”