Chapter Text
When the Goblin Kingdom crumbled, a tremor rippled through the Underground.
Oberon, the High King of the Fae, felt it as a sharp tug in his chest, strong enough to make him gasp as he was in the midst of holding court. It was nothing like he had ever felt before, almost as if his blood ran red-hot and pierced the underside of his flesh. The throne room was shocked into silence as they watched the ancient king nearly pitch himself to the floor. The air crackled with uncertainty and fear; whatever the king felt the subjects also did, although not as keenly.
As quickly as it had come, however, the pain receded and Oberon was left clutching the sides of his throne, his knuckles white and his breaths coming in rasps. Dread prickled at the base of his spine and his heart thudded wildly against his chest.
“Sire—” His manservant and faithful friend, Goodfellow, could be heard approaching him. Quickly, he raised his palm in a defiant gesture. Goodfellow froze in his tracks, and the king struggled to control his breathing.
A booming crash sounded as the doors to the throne room burst open. The footfall following it was light yet hurried, and the tell-tale whisper of silk against stone could be heard. A low murmuring threaded through the crowd like leaves rustling through a dry forest.
“Oberon,” Titania said, and there was a slight tremble in her voice. Oberon lifted his head, his eyes meeting those of his mercurial queen. The High Queen stood not twenty paces from him, the crowd having parted to give her free access to his path, but she walked no further. Her skin was lily-white and shone with moonlight, but her eyes were the color of a churning sea. Her face wore an expression that Oberon had never seen before. “Husband.”
Fear. That was what it was called. In all the millennia that Oberon had been in existence, he could count with one hand the instances that that emotion had ever gripped him, more so his wife and queen. A shudder passed through him unwillingly as the reason for his wife’s arrival and the odd, heavy feeling that had descended on the whole kingdom suddenly came to light.
Curled on his tongue was a single name, the one being in all of the Above and Underground that held both their hearts in the palm of his hand. His stomach lurched as he met Titania’s eyes once more, watching as she gave him the slightest of nods.
“Jareth.”