"Cley, what's wrong, please tell me." Jareth pleaded while holding her. She sobbed harder and his shirt was starting to stick to his shoulder, but right now he didn't care. "Cley, you have to stop crying now and talk to me."
"I don't want to talk, I just want to be held right now." She chocked out between sobs. She wrapped her arms around him tighter and just cried harder. Jareth didn't know what to do so he just held her. He moved around and finally got her on his lap, cradling her like a child, for that's what she was right now, a hurt child. He stroked her hair and whispered in her ear it would be all right. She almost believed him. Almost. "Have you ever been attacked? Besides by that witch you were telling us about?" She looked up at him, almost willing him to tell her no, and she would never be attacked again.
He sighed, knowing he would hurt her in the end. "Yes, I have. When I was 15, I had been given a horse for my birthday. I loved that horse to no end. I brushed him everyday and watched him grow into a fine stallion. What I didn't know was that the man who ran the stable had his eye on me from the time I was 10. He told me, after he had raped me that he had wanted to do that for a long time." He flashed back to that day, talking as he remembered. "I just finished brushing Tonar and was putting the brush away when a shadow fell over me. I turned around and saw him there, watching me. I saw the look in his eyes and was afraid. The look said 'You are trapped, and mine' and I knew there was no way out. I won't go into the details, I can't go into the details, but I will say that I have been carrying scars on my souls for a long time. I couldn't sit for a week when he had finished with me, but he never touched me again."
Cleyandra has stopped crying when he had finished his story and was looking up at him in shock. Her mind was turning over with thoughts of a little boy, hurt and scared, and she wanted nothing more then to comfort him. With resolve in her mind, and a deep sorrow in her heart for the vows she would break, she kissed him, deep and full on the mouth, sliding her hands up into his hair and gripping it in her hands. She felt him tense then relax and pull her deeper into his arms, twisting her so she was straddling his hips.