A/N- Hi everyone, I am so sorry about how long it took to get this chapter up. I'm sure I don't need to go into detail about how hard things are at the minute. My inspiration took a hit while I worried about whether I still had a job or not. The answer is still unfortunately uncertain, but I didn't want to stop writing because it's something I love, and you all seem to like this story :-). As always thank you for the reviews and enjoy this new chapter!

Sarah bit her nails apprehensively and watched as Jareth paced up and down his office over and over again. He was muttering incoherently to himself, with the occasional "She's gone too far this time." and "The depths of her depravity never fail to amaze me." thrown in.

The last three days Sarah watched in awe as he had kept himself completely calm and composed as he dealt with the emergency of Toby being magically poisoned, and Scarlett practically running herself into the ground to save him. But nobody could keep their emotions locked up forever, and Sarah could see Jareth's rage was finally coming to the surface. Of course, lack of sleep and proper nutrition wasn't helping matters either.

After what felt like an eternity he finally stopped pacing, and with a heavy sigh, turned his back to Sarah. Jareth stayed perfectly still as he leaned against the wall and gazed out of the window, in deep contemplation. It was a beautiful sunny day in the Underground, and Sarah could hear the day-to-day noises of the Goblin City below as the inhabitants toddled about and did whatever it is that goblins do. It was such a pity that they couldn't enjoy the lovely weather, as unfortunately they were gathered here today to decide what path they were going to take to deal with Jareth's vindictive mother.

"Jareth?" Sarah asked softly, after a few minutes of inactivity from him. "Are you alright?"

"Does he look alright to you?" said the haughty voice of the person sitting parallel to her. "The King is very clearly under an enormous amount of stress."

Sarah narrowed her eyes and cursed inwardly to herself. The voice belonged to that of Eldridge, the most pretentious and arrogant person Sarah had ever had the displeasure of meeting. Eldridge was Jareth's Royal Advisor, much to Sarah's despair. He was a short, thin, red-haired man, whose face was permanently the same colour as his hair, because it seemed there was always something for him to get himself into a hullabaloo over.

Jareth turned back round towards the two of them, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose as if he were nursing a massive headache. "I'm fine, sweetheart." He said gently to her, forging a small smile. It was so like him to pretend he was ok to save Sarah of any worry. "Why don't you go and see if Toby and Scarlett are alright? You don't need to listen to all this talk about crime and punishment, you've already been through enough as it is."

Sarah's lips curled into a frown at that suggestion. She knew Jareth was just trying to spare her further stress, but she couldn't help feeling hurt that he was essentially telling her that her input wasn't needed.

"Yes, run along." Eldridge hissed goadingly at her, shooing her away with his hands. "His Majesty and I have important matters to discuss. None of which concern you."

Sarah let out a low, irritated growl. She had never met a person as rude and as condescending as this man. And she had come across some pretty ill-mannered and uncouth parents at her parent and teacher meetings.

"None that concern me?" Sarah shot him a disgusted glance. "In case you weren't aware, it was my brother who was put under a life-threatening curse!"

"Actually, it wasn't just your brother who was put in grave danger. If you recall-" Eldridge started, but was cut short by a very livid looking Jareth.

"That's enough." Jareth boomed, directing a rather cautionary death stare at Eldridge, who in turn didn't so much as flinch. Clearly Eldridge was about to reveal something that Jareth didn't want Sarah to know. "Now, getting back to the subject-"

"What did you mean by that?" Sarah asked bluntly, not caring that she was rudely interrupting Jareth. "About Toby not being the only person in danger?"

"You mean you haven't told her?" Eldridge raised his wispy eyebrows so high Sarah thought they may fly right off his forehead. "Why ever not, Sire?"

"Haven't told me what?" Sarah replied irately, through gritted teeth. She was getting utterly fed up of being treated like a child who needed to be shielded from the truth. "Jareth, what is going on? And tell me honestly."

There was a quiet minute while Jareth continued to shoot daggers at Eldridge. He sighed angrily as he pulled out the chair behind his desk and lowered himself down to take a seat.

"Well, I suppose I should tell you now, seeing as I have no choice." His voice was dripping with reluctance and annoyance.

"Sarah, Eldridge and I have been discussing what happened in great detail. We've both agreed that there may be a significant chance that Toby wasn't supposed to be the intended recipient of my mother's curse, like we first thought. As a matter of fact, I really don't think she had her sights set on Toby at all, he was just unfortunate enough to get tangled up in this whole ghastly affair. The true victim was supposed to be…well, you."

Sarah bit down hard on her bottom lip and tried to suppress the sickening feeling that was gurgling in her stomach. Instinctively, her hand flew to her baby bump to shield it protectively. It was one thing to plot against Sarah, but to try and kill her while she was pregnant with Nighra's grandchild was unfathomable. "But why would she do that when I'm carrying the child she so supposedly loves?" She cried out bitterly. "And if she wanted me dead, why didn't the curse take to me instead of Toby?"

Jareth exchanged a concerned glance with Eldridge before answering. "When Scarlett removed the concealment charm from my mother's ring, Merrick and I were able to study the curse that resided inside it. This particular curse only affects humans. It's why Scarlett, Merrick and I did not fall victim to it."

"So why didn't I fall victim to it then?" Sarah asked confusedly.

Eldridge scoffed loudly. "I think the answer to that is painfully obvious."

"Oh shut up, you pompous little man." Sarah shot at him angrily before she could stop herself. "How in the world do you expect me to know how curses work?"

"Thank you, Eldridge, I'll handle it. And don't speak to your future Queen in that manner." Jareth snapped as Eldridge rolled his eyes. "You know how the human immune system will naturally develop antibodies that will try and defend the body against whatever it sees as a threat?"

Sarah nodded, this is exactly what she taught her students about every day.

"Well, essentially a supernatural being will receive the same protection against any magical illnesses, including magical poisoning. This curse is deadly to humans, because of course they are not capable of producing antibodies to fight against it."

Sarah's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Ok, I understand that, but it still doesn't answer why it didn't affect me."

"You were made immune to the curse because you are pregnant with a fae child." Jareth continued. "The baby's magic effectively saved you. Now, here's the devious part of my mother's plan; she knew that while you carried my child that no harm would come to you. However, once you gave birth and lost the secondary immunity, then that curse would have struck you exactly like it did to Toby. And without Scarlett's elven abilities at hand, I would never have known the curse even existed. You would have died, Sarah. Our newborn baby and I would have been left without you and Toby."

She could only stare at him in horror. What a wicked, malevolent monster Nighra was. Sarah knew that she didn't like her but had no idea just how deep the High Queen's hatred for her actually ran.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, precious." Jareth's voice brought her out of her terrifying thoughts. "I didn't want you to suffer any more than you already have. I know that copious amounts of stress can harm a pregnancy."

"Which is exactly why we must declare war on the High King and Queen." Eldridge piped up, his face turning crimson as always. "Not only did Jareth's mother endanger you and your brother, but she put the royal babe at great risk as well."

"War?" Sarah couldn't keep the absolute shock out of her voice. "Now wait just a minute. You can't seriously be considering this?"

"She has left me no choice, Sarah." Jareth said angrily, his fists slamming down onto his wooden desk with a loud thud that rang through the room. "Don't you understand the severity of the crimes my mother has committed? I could have lost my entire family. Eldridge is correct, I must declare war on their kingdom. My mother must pay for what she has done."

"But, Jareth, your father hasn't done anything wrong, we don't even know if he is aware of what's happened." Sarah said anxiously. "Listen to yourself, this is a ridiculous idea and you know it is. You don't even mean it, you're just talking out of anger."

A small, humourless laugh escaped Eldridge's lips as he sneered over at her. "That may be due to the fact that His Majesty is angry, and very much so."

Sarah leaned back into her chair feeling mixed up. She had never seen Jareth so bloodthirsty before. As validated as his feelings were, Sarah did not like it. She was annoyed as hell at Nighra too. Damnit, nobody wanted the woman's head on a plate more than her, and of course she deserved to suffer. But Sarah knew that what Eldridge was proposing was not the answer.

"Don't you think we have enough to deal with?" She asked exasperatingly. "We have two ill and exhausted teenagers upstairs. Toby's still in a coma for crying out loud." Sarah folded her arms, feeling very frustrated indeed. "Do you want your daughter to grow up and learn that her father declared war on her own family when her grandfather was completely innocent? How do you imagine she would feel then? There has to be a better way."

"Emotions should never obstruct the way of logic." Eldridge barked impertinently at her. "The King is at perfect liberty to declare war."

Sarah groaned uneasily. "Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should. Think of the destruction that will ensue, all the innocent lives that will be lost."

Sarah reached across Jareth's desk and took his hands into her own. She searched his face for a sign, any indication of the compassion she knew he had buried somewhere deep within his heart. Under normal circumstances Jareth would never contemplate such a dire decision with so little regard to the consequences. He was a kind man, and when bringing up Toby he always taught him that violence was never the answer.

"Please, Jareth. Don't do this. Don't let your mother's spite turn you into something you're not. This isn't you."

After a tense minute, Jareth's frosty cold gaze melted away, and a redundant sigh left his lips. His eyes began to slowly glow with the benevolence that they usually held. "Sarah, I-"

Knock, knock, knock.

The three of them groaned at the interruption and turned their heads towards the door. "Come in." Jareth uttered, his voice full of stress.

The door opened and in strode the tall, dark-haired healer that was Merrick. "Sorry to disturb you, your Majesty." His rough voice bounced round the walls of Jareth's office. "But I thought you'd be interested to know that the boy has awakened."

Merrick had to practically dive out of the way, lest he be knocked over by a hasty Sarah and her pregnant belly.

Sarah couldn't stop her tears from flowing when she saw her little brother conscious and smiling at her as she approached his bed. Toby was alive! He had survived the magical poisoning! He was still quite weak, but Sarah came to the conclusion that that was only to be expected after enduring a nasty, life-draining curse.

"Oh, Toby!" Sarah cried emotionally, throwing her arms around him and possibly squeezing all the air out of him. "You're ok! You're actually ok!"

"Well, I will be as soon as you stop crushing my lungs." He croaked jokingly.

"I've told him what happened to him." Merrick growled from the end of his bed as Sarah released Toby from her death grip. She was both shocked and delighted in equal measures. "About the curse and how Scarlett saved him."

"How are you feeling?" Sarah asked, looking down at him and sniffing back her tears.

Toby smiled frailly up at her and Sarah felt her heart soar with joy. A few days ago she didn't even know if Toby would be alive or dead. "Meh, I've had better days." He mumbled light-heartedly. "Mind you, it's no worse than the time I jumped from the roof onto the trampoline and took a one-way trip into our neighbour's rose bushes."

Sarah tittered at his jokey nature. Trust Toby to make light of a bad situation. Sarah knew he hid his pain behind humour as to not upset the people he loved.

"This is truly astounding." Jareth said, relief pouring from his voice. "Merrick, where is Scarlett? She should be here celebrating with us. After all it is she who made Toby's survival possible."

"I'll go get her, Sire." He said as he stalked out of the room and down the corridor. Sarah could imagine the look of pure happiness on Scarlett's face when she saw that Toby was alive and well. She had proven that she truly did love Toby, and Sarah was happy that her little brother had someone in his life who adored him and would do anything to protect him.

"Are you sure you're alright, Toby." Jareth asked caringly. "Can we get you anything? A drink of water perhaps?"

One wave of his hand and a glass of water appeared on Toby's bedside table.

"Thank you, Jareth. I'm ok though." Toby replied gratefully. "I just have one question to ask you."

"Anything, my dear boy." Jareth replied with sincerity, he couldn't stop the smile from plastering his face. "Ask away."

Toby took in a deep breath and a confused expression moulded onto his face.

"Who exactly is this Scarlett you speak off?"