BETWEEN TWO LUNGS ─── the folk of the air

xxvii. REFLECTIONS.

        "What?" Allura gasped, her voice barely audible. "That's...that's impossible."

"Except it's not," Jude spoke softly, making sure her words were slow and clear. The disoriented girl needed to understand what she was saying, no matter how painful. "When Liriope died, your father and Oriana went out there to save her but...it was too late. So they did everything they could to save her child instead. Your father, he knew they were being watched. He sacrificed himself to the Ghost so that Oriana and the child could get away without being spotted."

The faerie exhaled slowly, her head spinning.

Dain's child was alive.

        Which could only mean one thing ━━━━━━ there was another Greenbriar in the bloodline.

"But...who?" Allura asked, already knowing the answer deep down.

"Oak."

         She felt her knees buckle. "Oak?"

Jude nodded, fear in her eyes.

       "And...Madoc knows this?" Allura's heart skips.

"That's why he took part in this whole coup. He wants Oak on the throne so he can take it for himself. Madoc loves Oak but he loves the power more. He's going to doublecross Balekin and put my little brother in harm. We can't let that happen, Allura," Jude begged, her grip tightening. "You understand? We can't let that happen. Your father died to protect my brother and I made a promise that I would never let anything bad happen to him. Child Kings don't last very long in Faerie. He's...he's just a kid."

     Allura nodded, her thoughts somewhere in the distance. "Okay, no Oak. Then who? Who do we put on the throne?"

"Madoc's too bloodthirsty," Jude reminds. "He will send us to war. And Balekin's too cruel. He hates mortals and he loves pain. If only we could...crown Oak and keep him spirited away from Faerie. Protected. Perhaps we take him back to the Mortal Realm and secure the throne for him until he comes of age."

       "But then who would take his place whilst he's gone?" Allura asks, puzzled.

Jude hesitates, her mortal nature getting the best of her. She had to pretend as though this plan was the first she'd thought of it. As though this scheme had been shared amongst the both of them. "Well, there is another Greenbriar we haven't thought of yet..."

Allura frowns. "Who? Cardan?"

"Cardan could work," Jude nods slowly, pretending as though this was the faerie's idea.

      "But....Cardan doesn't want to be High King," she replies unsurely. "You heard him. He wants to get away from the Court. He hates it, and he'd be awful on the throne. I mean, he's a drunk. And he's mean. And he's-"

"Well, what if Cardan wasn't the one ruling?" Jude sugggests. "What if we were?"

      The faerie stares, her lips wavering curiously. "But...how?"

The mortal only grins.