Jurdan in the Mortal World

...Why Would You...?

And never, in a million years, will I tell them my story."

I tear my hand out of his grasp and briefly touch it to his cheek. "I'm not you. And I will tell them my story, because I am not that girl anymore. I am not the girl with the dreams. The one that was lying to herself, the one that knew she could never belong and hated it. 

I've made peace with my past, and I'm okay."

"I love the melodramatics, but the army is coming," The Bomb drawls from a nearby tree. 

And she's right. I can see the silhouettes of the rebel Faerie, coming, coming, coming. Oriana pales next to me.

"What has he done," she breathes.

"He has found a way to turn against his said daughter, the daughter of which parents were killed by him." Oriana has heard the story a thousand times, but the army hasn't. 

Speaking of which, they're coming closer, inching forward, until I can see Bryern's face and the green that all of them are wearing. 

Cardan gives me a head tilt, silently telling me that he could create a huge sinkhole in the land and bury them alive. But these are Elfhame's Fae. Not just Elfhame's, but mine, I realize.

I step forward with Cardan, meeting Bryern. I don't know the story of why we've been tricked, how Madoc was ready to give up Oriana to take power. But Bryern, seeing Oriana seated behind me, shows no surprise.

I look back, and automatically feel sick. Our army is dwarfed by the amount of rebels on Bryern's side. If we were to go out in full battle, we'd lose in a heartbeat. 

This is my only chance.

I start out with my voice feather-soft. "If you'd excuse me, before you hurt and kill your own family, I have a story to tell."

Bryern laughs. "Let's hear it before we raze you down to the ground." The army behind him snickers with each word, and my face flushes, with not just anger, but embarrassment. 

I close my eyes. "Madoc murdered my parents before I was ten."

This brings a bout of murmuring to both sides of the battle. "He then took me, as a mortal child, and brought me to Elfhame. I never belonged. I was a mortal in the Faerie lands..."

And on and on I go, about my anger towards everyone, towards everything, and the day I realized that I couldn't live as a mortal, and adopted a Faerie heart. About the day I started to dream of being a knight, a soldier. The day Cardan drowned me in the river, and about Taryn, and about everything else.

Abut the day I fell from the rafters, slipping in my own blood, and could only see Cardan's furious face before I passed out. About the months spent in the sea, and about Cardan's betrayal.

How useless I felt when I realized it was supposed to be a joke. I told them everything, poured my heart out.

A story of a mortal girl, born in the Faerie lands, who sought power and knighthood and discovered something completely new.

I told them everything, and meant every bit of it.

Bryern was clearly not expecting it. His face paled, then turned a ruddy shade. But the army was listening, listening to their High Queen as she revealed all of her weaknesses, all of her secrets and her lies.

And they were fascinated. 

I finished my story. For a minute, there was silence. Utter silence. Then Bryern laughed. It was not a forced laugh, or a chuckle. It was a guffaw. 

"You-just," pant, "told-told us all," pant, "your-your weaknesses." He keeps laughing, and laughs harder when he realizes the army isn't laughing with him.

"And you all believe the sob story she just laid out for you!" He snorts, pointing at the army. But one of them steps out.

It's a female, her features sharp and unforgiving. Her skin is light blue, and her inky black hair is braided tight around her head. She's dressed in plates of metal and sleeves of black, all plain and not embroidered. 

"Your weakness is not in your past, but in your fear of it. Can you not see, she clearly doesn't care about her past anymore? She is not afraid of it, and is not embarrassed to see people make fun of it. She does not care." She gestures towards me, and slowly, ever so slowly, walks over to our side.

She gives me a curt nod. All the other soldiers start to mutter nervously.

I'm stunned. I didn't think this would work. Of course not. How could it? It is a story from a High Queen that they couldn't care less about. So what is this Faerie doing here? Did my story really matter to her? 

Then one more Faerie joins her, a male this time, with completely white skin and light purple eyes. When Bryern spots him walking over, he pales.

"Kere," he breathes. "What are you doing?"

"I am doing what I think is right. Farewell, friend." He lifts a hand and waves, a smile playing upon his lips. 

There are minutes of terse silence. No one else comes for the queen they know nothing about, the mortal queen that should not have been anything. No wonder. We're about to die today.

"Now." When the words leave Kere's lips, the army charges. 

But not towards us. 

Towards Bryern. 

They take him and tie him up with rope, kicking and struggling for an escape.

My mouth falls open. What the hell? My head is pounding for a reason, an excuse. Maybe they want to bargain with him. That would be a Faerie thing to do. There is no way that they would actually believe my story, much less like it and decide to work under me.

One glance at Cardan's face tells me he's thinking the same. But they're here, and Bryern looks at me with complete fury in his eyes.

I still don't understand. Something is missing. A crucial bit of information is missing, and I can't tell what it is. I rack my brain for clues.

The marriage ring. The utter unimportance of Oriana. The fact that Bryern is willing to take over for Madoc. What is it? 

As if Bryern can sense my agony, he sends me a grin. "Want to know why?" he breathes, eyes scalding hot.

"Yes."

"Tell your army to unhand me."

"Unhand him." They leave him in the mud, filthy and tied up. Yet he has the upper hand. He decides whether to take it or not.

He doesn't. He doesn't bargain. He doesn't beat his way around the bush. "I don't care about Elfhame. But Madoc does, and he wants power. So I'm guessing you're wondering why I decided to work with him, and why Oriana was of no importance to him. Well guess what."

I say nothing. 

"We're lovers."

The words take a minute to sink in. The Bomb and The Roach, playing among the shadows, are as shocked as I am.

Cardan is shocked. The army is shocked. The ground trembles for a second, then settles.

But as soon as the words make their way into my head, everything clicks. Madoc was setting us up. Hitting us where we weren't ever looking. We never thought Oriana would be anything less than beloved to Madoc.

He tricked us, and we fell for it. He tricked me, and I fell for it.

Again.

The wedding ring. Proof he didn't care. Of course Bryern would be willing to do things for his lover. And Oriana...Madoc wouldn't spare her another glance.

When I look at her, her face is sallow, drained of any blood. Her eyes empty.

He tricked me. Again.

(A/N: weren't expecting that, were you? so...this story took a weird turn ._. but i thought it'd be a cool idea, so leave me alone)