Page 64 of Dark Sun (Wicked Lovely 6)

“It’s perfect.” Chela stepped outside, hands holding the branches lightly. “Could use a few flowers, but aside from that, it’s perfect.”

With a wave of her hand, Aislinn pulled the deep red clematis blossoms and green vines upward until they were here at the top of the building. Silently, she summoned them to wrap around the branches, as if the living balcony was a trellis. In the next few moments, the Hound was surrounded by a bower of blossoms.

“Exactly like that.” Chela glanced over her shoulder at Aislinn. “You are kinder to us than the Dark was. They acted as if the Hunt was still Gabriel’s, as if nothing had changed. Irial sometimes called me ‘Gabe’ as if I was the same person, as ifIhad been his companion for all these centuries. I was not. I was the second in command, the one who managed the Hunt when Gabe and Iri went off on their travels. I was the one who kept things steady when Gabe was managing the Dark King’s moods over whichever lover had spurned him.”

Aislinn stared at her, realizing again that there were parts of the fey’s near-eternal lives that she simply couldn’t fathom.

“That washiscourt of choice. I am the Gabriela, and the Hunt is shaped at my will now.” Chela looked vaguely terrifying, as if the fear that roiled inside the Hunt was something she could summon. “I will set my path, just as he set his, and to do that, I will live here with your flowers and your hunger for blood. It is not enough to take the lead. I want to state my independence from the past, Ash. I want to claim power.”

Andthatwas something Aislinn understood completely.

“So let the Dark come. Let Winter come. I give you my allegiance, Summer Queen. And woe to anyone who thinks they can question the choices of the Gabriela.” Chela’s voice was growing louder, and from the park, the Hunt started seething toward the building.

Her words were a growl as she yelled, “We make our homehere.”

The building shook as they filled it with their thunder and fear and hunger. And Aislinn pulled earth and rock to buttress the shaking walls. She would shelter them, and they would be the force of her will in the world.

“To power,” Aislinn said quietly. She opened a bottle of Summer Wine she’d left on the kitchen counter. “To our alliance.”

Chela watched her pour wine into a glass, but instead of accepting the glass, the Hound took the bottle. She clinked it gently against the glass Aislinn was holding and added, “To power. To our alliance. And to taking what we want when the time is right.”

Aislinn felt her cheeks burn at the layers of meaning there, but she echoed, “To taking what we want.”

And she watched Chela drink sunlit wine as if she had always been a part of Summer. Had her vow been untrue, that wine would not leave the Hound with the wide grin now on her lips.

“To a beautiful Summer,” Chela added then.

And this time, Aislinn did not blush.

There would be consequences, but in this moment, the Summer Queen found that she didn’t care at all. She had expanded Summer’s land, expanded her power, and a deadly, beautiful woman was sharing summer wine with her.

So what if the other courts objected?

ChapterTwenty-Eight

Katherine

“This is a terrible idea,” Katherine said again. She looked down at the world, swallowing against the twist in her stomach. She had expected to be somewhere with Urian tonight, maybe an indulgent hotel where they would order room service and spend the night in silk sheets or whatever luxury hotels were like. She honestly wasn’t even sure—but that was what she planned to figure out tonight.

Not how to face a faery queen or ride a dragonish creature. This felt like a fever dream or nightmare, not the happy fantasy she’d fully intended to enjoy that night.

The shape-of-creature that Callisto was right now said nothing. She made a growling grumbling noise a few times, but that wasn’t exactly a conversation. Honestly, going to Faerie was theonlyidea that made any sort of sense.

What else was there to do?

Katherine had been pondering the options as Callisto flew—but there weren’t many choices. Katherine couldn’t go home and risk the Hunt coming for her mother and aunt. She couldn’t go up against them by herself and have any real hope of rescuing Urian. And honestly, she couldn’t just try to hide. No one could hide from the Hunt.

So that left going to Faerie.

The mere thought of it made Katherine want to puke. Who went to the place where their sort was imprisoned? Who willingly chose the path she was on?

A lovesick fool, that’s who.

The thought of abandoning Urian wasn’t even worth considering. She hadn’t ever believed in love at first sight, or soulmates, but he was hers. She knew that as surely as she knew that he’d come for her if she’d been taken by the Hunt.

The only female gancanagh.

Maybe it was why he loved her. Maybe she loved him, in part, because he was agancanagh. Thewhyof the thing didn’t matter. Love was love, and regardless of what “caused” it, love was worth risks.

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