Page 73 of Dark Sun (Wicked Lovely 6)

This is why Seth wanted me to walk away. To come to Faerie.

“My queen?” Tavish was at her side, as ever. And Siobhan was at her other side.

“I suspect they realized that we are holding Urian,” Aislinn said lightly.

“Son of the Summer and the Dark,” Tavish said, “I cannot fathom why they’d be concerned.”

Aislinn realized that her entire body glowed brighter than any but her own court could face, and there was no way to safely go to the park and negotiate when she was akin to a small star in that moment. “I expected Niall to let me handle this. He knew I was—”

“He knew you wereborrowingthe Hunt, Ash. He’s likely here to try to suggest that you’ve mis-stepped.” Chela seemingly materialized out of nothing, but after a startled moment, Aislinn realized that she’d simply been running faster than sight.

“Oh.” Aislinn tried to pull the heat back into her skin. How the Hunt would respond to such things was unclear.

But Chela lifted Aislinn’s glowing hand to her lips. Her breath was a welcome chill as she swore, “My fealty to Summer.”

“I know. You don’t need—”

“I fight, so you do not need to.” Chela turned Aislinn’s hand over and kissed her palm, searing her lips in the process, and then she was gone as quickly as she’d arrived.

Any guilt Aislinn had in the fact that she’d burned the other woman’s lips vanished under the comfort in having someone at her side.I’m not alone figuring this out.She had been when the courts were at the edge of war a few years ago. She’d had advisors, fighters, but she was ultimately the one making the decisions.

A queen without a consort.

More and more Aislinn wasn’t pleased with that reality, but she didn’t feel as alone as she watched the Hunt pour into the already ruined garden like a dark swarm. Hooves and talons ripped furrows in the earth. Growls and thuds punctuated the slivery sound of swords.

“My queen?” Tavish prompted.

“Mmmm?” Aislinn watched the crush from a window in the loft.

“Orders?” Siobhan asked.

“Stay here. There is no need for my court to fight. It’s a . . . statement that we do not.” Aislinn decided with a nod to herself. “Let the Hunt clarify their loyalty.”

“And the Winter?” Siobhan kept pace with her as Aislinn headed toward the balcony.

Thatwas another matter entirely. Aislinn had trusted Keenan, spoke freely to him and now he was here. In her home. He ought to know better. He ought to know that bringing the ice to this place, to this court, was not a thing to do lightly. He knew better than most how the Summer Court had suffered under the reign of Winter in the past centuries.

“Stay here,” Aislinn repeated as she stepped onto her balcony. “Fighters would be an acknowledgment of war. This is simply saber rattling.”

Then she stepped off the ledge and used sunlight to create a glowing staircase to descend into the fracas. It was showy, arrogant, and—as far as she was concerned—a statement that needed making.

The Winter King, the former Summer King, was trying to convince the Hunt to let him pass. In his rage, frost and snow were falling on Summer’s domain.

“I don’t recall a meeting on my schedule,” Aislinn said lightly as she walked down the remaining sunlit steps.

As she intended, Keenan turned to look at her. “Winter has a right to interrogate the prisoner. He’s a threat to—”

“My court.” Aislinn strode toward him, her every step melting the ice he’d dared to spread on her ground. “Mine, Keenan. My court. My prisoner. My relative, in fact. You dare to come here with this”—she gestured at the snowfall around him—“as if you have rightshere?”

“Now, Ash—”

She let out a growl. “Do you declare war on Summer? Invading my territory? What were you thinking?”

Plants exploded on either side of her, and the soil under her feet started to boil.

Louder, she repeated her question. “Do you declare war on Summer? Invading my territory? What were you thinking?”

Her voice resonated like she was the thunder in the clouds she was summoning to her bidding.

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