Aislinn stormed into the loft, hurricane like winds following in her wake as her eyes blazed with the heat of the Sahara. She didn't stop until the doors to Keenan's study flew open and she stomped in. He looked up from his desk, having the audacity to appear shocked at her tempestuous entry.
"What the hell, Keenan!?" she shouted as she came to a stop, the wind still whirling around her, knocking over plants around the room and pulling papers on his desk up into the whirlwind. He stood and started towards her, his hands out.
"I told you! I only did it to make you happy!" he shouted over the wind and crack of thunder that reverberated through the room.
"It was completely unfair to Maeve! Have you learned nothing?!" Aislinn shouted. "She should be allowed to make her own choices regarding her life!"
"But don't you want her here with us?" he asked. "Wouldn't that make you happy?"
"Enough with this stupid, making me happy shit! What would make me happy is that Maeve's happy!" Aislinn returned, a blast of heat shooting out of her and towards Keenan. "And if that means she chooses the Dark Court, then so be it!"
Keenan didn't respond at first, only stared at her in shock.
Surely she didn't mean it. That she would rather her cousin - her family and blood - join the Dark Court over the Summer Court. Didn't she care about Maeve's safety? Had Aislinn already forgotten what had happened to her friend, the human Leslie? She had been furious and upset once she had realized what was going on. That she was being used by Irial. Who's to say the same thing didn't happen to Maeve?
Why else would Niall be so interested in her?
Keenan was positive it had nothing to do with what was good for Maeve and everything to do with some sort of underhanded plan.
Perhaps he was planning to use her to cow Aislinn into submission. To hold it over them and temper the Summer Court's power. That sounded more like Niall. He had forced Aislinn on her knees before him only to deny her information on Seth for his own sick pleasure.
The Dark Court couldn't be trusted.
Not to mention, what would this do to the tentative peace and balance between the two courts? Maeve was only half-faery, but still. Any increase in the Dark Court's numbers needed to be watched. And she would only retain her humanity for so long.
"Why would you want that for her?" he asked, feeling his own anger starting to whirl. His own storm poured out of him and clashed with hers. "We both know that she won't be safe with Niall. You know what he's capable of."
"Oh, don't even go there, Keenan. You told him to get close to Leslie," Aislinn retorted. "You weren't completely innocent then, and you're certainly not this time." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You fucking gave her faery wine! Without telling her what it does!"
"But she's not even completely human!" Keenan shouted back. "And she knows that! Has known it her whole life!"
"Exactly! She should get to decide what world she wants to be in!" Aislinn shouted, her hair whipping around her. "She's had it hard enough, Keenan. Too many things have happened out of her control. She should at least get to decide this!"
The two Summer monarchs glared at each other, both of them seething as the storm continued to rage in the study around them.
"You honestly think that being with Niall - joining the Dark Court - that's what is best for her? After what happened to Leslie?" he asked, his voice low.
Aislinn's anger intensified and poured out in an arid desert wind. Yes, it was a low blow, but it was the truth.
"This is different," she said. "Maeve knows what she's getting into. Hell, her father was part of the Dark Court, whoever he was."
YOU ARE READING
Embracing the Dark
Fanfiction(Wicked Lovely Fanfic) Maeve Byrne has always known she wasn't completely human. It's the reason she could always see the faeries that inhabited Huntsdale. But she's also never told a soul what she was or what she could see. Her mother, for all her...
