Fragile Eternity

“So Summer can grow stronger.”

“Yes.”

“And that’s meant to motivate me?” Donia laughed. “The Summer Court despised me for failing to be you. They weren’t there to comfort me when I tried to give him his court and failed…. Tell me, Ash, why should I care what goes on in your court?”

“Because you love Keenan, and he loves you, and we can have peace if you two sort out whatever you’re angry about this time.”

“You have no clue who your king truly is, do you?” Donia sounded bemused. “Even though your mother died to avoid being trapped in his court and you’ve lost your mortality for him, you’re still blinded. I’m not. What stands between us is his arrogance and…you, Ash.”

“I don’t want to be between you. I want Seth to be in my life, only Seth. If I could I’d still be mortal and…I wish you had been Summer Queen.”

“I know. It’s part of what keeps me from hating you.” Donia smiled, almost affectionately.

“I don’t love him,” Aisli

“I know that as well.”

“Then just be with him.”

“I won’t be your shield, Ash.” An edge of scorn threaded through Donia’s voice.

“My…?”

“You can’t hide behind me to make sense of whatever you two are trying to sort out.” Donia flexed her fingers almost absently, and hoarfrost crept over the walls. Crackling ice covered sconces and faded wallpaper.

“You two had plenty of problems before me.” Aisli

“We did.” Snowflakes floated gently to the ground around Donia. “But they were all based in him seeking you.”

“I didn’t ask for this.” Aisli

“Don’t dictate to me, Aisli

“I didn’t come here to fight you.” Her sunlight was a weak shield in the Winter Queen’s home. Her palace. Call it what she would, that’s what it truly was, her palace, her seat of power. And not where I should be.

“Maybe that was a mistake.” Donia’s fingertips were points of ice. “Summer began early this year because I allowed it.”

“And we appreciate that.”

Donia toyed with the ice in and on her hands, clicking the shards together. “Yet you come into my home as if you are stronger, as if what you want matters more, as if your court has a voice in my domain….”

Aisli

“Unreasonable? Because what Summer seeks must be a good idea?”

Aisli

“If I strike you, he will be furious, despite your insults.” Donia took a step forward. “What would he say? Would it keep him from coming to my door, dragging out this hell he puts us through? Would it put things as they should be?”

“I don’t know…as they ‘should be’? What does that mean?” Aisli

“This thing between us isn’t as simple as it was before you and I became regents. If we fight, our courts are in discord. My court wants that”—Donia caught her gaze and held it—“and I’ve thought about it. I’ve imagined it, driving this ice into your sunlit skin. I’ve thought about striking you. I would resolve this foolish attempt to pretend we’re all friends here.”

“Donia?” Aisli

“I like you. I remind myself of that often, but there are other factors….” The Winter Queen’s words faded away. Snow drifted around her feet. “The Summer Court is not welcome in my Winter.”

Despite the ice covering the walls, despite the chill in Donia’s voice, Aisli

“Yes.”

“Why should we—”

And Donia was beside her before the words could come out. She put a hand on the center of Aisli

Aisli

“Why should you listen to my desires?” Donia murmured. Fingers still red with Aisli

“You stabbed me.” Aisli

“It seemed prudent.” Donia’s expression was all too similar to the last Winter Queen’s: utterly unapologetic and unmoved by the horrific thing she’d just done.

“Keenan will—”

“Be angry. Yes, I know, but”—Donia sighed, an icy cloud of breath that made Aisli

Aisli

“No, I want you to stay away from me.” Donia handed her a lacy white handkerchief. “Don’t come back here until I invite you. Any of you.”

And with that, Evan came into the room to help Aisli

Chapter 14

Aisli

I am the Summer Queen. I am stronger than this.

It hurt, though. Donia had pierced skin and muscle, and those muscles moved with each step. There was no way to walk without pain. Each step made her want to cry.

That doesn’t mean they need to see it.

Faeries loitered in Donia’s yard; whisper-white Scrimshaw Sisters drifted over the snow like ghosts. A Hawthorn Girl perched in the boughs of an ice-draped oak. Her scarlet eyes glistened like frozen berries. Something with tattered wings sat beside her. A glaistig stood with her cloven feet in an old-fashioned gunfighter’s stance. They all watched Aisli

They heard.

In the moment when Donia had struck her, Aisli

I am not weak. I am not defeated.

Midway down the edge of the walk, Aisli

The rowan’s expression was disinterested; the watching faeries were equally nonplussed, but Aisli