And as they stared, a vast rage suddenly devoured Ariana. As that terrible sensation seized her, the energy of her magical aura unfurled inside her. Flowing out of her as it heaved from her spine, wings of rainbow-darkness seared out in the bright day, slit with furious waves of silver and gold as she churned. But in those depths were the emptiness of the void also, black as death as Ariana held her head high.
Seething with a righteous fury.
As her rainbow-dark aura roared, devouring the day, she saw Lucca and Alleno startle back. The Brightwatch all around her cringed back with wide eyes also – raising their spears with fear and readiness now. Ariana knew her aura looked like Quinn’s, or even worse as it blew furiously around her, but she didn’t care. As a strange wrath she had never felt before roared inside her, Ariana felt those massive wings surge. And as they devoured the promenade in a nasty oil-slick darkness of pure fury now, she stared the Brightwatch Commander down, then Lucca.
“This was a setup.” She spoke with a soft snarl, though something about her magic caused her voice to sound like thunder in the promenade as she roiled with fury. “Your father set me up. And you took me right into his trap.”
“Ariana, I didn’t—” Lucca protested with wide eyes now, but with a furious cutting motion, Ariana made a sound in the bright day like a cracking whip – a whip of pure fury as she burned with rage.
“You know what? Save it.” She seethed at Lucca as her words thundered to every ear now, making noblefae and Brightwatch both shrink back. “You want me to be Summer Fae, Lucca, but am I really? Look at them – they’re terrified of me! You say I’m still one of you, but now that I’m starting to get power, is it Fae power or a Vampire’s, or both – or neither? And if I’m not even really Summer Fae, then how can I be subject to Summer Fae laws? Seems to me, this whole damn thing is a circus, orchestrated by your King to demonstrate power over people he has no jurisdiction over. I’m not one of you; not because of anything I did, just because some damn Vampire decided to bite me but not finish the job. I stayed up all last night studying your laws to prepare for today. But in all those cases and rulings, something became clear to me – they were all Summer Fae. And I’m… just not.”
As Ariana finished speaking, a deep hush settled through the promenade. All around, Summer Fae nobles and guardsman stared with wide eyes and mouths open, astounded that Ariana had spoken so plainly and boldly before her Prince. What had come out of her mouth wasn’t anything planned; as Ariana’s gaze pinned Lucca, she saw him stare at her with astonishment as his sky blue eyes blazed, his lips fallen open in shock.
But the next moment, his eyes deepened to an astounded pleasure as his gaze shifted – watching the Summer Fae Magistros in their dark blue robes still back up on the palace steps, and Ariana saw why. Pushing through the Brightwatch, they were frowning thoughtfully now as they regarded her, their gazes flicking to each other with almost imperceptible nods. Something was happening among the Magistros as Ariana watched them glance at their silver-haired leader, then each other. And as she saw them silently moving their lips, she realized they were deliberating mind-to-mind so their words were not heard by the rest of the Fae on the promenade.
At last, the head Magistro looked to Ariana, pinning her with a fierce dark blue gaze. “Though your words were not given in the Courthall today, we Magistros of the High Court of the Summer Fae have heard what we consider your opening statements,faeadonnaAriana Summers – and they have given us much thought. As a Dark Fae, it is true your case is unique; long ago, Dark Fae came from every Lineage of Fae, and had their own societies and laws. You, however, have no people now to educate you in Dark Fae ways after the War of Rome, or help you control your rising magic as it blossoms. In light of this knowledge, we call for a Court Recess, to adjourn to a private hall and hear your case in detail. As you have technically committed no crimes against the Summer Fae—”
But even as the head Magistro spoke, a massive presence suddenly strode down the steps of the palace. Moving in a wake of power so thick it swamped the promenade with shimmering rainbows and vicious flashes of pure gold magic, a man wearing gold silk in a militaristic cut with military gold braid and details thundered down the marble steps. Slender and tall with strong shoulders and a lean waist, his aura was enormous as it smote the promenade, warlike; his furious eyes were entirely gold as they pinned Ariana. Though his hair was the color of summer wheat, there was nothing pastoral about this tall, well-built conqueror as he strode through the Brightwatch, his boiling wrath making Ariana shake like a leaf in a hurricane.
As the Summer Fae King’s aura expanded in massive wings of pure golden light – seething through the promenade.
“There will be no adjournment.” King Archivolio Bellari stated bluntly as his furious gaze pinned his son Lucca, then fixed upon the Magistros. “If Ariana Summers asserts she is not one of us, then she shall be tried as an Enemy of the State. As a Dark Fae of the Forbidden Lineages, she already works her Vampiric mind-wiles upon this Court, trying to win our mercy. She offends this Court with her uncouth human-raised words and her slinking, Dark Fae manipulations. We have heard enough; there will be no trial for her amnesty. Guards! Seize her! The Dark Fae Ariana Summers will not leave this Court alive today. And that is final.”
And just like that, Ariana’s hopes for a life in the Light were shattered – as all around, the guards of the Brightwatch hemmed her in with their vicious silver-gold spears. As Commander Alterri beamed with pleasure and Prince Lucca and Alleno snarled at her side, the Summer Fae King stared down at Ariana from his wrathful height.
And turned his back – flicking his fingers to his Commander to take her.
There had been no trial. There had been no proper hearing of her case, and there wasn’t ever going to be. And now Ariana was surrounded by Brightwatch as she stood in her Fae silk gown with her heart hammering on the promenade and fear careening through her veins. Though her aura had been furious before, it shuddered in shock now as she realized the awful truth about the Summer Fae King.
That he truly was a tyrant and would not let even his own son gainsay his power.
But as Lucca and Alleno corralled Ariana behind them now, both drawing shining blades and seething with a massive snap of power in the day, Ariana knew she was dead, no matter how they tried to protect her. She couldn’t fly with her magic like Lucca; she didn’t know how to fight with her power like Alleno. She couldn’t turn into a beast of Night to rage like Quinn or surge into black smoke like a Revenant and escape to the blue sky above.
And so Ariana found herself trapped as shocked cries came from all around the promenade; not the least of which was Prince Lucca’s roar of outrage and challenge at his father. As more than a hundred Brightwatch in shining uniforms leveled ornate silver-gold spears at Ariana now, searing with sigils flaring hot with red-gold magic to take her, she believed Lucca hadn’t known about this. But as Ariana’s pulse pounded, her heart hammering hard as adrenaline coursed all through her and her massive rainbow-dark wings suddenly shot wide, she did the only thing she could think of.
She screamed.
It wasn’t a scream of fear that left her mouth as the Brightwatch hemmed her in, it was one of outrage. Just as had happened when the Vampire Revenant had tried to take her in the Pitti Palace, all of a sudden, all the wrath Ariana felt at this cruel, inhumane treatment came pouring out of her mouth as her body bent like a bow, releasing the full might of her fury upon her captors.
It was a sound unlike anything she had ever made or even heard before; screeching from her lips and entire body like a harpy in mid-dive or a symphony of bells all being hammered out of tune. As that sound exploded from her lungs, it was suddenly blasting through the promenade; like all the suns and the void of the universe both blazed inside her, all of that vicious light-darkness came searing out as her utterance hammered the Brightwatch back in a tremendous ring.
Producing a shockwave that slammed through the promenade, it was the most wrathful thing Ariana had ever heard; and as it left her, she felt a ripping pain tear through her fingers. Her hands had grown long silver-gold talons; and as she ripped one hand through the air, just the power of her swipe sent six Brightwatch flying back to smack into the marble steps of the palace.
But even as that furious, massive magic roared through Ariana, it was gone. Just as had happened fighting the Revenant, she was not able to hold onto that power as it ripped through her. It was wild, uncontrolled as it left her body – and wild magic had its cost. One moment, she was roaring and vicious, and the next she was sagging.
Everything spent inside her as she collapsed.
As Alleno snarled in to face off with the Brightwatch, Lucca scooped Ariana quickly into his arms. He was like a man possessed as he roared at Alleno to hold the Brightwatch off, then heaved up so fast through the air that Ariana felt her stomach drop out beneath her. Fear smote her for Alleno as she gasped in Lucca’s arms; but far below she saw him hold his own against the Brightwatch with his long silver-gold knives. As Prince Lucca surged away like a dart on massive wings of magic, he was tense with intent, blazing though the hot noon sky. And Ariana saw why: behind, thirty Brightwatch pursued him and Ariana.
Flying hard over the Fae city of Florence.
CHAPTER 23 – SUNSET
Flashing through the tight alleys and forested parklands of Florence like a hawk, Lucca was a maelstrom of intent as he got Ariana away from the Palace of Light, fast. Ariana clung to him as they flew, her power surging and ebbing in waves of hot sunlight and cold darkness. She’d expended too much energy facing off with the Brightwatch, and she couldn’t get a grip on her magic or body now. As she shuddered in Lucca’s arms like the worst flu she’d ever had, he dove around a marble building like a mausoleum on the outskirts of the city then hit the ground running with Ariana still in his arms. As he heaved his wings of light, they slammed a bolt of power at a stone gargoyle statue flanking the mausoleum’s entrance, and Ariana saw a lance of pure sunlight hit it.
As an underground passage opened up behind the gargoyle in a shimmer of magic – which Lucca barreled into, closing the passage behind by slapping the stone hard with his wings again.
Heaving deep breaths in the darkness, Lucca staggered to a stop, letting Ariana slide down his body though he kept her clutched close. His heartbeat was so fast that she honestly thought he might have a heart attack from how quickly he’d escaped his father’s Brightwatch. But in his last few twists and turns through the city, he’d gotten ahead of them, and Ariana had not seen pursuit as they made it to the mausoleum. As Lucca shuddered with fatigue, listening intently for sounds beyond the gargoyle door, Ariana waited with him for a tense minute, her own heart thundering in the darkness as she fought her hot and cold shivers. But the only sound was an empty silence like the grave, and heaving a hard breath, Lucca nuzzled his nose and lips at Ariana’s cheek in the darkness.
