A/N (10/14/11): Cleaned up story format and removed all author's notes. I felt they were clogging the chapters.

Sunburst was the winner of the fanfiction category of the 2010 Marr Awards.

Disclaimer (for entire story): Wicked Lovely is the property of Melissa Marr; Sarai (the narrator) and Tiyana (appears in later chapters) are of my creation and are not canon characters.


I wasn't like the other Summer Girls. I loved Keenan, but I wasn't in love with-as infatuated with-him as they were. Once upon a time I had been, but my affection for Keenan-the Summer King-had long since waned. Yet I remained with him, remained with the Summer Court, because I had nowhere else to go. And I still loved Keenan.

Keenan was spending less time with us because he now had his precious Summer Queen, Aislinn, to keep happy. All of the Summer Girls, including me, were at least a little jealous of Keenan's affection for Aislinn. But we dealed with it, because our new queen brought life to our court. With Aislinn's prescence we-the Summer Girls-were now able to spend time away from Keenan without fear of just wilting away. Yet, most of the Summer Girls still tried to cling to Keenan, but I didn't.

I took this opportunity to occasionally wander away from the Summer Court, from my king. He wouldn't notice, anyways. No one would notice. I wasn't one of the more popular Summer Girls; I was one of the ones that faded away into the background. Keenan used to notice me, to stroke my hair and say sweet things to me, but since Aislinn came along, he didn't see me. Nobody every saw me anymore.

I wasn't as happy as I once had been.

I never wandered too far away from the Summer Court, though sometimes I ventured into the mortal city. I always remained invisible, though. I wanted to avoid the mortals. A mortal was what had taken my king away. I would go to the mortals' park and sit on the grass in a secluded place, just listening to the breeze and feeling the sunshine on my cheeks.

I felt at home there. I felt wanted there.