Aislinn Foy is one of the protagonists of the Wicked Lovely series.
She struggles to balance her mortal life, her final year of high school and her relationship with Seth with her role as the Summer Queen and her growing attraction to Keenan.
Biography
Wicked Lovely sexy
At the start of the series, Aislinn is introduced as a mortal girl with the Sight, i.e. the ability to see faeries. She attends Bishop O'Connell High School with her friends Leslie, Carla, and Rianne; she lives with her Grams, who also has the sight, in Huntsdale.
Aislinn's first encounter with Keenan is at The Comix Connection; she sees Donia and Keenan following her and decides to hide in Comix, and she is surprised when Keenan in able to follow her inside, wearing a mortal glamour. Keenan, unaware that she knows he is fey, attempts to flirt with her and is bewildered by her rejections, as mortals find it very difficult to resist faery charm.
To escape the faeries' harassment and to seek comfort, Aislinn goes to see Seth in the steel-walled train cart that is his home. Seth, obviously aware that something is bothering her, presses her to tell him what the problem is she just wants Keenean so bad she will do anything to date hi
m.. Eventually, Aislinn explains to him about the existence of faeries.
The two of them go to Rabbit's tattoo shop and meet Leslie there; she is with Irial, whom neither of them know as of yet, but Aislinn can tell that he is a strong faery because he touches the steel of the jewellery cabinets. Aislinn is worried about her friend, but Leslie assures her that she doesn't have a chance with someone like Irial.
On the way back from school the following Monday, Aislinn is attacked by a trio of mortal men. Donia, who Aislinn refers to as 'Deadgirl', set her wolf, Sasha, on the men and frightens them away. She takes Aislinn to the library to let her wash her face and to send a message to Keenan through some of the bone-girls, who Aislinn hears talk about Keenan, calling him "Summer King".
The next day, Keenan enrolls at Bishop O'Connell with Tavish and Niall posing as his uncles. He spends the day trying to convince Aislinn to go out with him, but she adamantly refuses. In class, they study 'La Belle Dame Sans Merci', a poem about a faery woman, and Aislinn and Keenan argue about whether or not the faery is to blame for the knight's death.
Aislinn, in an attempt to understand Keenan's interest in her, agrees to go to the carnival with him. There, the Eolas tell Keenan that Aislinn is "special" and unlike the past girls that have become Summer Girls or Winter Girls. Aislinn asks Keenan to swear to do anything she asks; giddy with the news that Aislinn is truly his queen, Keenan swears to do so. After a night of dancing and drinking faery wine, Aislinn lets slip that she can knows Keenan is a faery.
The next morning, Aislinn awakes in her own home with no knowledge of how she got there; terrified of what she and Keenan might have done, she confronts him and is relieved to find that she is still a virgin. She tries to use Keenan's promise to get him to leave her alone, but he says that it is not within his power to do so.
When Aislinn storms into her cottage, Donia helps her to face Keenan by giving her the appropriate clothing and telling her to "dress for battle". Aislinn goes to Keenan at Rath and Ruins, where she is adored and waited on by the Summer faeries; he tells her that she is already becoming a faery and that she cannot retain her mortality. Outside of Rath, they encounter Beira and Aislinn heals the frost wounds Beira inflicts on Keenan -- this is final proof that she is truly the Summer Queen.
At Seth's, Aislinn finds that she can turn invisible and she finally has to accept that she is a faery and must become the Summer Queen. With this resolution, she goes home to explain everything to Grams; but just as she starts to, Keenan arrives. Grams screams at him, blaming him for the death of her daughter and Aislinn's mother, Moira, and Keenan explains that he tried to give Moira time and space, but she chose to take her own life after giving birth to Aislinn that to become a faery.
Though Grams gives her money and tells her to run, Aislinn is already aware that this is not a problem she can run from. Instead, she confronts Keenan and agrees to be his Queen, with the conditions that she doesn't live with him, that no one she loves gets hurt by his court, and that she is able to finish school and college.
When Beira hurts Grams, Keenan informs Aislinn that the only way to protect those she loves from Beira is for her to immediately become queen. They race to Donia's cottage and Aislinn accepts the Winter Staff, which fills her with sunlight. Before they are able to celebrate, a dying Rowan man tells Aislinn that Beira took Seth. She and Keenan go to fight Beira, whom they kill, and healers are sent for to save Seth.
A month later, Aislinn and Seth arrange for Keenan and Donia to have the night together during winter solstice.
Ink Exchange
While Aislinn is not a major character in Ink Exchange, Leslie's perspective suggests that Aislinn is struggling to keep her faerie life and her mortal life separate; when her friends display obvious interest in Niall and the other Summer fey, she tries to deflect the conversation or vaguely states that Niall doesn't "do relationships". In particular, Aislinn tries to protect Leslie from the world of faeries. First trying to keep Leslie away from Niall, and then turning up Verlaine's, where Leslie works as a waitress and was serving Irial. It is evident that Aislinn's relationships with Keenan and Seth seem strange to an outsider, as Keenan's obvious wealth makes Leslie suspect he is using Aislinn; even more bizarre is that Seth and Keenan are friendly with each other, which seems odd to Aislinn's school friends, as they appear to be rivals for Aislinn's affection.
When Irial is in Huntsdale, Keenan urgently wants to go with Aislinn to find him, but Aislinn is reluctant to leave Niall and Leslie together. Seth promises to stay with the two of them, so Aislinn goes with Keenan and Seth, Niall and Leslie go to Rath and Ruins, where Irial arrives to see Leslie. Realizing that Irial has now seen Leslie three times and is clearly interested in her, Aislinn seeks to protect her, and so she allows Niall to go to her, but insists that Leslie will not be told about the faerie world.
It is not until Leslie's tattoo is almost complete that Aislinn finds out about the ink exchange. She seems shocked and then guilty, apologizing to Leslie and telling her to go with Seth, despite knowing that she can no longer keep Irial away from Leslie.
In reaction to this, Keenan and Aislinn confront Irial, but Irial taunts Keenan until he is forced to leave in order to calm down. Aislinn and Irial discuss Niall and Leslie, and Aislinn understands that Leslie is to Irial what Seth is to her.
Aislinn and Donia both give Niall some of their powers of sunlight and ice to destroy Leslie's connection with Irial. At Leslie's encouragement, Aislinn and Donia also agree to stand against Irial if he were to ever replace Leslie with another mortal and trap them in his court.
Fragile Eternity
After months of ruling, Aislinn is a more confident ruler but her ideas clash with the traditions the Summer Court has grown used to; she wishes to split the court into regions so that the faeries "are safe and have access to help" but Tavish and Quinn disagree with her. She and Keenan are also more comfortable around each other and more adept at working as a pair, as they are able to discuss Niall and Donia productively. However, Keenan still pursues her and pressures her to be with him instead of Seth, as the King and Queen are meant to be.
At the Crow's Nest, Niall punches Keenan and knocks him out; Aislinn goes after Niall and tries to fight him, but he doesn't react to her sunlight and traps her in a cage of shadow. When he pushes her against the walls of the cage, she feels all the lust of the Dark Court -- but her lust is for Keenan, which she is uncomfortable with. Niall warns her that she is no match for his court and then releases her. She returns to Keenan and tries to comfort him, but he uses the situation to his advantage and emphasizes the significance of the lust Aislinn felt.
Seth and Aislinn go for a walk to talk about Aislinn's growing bond with Keenan, and Seth presents the solution of him becoming a faery and therefore being around for her forever. Having already spoken to Donia about this, Aislinn believes that the only way to make him fey is to curse him; only Niall is able to do this, and Aislinn doesn't want Seth to be cursed regardless, as it might push them apart as it did with Keenan and Donia. Aislinn asks Keenan about making Seth fey, but Keenan refuses to help her change him.
In at attempt to fix Keenan's relationship with Donia and thus allow her to be with Seth, Aislinn visits Donia and tries to make her understand that Aislinn doesn't want her partnership with Keenan to be romantic. Donia resents being dictated to and, to make a point, she stabs Aislinn with her ice. Aislinn barely makes it out of the Winter Court before collapsing and calling Keenan so that he can find and save her.
When she wakes up in the Summer Court, Keenan is there and he heals her with his sunlight. Aislinn is shocked, stating that the healing felt "like sex". When Seth comes to see her, she is unable to hide this detail from him, and he leaves, claiming to need space for a while.
Bananach comes to the Summer Court to show Aislinn the chaos and pain that could be the future for her court, and she tries to convince Aislinn to go to war. Before she leaves, she punches and stabs several of the Summer Court guards.
Seth doesn't meet Aislinn the next day and, out of worry that he isn't answering her calls, she goes looking for him at his home and at her school. She receives a voicemail from Seth saying that he is leaving but will call later; that she hears a female voice in the background does not help to lessen Aislinn's fears.
Arriving at her court eighteen days after Seth's disappearance, Niall demands to know where Seth is. Finding that Aislinn has no clue as to Seth's whereabouts, Niall leaves without telling Aislinn anything that he knows. Confused about her remaining feelings for Keenan and miserable at Seth's disappearance, Aislinn seeks advice from Siobhan, a Summer Girl, who advises her to "choose to be happy", which is a recurring idea in the series.
Taking this advice, Aislinn starts having dinner with Keenan every night, sometimes in the company of some of their faeries. She talks to him about missing Seth and about how to lose him is to lose her best friend. Keenan asks her to let him be her friend and to make her happy, because her happiness will help the court. After Seth has been gone for two months, Keenan takes Aislinn to the orchard where he used to combat winter with the meager sunlight that was available to him. They talk about Moira, Aislinn's mother, and about Keenan's past. Despite the more trusting relationship they are developing, Aislinn still rejects his advances.
Quinn reports to Aislinn that Seth's things were found at Bananach's nest, which motivates her to go to see Niall. She begs for information, even kneeling in front of him, but he tells her nothing and she is pulled away by Keenan.
At the autumn revelry, Aislinn decides to let herself be with Keenan, as she has cried over Seth's disappearance for longer than they were together for. She proposes that they sleep together, but Keenan wants to truly love her, and instead insists that they date; this will benefit their court, though it means that he cannot be with Donia any longer.
When Seth returns from Faerie, he and Aislinn argue because he left her and she was unfaithful to him, though she didn't sleep with Keenan. Seth points out that Keenan knew exactly where Seth was and didn't tell Aislinn. He then says that he won't share her with Keenan, and that she must be entirely his or they can't be together at all.
Darkest Mercy
When Far Dorcha is in Huntsdale, he seeks out Aislinn and bargains with her; she agrees to let him touch her cheek and to walk her home in exchange for him owing her an answer to a question or a favor in the future. However, she did not expect the results of Far Dorcha's touch, which triggers her memory of being stabbed by Donia. She feels the pain of this memory as though it were a fresh injury, and Far Dorcha reveals just how close she was to death that day, but the pain doesn't last for long. He leaves without walking her home, as they did not agree the walk had to be on that day. It doesn't occur to Aislinn until Far Dorcha leaves that he must be here because of a faery death.
Back at the loft, Aislinn orders Quinn to fetch Tavish for her and to send faeries to find Seth and Keenan, both of whom seem to be missing. When he questions her and dodges her questions, she begins to distrust him; she states as much to Tavish, who agrees with her. Tavish then informs her that Seth is safe in Faerie, though he was in a fight against Bananach. Aislinn is sorry to hear from him of Tish's death, and worried to find that Irial is injured and possibly dying -- especially when Tavish explains Irial's importance to the Dark Court and to Niall.
Keenan finally returns to his court, but is injured by Bananach before he can reach the loft. He urges Aislinn to come with him to his rooms, where he reveals to her the extent of his injuries and asks her to heal him. With some reluctance, she does so, but she resists his further attempts to seduce her.
Unable to contact any other regent, Donia seeks out Aislinn and Keenan; she expresses worry over Niall and over the fey who have disappeared from her court. The Summer regents have similar worries, but had not yet discussed them. Aislinn attempts to contact Seth to ask him for whatever information he might have, but he doesn't respond to her phone calls or texts.
The next day, Keenan approaches her with a choice: they can either be truly together or truly apart. Aislinn tries to persuade him to stay despite her being unable to love him the way he wants, but he understands what is best for his court. Through a kiss, Keenan transfers the summer within him to Aislinn, who becomes the single Summer regent; while they kiss, they find themselves flying.
Keenan: "Sunlight isn't bound to the earth. Neither is the Summer Queen."
Aislinn offers Keenan the safety and friendship of her court whenever he might need it, but -- at Keenan's own request -- she dismisses him so that he can be with Donia instead.
Now required to deal with her court on her own, Aislinn points out that the Summer Girls are now free to leave her court, but that she would like them to stay. She then places Tavish in charge or her guards and makes Siobhan her advisor. Finally addressing her worries about Quinn, she confronts him and forces him to admit that he has been spying on her court for Sorcha. As he is unable to return to the High Court and being solitary is dangerous with Bananach currently so powerful, Aislinn allows him to stay within her court under several conditions, including that he help to train the Summer Girls to fight.
A messenger arrives from the Dark Court to inform Aislinn of the war that has begun and that Bananach has captured Seth, and she instructs her court to prepare for battle. In the battle, Aislinn joins Niall in fighting Bananach. As the only regent not already worn down from fighting, she is able to attack Bananach with the full power of the Summer Court. As Aislinn's earth and sunlight entrap her, Niall stabs Bananach and kills her. Aislinn then uses the favor Far Dorcha owes her by telling him to help Keenan and Donia.
Niall tells Aislinn where to find Seth, and she flies up to his cage and frees him by heating and bending the metal bars. They return to talk to Niall and Far Dorcha; the latter offers both of them the chance at replacing Bananach, which they refuse, and instead Irial becomes Discord.
Back at the loft, Aislinn tells her court to remember the fallen faeries by living and rejoicing; she then tells Seth that Keenan has left her court, that she has chosen Seth and only Seth, and that they should rejoice, too.