A Court Of Moonlight And Shadows (An Azriel/ACOTAR Fanfiction)

Chapter 14

Azriel was convinced he was already too much in love with Arcane but apparently not because he completely forgot to close his mouth for a good fifteen seconds when she stabbed a man in the neck and his blood poured out, running like water on the ground.

"Should I just stand back?" He asked, leaning over a little.

"Yeah. I can handle this." She shrugged before gutting another man.

He nodded and moved out the way when a dead body almost fell over him. Hybern had not recovered from the war very well, or maybe at all. Even though he had carefully chosen a way that wouldn't make them cross path with a lot of guards, there were still a shockingly low number of soldiers patrolling the area. They had only encountered four and, because arcane had been escorted through these hallways hundreds of time in her life, she knew about them better then him. He leisurely followed her and noticed the bare walls and the slowly breaking castle. The death of the king had taken a massive toll on the kingdom. It looked like they were barely managing a small portion of the castle.

"This way." Arcane dragged him towards a small window. "Across the courtyard." She pointed towards a small open space.

"That's where you were kept?" He raised his eyebrows. She gulped and nodded.

He tilted his head, "I can go if you don't want to go back." He offered.

She contemplated that inside her head for a while, "I don't think baba would follow you without knowing about me." She bit her lip.

"That too." His shadows warned him of someone's presence and he unsheathed his sword. The guard came from behind him and it only took the hilt of his sword to leave the man groaning on the ground. It cut through him with ease and he again put it back in its place.

"I could tell him I'm your mate." Azriel contemplated and arcane snorted, "Trust me, spymaster. You absolutely do not want to tell him that."

He frowned, "Why not?"

She held up a finger, "Why would he trust you?" She put up another finger, "You do not want to meet a girl's father while murdering your way through a palace if you ever want to make a good impression."

"I am not very familiar with etiquettes involving a mating bond and a father."

"Obviously." She scoffed before tugging at his sleeve. "We have to move quickly."

"Are you sure you want to go back?" He asked worriedly as they moved swiftly down a narrow staircase.

She stopped for a second, "If I don't think about it, it won't affect me." He tried to hold her hand but she was already skidding past narrow windows with more guards standing outside them. Silent as a pair of thieves, they ducked behind a door and as soon as the door to the courtyard came into view, Arcane stuck her head out.

"I'm going ahead of you." Azriel whispered and positioned his sword.

"Don't make me think about it." She sighed.

"I'm going ahead of you." Before she could protest he had already slaughtered five guards and she cursed softly but followed him, stepping aside from the dead bodies.

The other end of the courtyard was much darker. He sent his shadows ahead of himself and they whispered back the guards that he would find. "Arcane, stay on my left." He instructed and she didn't argue.

There were a lot more guards on this side and the torches hanging on the walls barely lit the way. They had barely taken three steps inside before Arcane had to slit a throat. Letting the dead man drop, she whispered, "Okay. Okay. I know these parts better."