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

Chapter 16

Upon waking up Arcane found Sultana dozing off by her feet and smiled. Petting her she whispered, "Did you miss me?"

The sleeping beast huffed and kept her eyes closed. Arcane planted a small kiss on her forehead and sat up. After stretching, she let her already tangled braid loose, the thick curls unfolding over her shoulders, and rubbed her face. Still sleepy, she went out on a search for a particular winged male but failed miserably. Shoulders slumped, she was just about to leave his bedroom when a paper caught her eye. At first she thought it might be something important related to his work but her curiosity took the best of her and, sure enough, it was for her.

If you want to find me for something, I will be by the tear in the shield.

Arcane frowned and went back to her room to look for her bracelet. "Stupid bat." She mumbled while tossing and turning the sheets.

The stupid bat was throwing pebbles into the ocean below while sitting on the rocks by the  seaside. Arcane stomped her way to him and sat by his side with her knees tucked under her chin.

"You woke up."

"What excellent observation skills." She sarcastically remarked.

Azriel chuckled and threw another rock in the water. Arcane leaned her head against his shoulder and he folded his wing around her as she angrily frowned. "What happened now?" He nudged her shoulder.

"I don't like waking up alone. I did that for far too long." She inspected her nails and pouted.

Knowing the feeling too well, Azriel inhaled deeply, "I'll be there the next time." Kisssing the top of her head he smiled. "I promise."

She lifted her lashes to look into his eyes before nodding slowly. Returning to her initial position on his shoulder, Arcane mumbled, "I'm too harsh on you sometimes, aren't I?"

Azriel shrugged, "Sometimes. It's fine, I do need to work on a lot of things."

"Me too. But I don't see you yelling at me."

He smiled, "Should I start?"

"You would look so weird if you yelled." Arcane huffed out a laugh. "I think I should handle the yelling. You can keep stopping me from flinging myself upon any opportunity to kill both of us."

"Fair enough." Azriel said quickly, "I went with the priestesses to pray today."

"Why?" Arcane frowned. "We don't even know the gods."

"Well, they still pray, why can't I?" He objected and then added, "I was thinking about what you said in the tunnel."

"About the gods being scared?"

"Yes. I figured that even if they are a little scared, they could grant me a few wishes." Azriel chucked another pebble into the ocean. It skipped over the water once, twice, thrice, before sinking.

"Like?" Arcane wrapped her arm around his arm that she was leaning against.

"I figured they could grant me you." He shrugged. "It isn't like I was asking them for their beloved paradise. I'm just asking for what's mine."

Arcane rocked back and forth on her toes, "I was hasty in judging you, spymaster. You can be good at words."

"Oh?" He raised his eyebrows.

"Only sometimes." Arcane picked at the grass near her feet. "Don't let that get to your head."

"I doubt you would let anything get to my head." Azriel snorted. "Not even my wingspan."

"Feyre has a bigger wingspan." Arcane pointed out and Azriel cluched his heart dramatically.

"You're going to compare me my sister? Is that what you're going to put me through?" He said dramatically and Arcane smacked his arm to which he relented and pulled her closer by wrapping his arm around her waist.

Their noses brushed together and he whispered, "I'd say we're rather good at this 'being in love' thing."

Arcane smiled and laced their fingers together. Kissing the back of his hand, she nodded, "We are getting there."

"It's still progress, isn't it?"

"Hmm, yes." Arcane returned to her position of sitting on the rock as Azriel asked his next question.

"How is your father?"

She shrugged, "Sleeping. He looks rough but we didn't see any large injuries when Feyre had the medic called in. I think that's a good sign."

Azriel bit his lip and nodded, "It will take him months to recover physically, if not a few years."

Arcane's expression became distant as she looked at the ocean and said, "Yes."

Azriel, trying to bring her out of whatever memory or worry had pulled in, fiddled with their entwined hands and said, "Tell me about this bracelet. Where did your father get it from?"

"Ah, this." Arcane eyed the silver strap around her wrist. "I assume that after the King died Hybern gave up on everything. It wasn't like we were important prisoners after the war, so they maybe ignore Baba. He managed to steal this before they found him and changed his cell."

"This was left unguarded?" Azriel wondered why such a powerful item would be easy to steal.

"Nobody can use it besides me. With me gone, this was as useless as a bunch of stones could ever be." Arcane explained and he nodded in understanding.

Even if they could use it, there wasn't much point of it after the war was over and with the death of so many soldiers, it made sense to leave some parts of the palace less guarded than the rest. This new information made him reconsider his entire opinion of Arcane's father.

Licking his lips, he asked her, "Did your father use to be a warrior or soldier of some kind?"

"Oh, no." She dismissed it as a ridiculous thought. "He was a musician."

"That's wonderful." Just as Azriel was starting to see a ray of hope, Arcane smirked.

"He was very strict. Not with me, of course, but with his other students. I wonder if he will ask you to play. It's very hard to impress him." She nudged his shoulder as his smile fell. "It's okay. I'll still love you, spymaster."

"Why is this so hard?" Azriel groaned and Arcane laughed.

"Well, imagine if you had a daughter." She tucked her knees under her chin. "Wouldn't you want her to have the best things in life?"

Azriel nodded and shrugged, "This is still very complicated."

"It is." Arcane sighed and pushed herself up. Ruffling his hair, she motioned for him to get up, "Come. I want to go back to Sultana and take a little walk through the city."

Azriel stood up and, folding his arm behind his back, followed Arcane towards the city. "Arcane what if your father doesn't like me?"

"Don't worry, I'll still love you. Calm down." She chuckled.

"Promise?"

"Promise." She skipped across the grass. "There isn't single man I'd love other than you."

"That's a relief. Wait!" He pulled her back when she almost dropped into a ditch that was largely covered with grass  but that didn't bother Arcane in the least as he continued on her merry way towards the city with the very worried Illyrian on her tail.