A Court of Shadows and Stars (Azriel Fanfiction)

Five- I thought faeries had sparkly wings?

Five- I thought faeries had sparkly wings?

I didn't expect to be taken into a dinning room, nor did I expect the man to lead me to a seat at the table and sit opposite to me. For a few seconds it was quiet, the only sounds came from the man sitting across me as he piled his plate high with food. He looked up for a second as if asking me to do the same and not knowing where else to go with the suggestion, I followed suit.

Once we were done, the man wasted no time digging into his plate of food while I stared at him with growing wonder. Had I accidentally stumbled into some sort of crazy voodoo circus? Or was I on the hallucination drugs I had confiscated from one of uncle's lackeys? This couldn't be real and yet my healed wrist was proof that it was.

"What's your name?" The man asked as he bit into a slice of kiwi. His tone held no threat although I couldn't be too sure, then again there was no use keeping my mouth shut now- if he could heal me with magic who knows what else he could do?

"Kaira," I managed to say.

"I'm Lucien Vanserra,"

"Where am I Lucien?" His name sounded odd on my lips, something almost hauntingly feral laced in the consonants. It didn't sound exotic like the names of those from the Middle East or Africa or actually anywhere from the world. Then again it's not as if names can distinctly categorize a person.

Although names did hold a lot of power.

Lucien was quiet for sometime before he spoke, "I need to know where you're from... Kaira,"

I crossed my hands over my chest unable to help myself, "answer my question first and then I'll answer yours,"

The man glared at me before relenting to my request, "Like I said before, Prythian,"

I rolled my eyes, maybe it was the thick warmth in the room that made me so snappy, "Where exactly is Prythian?"

He raised an eyebrow, "All mortals know what and where Prythian is," it was a statement made with confidence. A statement that made no sense whatsoever.

"You say mortals like as if you're not one," I said with a raised eyebrow.

His expression matched mine when he replied, "what on earth do you think I am?"

"A loon with a weird costume?"

He stared at me as if he was at a loss for words, "you don't talk like them," he observed before letting his eyes roam over me, he looked back up, "Nor do you dress like them,"

It was my turn to glare at him, "Excuse me?"

"The mortals I've come across didn't adorn themselves in clothing like the ones you wear," a pause, "Where exactly are you from Kaira?"

The tension in the room was so thick you couldn't even cleave it half with a knife. I knew I was in uncharted territory. If what this man was saying was true, then I was in some alternate dimension of some sorts. Or this was just one big dream and I was yet to wake up from it.

I humored myself with the latter option, "Manhattan," I said.

He raised an eyebrow as if not knowing what to do with my answer. It was quiet as he let out a deflated sigh and ran a hand over his face, "this is absurd," he muttered under his breath as he aimlessly speared through a grape. Just then the doors to the dinning room burst open and the blonde haired man from the night before walked in. His footsteps were unhurried yet laced with tension that seemed to flood the room the second he walked in. I met his penetrating gaze with one of my own as he took his seat at the head of the table. He lowered his gaze as he turned his attention to Lucien, "There was an energy that seemed to have split through our lands," a weary glance at me, "Rhysand said he saw a woman fall through the skies, he didn't know where she had come from or who she was- one minute she was there and the next she was gone,"

Lucien turned to look at me, "is this who he saw?"

The other man shook his head, "According to Rhysand's observation, the other woman was fair haired and had he was sure she was Fae. She had Fae power that seemed too strong to contain," another glance at me, "this one might physically fit the description but she holds no power, she is mortal."

I raised an eyebrow, "You both refer to me as some species separate to you, what exactly are you people?"

It was the blonde haired man who answered, "We're Fae,"

What?

"Er, what on earth do you mean by Fae?" I asked as I dug my nails into my palms. Pain laced through my arm effectively slapping me out from the self declared thought that this was some dream.

This definitely wasn't a dream.

Whatever these men were saying was real.

The two men stared back at me. The blonde haired man sighed through his nostrils, "Ever come across the term Faeries?"

I cocked my head to the side, "Where's your pair of shiny wings?" I asked unable to help myself. The men probably didn't realize that in my current state of shock, I had decided to fall back to joking around like a lunatic. The sentiment was lost on them as they glared at me.

I raised my hands in surrender, "Gee, continue,"

"We're High Fae, we take the similar form of you humans that's why we don't posses the attributes of faeries," the blonde haired man said.

"So no foxtails and pine cone heads? Got it."

The man nodded, "I'm Tamlin. High Lord of the Spring court,"

I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. I needed some air. Some space to think this out. As if sensing what I needed, Lucien stood up and cocked his head to the side, "I'll show you the way to the gardens, give you some space to think," he said with a friendly smile.

Once out in the gardens I let myself walk at a leisurely pace. Lucien was right behind me but kept a respectable distance between the two of us. Asshole or not, he was the kinder of the two. The blondie, Tamlin looked too severe to be comfortable around.

I stared around at the rose garden, drinking in the pleasant sight of the roses in full bloom. Back at uncle's house, he had a small patch of a garden dedicated to his rose grafting- roses of two contrasting shades. Although they were extremely beautiful they didn't match in comparison to the ones in this garden. The flowers here were bright, lustrous. Almost as if they had inner buds of light shining within them.

My mind flitted back to the brief conversation in the dining room. If what both Tamlin and Lucien said was true, then I was definitely in another world of sorts. Where I was from, I knew every corner and alley- there was no way a world like this could've existed behind close doors. Earlier on when I was near the woods with Lucien, I checked for any telltale signs of a green screen or studio cameras but found nothing. This was real. In some twisted way or another, I had landed in this world.

The memory of what happened in Brandon's apartment came rushing in. I stopped in my tracks. So the whole burning scent and that tornado of a wind led me here. This was all true. I used to pride myself in believing in the impossible. The things I've only come across in books, as the years went by and I got more and more involved in the direct and cutthroat dealings of uncle's world, I let myself let go of all the beliefs I had clung onto. Yet here I was, in some strange land with men with magical abilities, super speed and strength.

I turned to Lucien and met his gaze before speaking.

"How do I get out of here?"