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

Chapter 1

Many things didn't disturb Arcane on her evening stroll in the jungle except occasional overgrown plants. Sometimes, one of her cats meowed until she cancelled her stroll and went back. Sultana was usually quiet and was perfectly content rubbing against her legs, her black coat shining under the setting sun.

On this particular day, Sultana was restless, and so, Arcane had enough reason to be wary of everything. She petted her forehead and the emerald in the middle of it was cold against her palm. The black panther nestled her head under her mistress's arm.

"Calm, Sultana." Arcane glanced up at the sky. "I see it too."

The sky was tingled gold with the last ray of sunshine and Arcane turned mid-walk when her eyes caught movement. Sultana growled and bared her teeth. Ready to prance at anyone or anything, the panther moved it's powerful body from one side to another.

Arcane held up her hand, "No. Not yet." The little white marks on her wrists were hardly visible due to the pale skin. She put her hand down and moved back towards her house, built solely for her, surrounded by a ridiculous amount of flowers and herbs. It might not have made sense to someone else but she needed them like the earth needed the sun.

When she was close enough to see the roof of the house, she first saw the shiny wings of her butterflies and then, big, dark wings aiming for her pigsty.

She gasped and hitched up her skirt, rushing through the gardens and cursing every plant for coming in her way. When she was barely a few feet away, a loud crash came and splinters flew everywhere. Sultana jumped in front of her as she shielded her face with her hands.

Her growling grew in volume at the rare disturbance when the only visitors they ever had were quiet ones who liked to pet her. This visitor had chosen the unusual route of the sky and made an awfully loud noise that she did not like one bit. However, when she saw nobody but the small pigs run out of her mistress's pigsty, she tilted her head in confusion and stepped forward.

Slowly the dust cloud settled and Arcane coughed behind her. A groan sounded from the broken wooden pieces. Then another.

"My fucking arm." Came a voice and she pranced. She pressed her paw to the chest of the large figure on the ground. She bared her sharp canines and snarled. "Sultana." Arcane said to soothe her.

But sultana only narrowed her eyes at the wide eyed creature on the ground. She had seen one of them before. They were the pre-pigs.

She dug her claws into the creatures chest and his eyes cleared.

"What is that?" He whispered
.

This time her mistress spoke. " 'That' is my pet. And you, sir, are in my house without my permission." Sternly.

"I was..." he trailed. "What happened to me?"

Arcane rolled her eyes, "You crashed against the protection shield and almost died."
She held out a slender hand and Sultana hesitantly got off him. He warily eyed both the panther and the outstretched hand before accepting the hand.

"Protection shield?" He clenched his shoulder. "Protection from what? What is this place?" His vision turned black for a second and Sultana casually pushes him before gracefully making her way inside the house.

So no more pigs tonight? She thought.

"You flew here. I don't need to tell you what place this is, Illyrian." Arcane said coolly.

"How do you know I am an Illyrian?" The man reached for his sword at his side.

Arcane raised her eyebrows and stared at his wings till he got her point and lowered his hand. He sighed in defeat, "I don't know how to make you believe this, but I'm actually very smart."