A Court of Golden Shadows

Chapter 1

Azriel had just come back from the Autumn Court, he had gone to give a check on Beron. Eris was their ally but still he didn't trust him completely.

He decided to go to the House of Wind to clear his mind. Nesta and Cassian's mating ceremony had just passed and they were spending some alone time in Helion's court and Rhys only had eyes for Nyx these days, so he had no one to train with.

As soon as he arrived his shadows started dancing and that was the only warning he had before seeing a flash of brilliant coppery brown hair. Gwyn was practicing her moves, without Nesta around she spent most of her free time training. He stood there watching her for a while, how her body moved with determination and grace, how her hair fluttered with the wind. He continued like that until she started singing and his shadows sang in return, then she stopped and looked at him, she threw him a small smile.

"Hi" she said with a sweet voice that lighted up his heart.

"Sorry I thought no one would be using it so I decided to practice"

"You don't have to apologize, it's good that you practice" he answered with a smile of his own.

"Yeah, it's good. Anyways what did you forget this time?"

She asked and Azriel cocked his head with curiosity.

"Why do you think I forgot something?"

She shrugged. "On the Winter Solstice you came here because you forgot something, so did you forget something again or this time you are really going to do what you came for?"

She emphasized the word forgot making it clear that she really hadn't taken the lie. Azriel stared at her for a while, his excuse had not been a good one but still he never expected her to say it out loud. There was no point in denying it and he knew it, so this time he answered the truth.

"I came here to train for a while but I can wait since you need it more than I"

He expected that his answer will make her laugh or retort something but she simply stared at him and cocked her head.

"Usually you train with Cassian right?" He hadn't expected the question but he simply started pacing and answered it.

"Usually yes, but since he's not here I can train on my own"

"What about Rhysand?"

"Rhys is too busy with Nyx" he continued pacing and waited for her response.

"Then why don't you train with me?" This time Azriel froze in place and looked at her without caring to hide his surprise.

"Train with you?"

"Sure, why not? I may not be as good as you, Cassian or Rhysand but I can give you a fair fight" ,she said with a smile.

Azriel chuckled and returned the smile.

"You really think you can give me a fair fight?"

"Of course, just come here and I'll show you. Or are you scared?"

She was challenging him. If she wanted to fight, then fine, he would give her her fight.

He came up to the rink and took out his sword while Gwyn took one of the pile they had at the side. Azriel was planning to let her win, he would let her attack and he would only defend. Gwyn stepped on the rink with her sword ready and determination written all over her face. He gave her a small nod for her to make the first move, she attacked first and Azriel blocked her blow, she quickly recovered and tried to attack his other side but Azriel already expected this and blocked her again, she narrowed her eyes and this time moved and attacked differently.

Azriel had not expected that move, he thought she would stick to the basic movements but again she had surprised him. Gwyn stared at him with her sword ready, she knew he was playing her and she wanted him to really fight her, so she waited for him to make a move. Azriel had no other choice but to fight, so he decided to go slow on her, he gave careful attacks but Gwyn blocked them all and returned some of her own. He had planned on letting her win but he was not going to give up so easily, he continued to attack and she continued to block and soon he found himself actually training with Gwyn. He started making stronger movements and even though sometimes he thought they were too much for Gwyn, she managed her way out of every single one of them.

She was definitely not the small female he had rescued some years ago, she had grown up, she had overcome her fears and she had become a warrior, he found himself fascinated by her confidence and determination. Azriel was about to deliver a blow and she avoided it, they started fighting closer and closer until they stumbled with each other and somehow Gwyn ended up splayed on the floor with Azriel above her, his forearms at her sides to avoid crushing her.

They stayed like that for a while, staring at each other quietly with their chests moving deeply at the same time. Slowly Gwyn started raising her hand and placed it on Azriel's cheek carefully, Azriel froze and his heart started beating faster than ever, but soon he found himself leaning into Gwyn's soft palm and inhaling her sweet scent. Gwyn slowly moved her hand of his cheek to his shoulder and pushed him and ended up on top of him. Azriel was caught off guard with that but again he found himself frozen staring at Gwyn's freckled face, how her hair fell at his sides in a coppery cascade, then he focused on her bright teal eyes and noticed a glow at her neck.

She was wearing his necklace, the necklace he had asked Clotho to give to her. Soon he found himself imagining how her face lit up when first seeing the necklace, what would she have thought? Who would she have thought gave it to her? Had he come to her mind when imagining who gave her the necklace? He wasn't thinking, he wasn't concentrating. Then he found Gwyn slowly lowering her head to him and he slowly raising his to meet hers.

They were just a few inches separated from each other when they heard voices and quickly got up and arranged their clothes. Gwyn gathered her sword from the floor and put it back to where it belonged, Azriel also picked his sword. He started walking off the rink and as soon as he was about to leave he turned around just to see Gwyn standing behind him.

"I think I gave you a pretty fair fight, shadowsinger" she said smiling.

"Yes you did". He chuckled and met Gwyn's eyes and found himself lost in them again. He cleared his throat to speak.

"I need to go now, it was nice to train with you" he gave her a small bow and turned to leave. He was about to take off when he heard Gwyn's sweet voice.

"See you later, Azriel" He took off and for a moment his wings seemed to stop working and he almost fell.

Azriel. She had called him Azriel. She had always called him shadowsinger, it was the first time she called him by his name.

He had not trained as hard with Gwyn as he would have with Cassian or Rhys, but he had managed to clear his mind, he was no longer thinking of the situation with the Autumn Court. But now he had another problem, that thing that had sparked in his chest during the last winter solstice sparked again, but this time the spark was so big that there was no way that he could tuck it away.