Nightfall {An Azriel (ACOTAR) FanFic}

Chapter 5

"Is she going to look up?"

"Nope." Pip chewed the back of his colouring pencil and puffed out his cheeks, returning to colouring the bird in front of himself.

Azriel rested his head on his fist and closed his eyes briefly before saying, "How much longer is it going to take?"

Heart didn't look up but mumbled, "Nobody asked you to be here." She flipped through a few pages and scribbled something on a page.

"Feyre did. And Rhys." He argued and Heart looked at him through her lashes before shaking her head and sighing. Rolling her shoulders, she paused, and said, "I need a chalkboard."

"What for?" Azriel raised his brows.

"Work." She answered shortly and called out to Pippor who came rushing into her arms. Gently pushing his hair out of his eyes, she inspected his colour stained hands and he excitedly told her about the drawings that he had made.

While the little boy continued to ramble and shove his drawing into his mother's face, Azriel stretched his long limbs and walked out of the study while mumbling, "Chalkboard. Chalkboard. I'm not a servant." under his breath.

The simple item was acquired immediately and his vision swam as Heart filled it with long equations in a matter of minutes.

"What is that?" He  asked pointing to the very first line.

"I'm trying to ma- why are you asking?" She narrowed her eyes at him.

Azriel shrugged. "You're a teacher. Explaining things is your job." He leaned back in the chair and folded his arms behind his head.

"Aren't you the spymaster?" She huffed. "You must have better things to do with your time than look at Pip's yellow and blue face." She retorted.

"I actually don't have anything better to do. And I'm not looking at Pip, I'm looking at you." Azriel waved a finger in her direction and she snorted.

Right then, Pip yawned but returned to scribbling with the blue pencil. Heart looked at the little boy and shook her head. Turning towards her board, she said, "Put him to bed."

"Excuse me?" Azriel furrowed his brows, thinking that she was talking to someone else. Except there was no one else to talk to.

"You heard me. Put Pippor to bed." She said and Pip let out another yawn and let his pencil go which fell on the floor. He pushed himself up to his feet and wobbled over to Azriel. Holding his arm, he rested his little head on his bicep and whispered, "Sleep."

"But why me?" Azriel whisper shouted at Heart. "I'm not a babysitter."

"I'm saving your nephew's life and you can't even put my son to bed." She mused. "That's really ungrateful, shadowsinger."

"You can do this." By then Pip had closed his eyes and Azriel had to hold onto him so he didn't fall.

"I'm working.' She pointed to the board. "And I will be here until much later. Wash his face and hands before letting him sleep." She said nonchalantly.

"Wash his- I'm not your babysitter." Azriel said but still scooped Pip's tiny body up because of how sleepy he was.

"Sleep." Pippor whined and Azriel sighed.

"Fine." He huffed. "I'll get you some sleep. Since your mother is oh-so-busy that she has to make a warrior and a spy carry her baby around." He said pointedly while backing out of the room.

Heart didn't even acknowledge him and he walked the length of the corridor with the half-asleep child in his arms in silence. Careful not to drop him, Azriel let Pip rest his cheek against his shoulder with his arms dangling by his side. Their room wasn't that far away and soon enough Pip was fast asleep under the blanket. Closing the window silently, Azriel tried backing out of the room. Blowing out the candle in the room, his eyes again fell on the peaceful boy and he wondered what might have happened to his father. Perhaps it was the war. He told himself that and carefully picked up Pip's stuffed lion and placed it by his side so he wasn't alone at night.

Leaving the door a little open in case pip woke up at night, he quickly made his way back to the study. Heart was now keeling onto the ground and writing very quickly at the bottom of the board. The chalk dust was falling onto her hair and Azriel resisted the massive urge to brush it off. He tapped his foot and Heart looked up like it had broken a trance. After taking one look at him, she dusted her hand off and stood up.

"Pip is sleeping." He informed her and she nodded.

"Thank you." She said sincerely but didn't look at him.

Azriel contemplated on how to be sensitive about his question because he had figured out that spying on her was a wasted effort. After waiting for a few minutes, during which she wiped the board and started drawing a diagram, he cleared his throat to get her attention.

"Yes?" She said.

He said slowly. "I wanted to ask a few things. As a..... precautionary measure."

Heart sighed after a short pause, "My mother was out father's first wife. Feyre's mother was the second wife." He had made some guesses about their connection but he had assumed something more scandalous. Not a simple case of remarriage. Heart continued while drawing, "I was just born when they separated and he married Feyre's mother soon after. Before now, I had only met my sisters once when we were very young." She stood on her tippy toes to reach the top of the chalkboard and frowned when the chalk dust fell on her face. "My mother raised me quiet unconventionally. With the amount of money she had, and her intelligence, it was only natural that we had led a life of comfort and she taught me anything I ever wanted to, appointing the best tutors for me. Whether it was music, cooking or astrophysics and chemistry, she didn't leave any stone unturned to give me the best of everything. Sadly, she passed away when I was nineteen." She paused  and chewed on her bottom lip for a while. "It never occurred to me to reach out to the rest of my family. I never really thought about them, really."

"I can tell." Azriel commented. It wasn't much unconventional to have education for the women of rich families, but to have such a high level of education and be considered one of the best scholars was an unmatched accomplishment. Mostly the education was enough read letters and write them. Not solve complicated equations that Heart could recite at a second's notice. He could tell just by looking at Heart that she was not used to anything but the best. Even at her house, when he had only seen a few students and asked about it, she had told him that she only accepted the best of the best.

Venturing into the a more dangerous territory, he carefully asked, "About Pip....."

"His father is dead." Heart said sharply.

"The war?" He asked and she nodded stiffly. "I see." He nodded and observed the fast but precise movement of her hands across the board. It was not hard to tell that she was trying to control her breathing and her jaw was clenched. Knowing well that the loss of your child's father was not an easy thing to talk about, he took a step back.

"I will see you in the morning." He said from near the door.

"You still have questions?" She looked at him from over her shoulder.

"Oh, hardly any. You're just very entertaining." He shut the door and the soft 'click' rang between them.