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“I am smiling because I was wrong.”

“About what?”

He strode past her, pulling the door open and gesturing her through. “You do trust me,mai dragocen.”

She snorted. “How in the realms do you figure that?”

“You would only allow yourself to— how did you phrase it? Irrationally rage? You would only allow yourself to appear irrational with someone you trust implicitly. That is a vulnerability that you do not give to others.”

“Shut up,” she muttered, stalking through the doorway.

She found herself in a decent-sized sitting room, but Razik brushed past her, striding to a door on the other side of the room. He disappeared through it, leaving the door open, and Eliza huffed in irritation before she followed him because what else was she going to do? Stand here and stare at the wall? She’d never admit it to him, but it did feel damn good to be out of the castle. She’d love to get into the city and walk around a bit.

When she stepped through the next doorway, she froze. He had told her he had a study here with books, but she had not expected to find a small library. The walls of this room were lined with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, all packed full. This room was bigger than his bedchamber had been, and he had disappeared somewhere inside. Off to the right was a fireplace with a group of armchairs arranged in front of it, and beyond the chairs was another door. If this was a study, where was his desk?

She had taken a few steps further into the room when the door near the hearth opened, and Commander Tybalt came striding into the room. Eliza stilled again, unsure if she was supposed to be here. They had always stayed in the guest wing of the Greybane manor. She had never been in the private wing.

The Commander smiled warmly at her. He looked nearly identical to Cassius, only his hair was cropped short. Deep brown eyes met her own. “General,” he greeted. “What a pleasant surprise.”

“Commander,” she replied with a small bow. “Razik came to pick up a few things and allowed me to join him.”

“Did he now?” Tybalt asked, and she forced herself not to squirm at the way he was studying her.

She cleared her throat. “Yes. He is in here…somewhere.”

“Upstairs, I am sure,” Tybalt replied, a knowing smile filling his face.

“Upstairs?”

Tybalt chuckled lightly, gesturing toward the back of the room and indicating for her to follow him. “How are you feeling?”

“Better, thank you. Niara cleared me this morning.”

“That is good news,” the Commander said, leading her through the room. They rounded a corner and, sure enough, there was a spiraling iron staircase that led up through an opening in the ceiling. The stairs were cold on her bare feet, but she was curious just how many books were up there yet. She started climbing, the Commander’s boots sounding behind her.

“Is this your study then?”

Tybalt huffed another chuckle. “No, General. This is all Razik’s. I never understood why he needed to keep every book he could ever get his hands on, but he would spend days holed up in here when he was a child. I finally had it renovated, letting him design it however he wished.”

For the briefest of moments, she wondered about his childhood and why his uncle had raised him instead of his parents, but she quickly shoved the thought from her mind. She didn’t care about anything that involved him. When she found herself on the second floor, she blinked against the brightness. The lower level had been dark and lit by various sconces and candles, but this level had one solid wall of windows letting in the daylight. The Nightmist Mountains rose up on the horizon, and she didn’t know where to look first— at the stunning view or the additional bookcases everywhere.

“The upper level of his study spans the entirety of his space— his bedchamber, sitting room, and lower level,” Tybalt explained from behind her.

This was…

There weren’t words for what this was.

“How does he know where everything is?” Her voice was soft and hushed, as if she would disturb something sacred up here.

“I have no idea,” Tybalt answered. “But he does.”

Then something else occurred to her.

“Can I ask you something?” she asked, turning to face the Commander.

“Of course,” he replied, another one of those warm smiles filling his face.

“Do you know whatmai dragocenmeans?”