I leaned back in my chair and rubbed my temples wearily. Staring at the computer screen trying to make sense of the accounting was not a sensible thing to do after so little sleep. And the last thing I wanted was a confrontation with Azriel. "I can’t turn my life around just because they may or may not know about this place. I won’t go home, but I refuse to abandon everything and everyone in my life."
He didn’t say anything. Just stared at me disapprovingly.
I sighed. "Look, if it’s true that the Raziq have placed a tracer signal on the book, Lucian has told me a way of getting around it."
"How would he know?" Azriel’s voice held an edge that sounded a hell of a lot like contempt. "He is neither a priest nor a magic user, and he was stripped of any Aedh powers a long time ago."
"He wasn’t stripped of all of them." The annoyance surging through me hadn’t yet reached my voice—but I suspected it wouldn’t take that long. "And what does it matter whether he should or should not know? If it works, we’ll be able to read the book without the Raziq dropping in on us."
"If it works," he said.
"If it doesn’t, what have we lost?" I snapped my chair forward and leaned my forearms on the desk. "What the hell is your problem?"
He paused. "I have no—"
"Bullshit, Azriel," I interrupted. "Every time I mention Lucian’s name you get all huffy and hostile."
He shrugged. "I do not trust him."
"But why? He’s done nothing to prove he’s untrustworthy."
"And he’s done nothing to prove he is."
"Meaning you’ll trust him if this idea of his works?"
"No."
I snorted softly. "Then you’re just being unreasonable."