Remi POV
"You read?"
Abel didn't look up from the shelf. "You say that like it's surprising."
"It is surprising."
"Why."
"Because you spend most of your time being loud and grabbing things that don't belong to you."
He turned. Looked at me. "That's a very narrow view of a very complex man."
I looked around his quarters properly. South wing. Which explained why I'd never been here. High ceilings. Art on the walls that wasn't standard palace decoration — actual art, things someone had chosen deliberately. A desk covered in papers. Books stacked everywhere. Not for show. Actually read. Spines cracked. Pages folded.
"You have good taste," I said. Surprised despite myself.
"I have excellent taste." He went back to the shelf. "I've just never needed anyone to know that."
"At least I kn
