It took him a moment to figure out what she had whispered and when he did he couldn't help but think he was just filling in a name he knew. It made no sense at all, her saying Azyebel's name, the poor girl had locked herself away these past few years, and yet the idea of it being a mistake didn't sit well with him either. Azyebel couldn't be the Chaldean, he tried to tell himself, he was sure he would have recognized her when they had spoke. He had known her for nearly a century and a half, surely he would have seen through the disguise. Though it would go a long way to explaining why he had been forbidden to see her and why she would have changed so much. It was too much to think about now, and there were more important matters, but he would certainly come back to those thoughts later.
But if it was true he did honestly hope that the Chaldean survived, if only because be couldn't stand the thought of Azyebel dying. He felt a strange chill at that thought, though it might have been the odd draft in the room.
"As much time as you need." he told her softly, a hand coming up to gently brush a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear before sliding down to hold her dainty hands in his. It was perhaps far more familiar than he had right to be with her but it was the best way he knew to provide comfort, and she clearly needed it. After the attack it was likely everyone needed it. "I suppose this means I won't be able to convince you to keep moving east?" his tone was soft but joking. "My personal barge is quite grand, you could take it downriver from here to our estates farther east where the air smells of the citrus groves during the day and jasmine at night." he knew well enough that she would want to return, even if her father had tried to push him to encourage her to go anywhere else.