Emergency lighting flickered on a few seconds later, dim and red along the ballroom's edges, enough to make out shapes without restoring anything like real visibility. Cole stood close enough that Lucien could see the calm, unhurried set of his features, entirely unbothered by the chaos he'd apparently orchestrated around them.

"Don't be alarmed," Cole said, pleasant in the way that made the words considerably worse. "This is a conversation, not an extraction. I find conversations tend to go more smoothly without an audience of panicking socialites."

"Where's my father."

"Perfectly safe, I assure you. I have no interest in him. I never did." Cole's gaze shifted, deliberate and unhurried,...