His father received them in the same study where Lucien had once been given the truth of the curse over two untouched glasses of whiskey, and something in the symmetry of it made the room feel colder than the temperature accounted for.

"You've never brought anyone here," his father said, studying Ezra with the frank, assessing look of a man used to evaluating threats and opportunities in equal measure. "That alone tells me a great deal."

"This is Ezra," Lucien said. "He knows about the curse. All of it. And I need you to tell us everything you know about Mother's death, and about a man named Marcus Cole."

His...