The ballroom remained bright and crowded, but Seraphina felt strangely distant from the noise. Music drifted through the air while guests continued their conversations, unaware that an explosion had almost occurred minutes earlier on the balcony. Waiters carried trays of champagne through the crowd, and the chandeliers above reflected gold light across the marble floor.
Lucien stood beside Seraphina near the tall velvet curtains that separated the ballroom from a smaller reception hall. The curtain shielded them from most of the crowd, creating a rare pocket of quiet in the middle of the event.
Seraphina held her phone in her hand, but she had not looked at it again since the last message.
Lucien studied her expression carefully. "You handled the balcony situation very well," he said.
Seraphina looked toward the dance floor where couples moved slowly beneath the chandeliers. "We handled it," she replied.
