Ethan paused at the edge of the ballroom first, just inside the doorway, letting his eyes adjust to the lighting and his nerves adjust to the fact that Palatine did this on purpose - gold, velvet, chandeliers, and enough perfume in the air to qualify as a weapon.
He scanned the room the way he scanned a new construction site.
Where the exits were. Where security stood. Where the crowd was densest and where it thinned. Who had the posture of staff, who had the posture of a threat, and who had the posture of someone paid to smile while counting other people's mistakes.
Then he spotted them.
It wasn't subtle.
