Lucius gave a quiet nod—he would check in with Priam later, but had little doubt that his nephew was capable of handling the matter appropriately.

"You were right to come to me," the wizard said, leading Nephele to a simple chair usually used by staff waiting on the door; she was holding herself together admirably, under the circumstances—more than he would have anticipated—but sitting was, undoubtedly, essential lest her feminine response get the better of her and prompt her to faint. "We cannot rule out that she simply wandered off—" in a show of spectacularly little sense that his own children would not even dream of replicating "—but we also cannot rule out ransom. I have an investigator on retainer and shall send for him at once, but I will need more information to pass along if we are to use time to our advantage. Which park? Which area of the park? And how long ago did this transpire?"

Indeed, he had multiple investigators on retainer—the usual sort, of course, but also one of the Ministry's own paid to pass information his way before it made it up the ladder to his superiors. Informants, too, though those dealt more directly with his valet. Optics, and all that.