Losing Control

"Are you hiding from me?" He asked directly when Grace didn't respond.

Although that was exactly what she was trying to do, Grace was still taken aback at how he didn't mince words about it.

"N-no, sir. Why would I hide from you?" She denied.

From where he was sitting, Jace could see her forefinger rubbing against her thumb, a habit he had discovered she would do whenever she was nervous and his lips spasmed in a smile.

"Then why were you not at the dining room this morning?"

"I.. I already told you the reason, sir," Grace said.

"And you want me to believe that that alone is the reason you disappeared so early in the morning? You could have met her any other time. I never knew you to be someone that wouldn't take her duties seriously. If anything I feel you value Charles's happiness above everything other thing, except I was mistaken."

"I'm sorry, Sir. I.."