Adrian's POV

She'd tried to sneak past us and go into the kitchen with the tray filled with the dirty dishes that she and Louisa had just used for breakfast.

She had walked down in absolute silence, taking her precious time to step quietly so she wouldn't interrupt our meeting. We were so engrossed in our meeting and we didn't notice her until she got to the foot of the stairs.

We all turned in her direction at once and she stilled in her movement, standing nervously like a dear in headlights. I took in her appearance for the first time today. I'd been too distracted by other things before...