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“Still no appetite?” He was increasingly concerned by her behavior.
She blushed and the coloration highlighted the rise of her cheekbones. She was pretty when not so pale.
Gustave laid the plates of steak and vegetables before them and she stabbed at the meat with her knife. Blood trickled out. Her shoulders slumped.
He leaned across the table. “You don’t like steak? Why did you not say?”
“I do like it, although I can’t afford it. It’s just too… pink.”
Jamen waved Gustave back to their table. “Cook hers more, please.” He pointed at her plate.
“Of course, sir.” Gustave collected the offending dish and spun on his heels.
She giggled.
“What?” Jamen raised his eyebrows as she continued to chuckle. Finally, she was losing her stiffness.
“It’s just, I feel sorry for him. You’re giving him all this responsibility and he’s used to specific instructions up front. You would say: I want it rare or well-done.”
“He never asked how you desired your dish.” Jamen found human rituals around meal times confusing. Who was serving whom?
“I think he’s a little intimidated.” She smiled.
Jamen stared at her. Her face had lit up to reveal two neat rows of white teeth and faint smile lines that wrinkled around her eyes.
“Are you intimidated by me?”
She paused. “No. Not you.”
“But somebody else has upset you.”
The smile evaporated and she nearly knocked over the glass by her hand in her haste to remove the smile from sight. The trembling suddenly deteriorated.
Now he understood what was going on. “You’re spying on me for somebody?”
The color drained from
her face. “Oh, please. I…” Her voice disintegrated and tears filled her eyes. She reached behind to grab the back of the chair.
“No,” he said quickly. “Don’t go. Stay. Tell me what is going on.”
Her pitiful state touched him. She was obviously upset and not in control of her emotions. Instead of feeling anger at the situation, he wished to rectify it.
“I can’t,” she whispered, her voice barely reaching him.
“Why?” He pushed his uneaten food to one side and leaned closer.
“He’s going to tell my friends. And, worse, he’s threatened my internship.”
“I thought you were a student?”
“I finish next week after my last exam. Then hopefully I’ll graduate. After that, I have an internship at the City Hall for a year.”
“You’re talking about Nillson, aren’t you? He’s threatened you?” He hated the man even more now.
She nodded. “He knows about the Bow and Tie. He knows that I have this thing for… spanking,” she said quietly, looking over her shoulder. Gustave hadn’t returned.
“And he will use it against you. Is it illegal, what you do?”
