He had expected his distraction would snap her out of her little daze, but it seemed there was something more the matter with Maggie, something that could not be so easily shaken off. Lorcan tensed a little, feeling a muscle in his jaw already fraught with apprehension. He didn't like when things were the matter with people, when the rainclouds gathered over their heads and they couldn't sever themselves from the gloom. It made them so dreadfully un-fun, and Lorcan had never had patience for that.

He had more patience for Maggie than most, admittedly, so tried a little harder than he might have with anyone else, did not sidle out of the room to amuse himself somewhere else just yet. Instead, he clung onto her with one arm, and lifted his hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear with his free hand, looking for some clue in her eyes about what exactly was on her mind. Family issues, he supposed. Or business worries. Lorcan was more of an expert in the former, but was sure he could soothe the latter if he tried hard enough, too. "Well, you'd better get it off your mind then, hadn't you?" He said affectionately, trying to coax her to talk. The sooner she got it off her chest, the sooner he could eat that stew. "Is it a family thing?" Her parents disapproving about something else, no doubt.

---