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"Why?" she asked, and the words sounded like she was no longer certain herself

"It’s easier to hide there," he replied

"I don’t hide," she insisted, and he wondered if she kneas a lie

"You hide as well as any of us"

"And what do you hide from? What are your truths?" It was a taunt as much as it was an admission He wished he could see her eyes, which never seemed to hide as much as the rest of her

Because she was not entirely this woht She was not all the confidence she played at She was not all the power in her poise There was so else that made her human That ame nonetheless, and he did not dislike it

He silimpses of her truth more

He set the parcel aside Leaned forward Down Lifted one of her slippered feet froers up over her ankle, enjoying the way the htened beneath his touch He smiled As still and calm as she pretended to be, her body did not lie to him

He wrapped his hand around her ankle, slid the black slipper fros He traced his fingers along the bottoainst the touch "Does that tickle?"

"Yes," she said, on a breath that temptedsliding fingertips along silk, over the top of her foot and along the ankle Hinting at her calf before retracing his path "Here is a truth; the first titon Ball – I wanted to do this"

"You did?"

There was surprise in her words And desire

"I did," he confessed "I was drawn to your pretty silver slippers, all innocence and beauty" He played at the ball of her foot with his thuhed at the sensation "And then I was drawn to so heeled slippers, all sin and sex"

"You followed ry"

"But you aren’t"

He slid his hand to her ankle again, and up her calf, loving the soft silk there, fingering the pretty white stitching on the stockings, wanting to lift her skirts and see her legs, long and clad in black Wanting the her

"Are you?" he prory"

"You like that I know you All of you The two halves" His touch reached the back of her knee and the caress there see, pressing her other foot against his chest, pushing hi his touch "Tell me another"

"Another?" he asked