“It’s all just a lie!” Raven accused, her dark eyes boring through to his soul; “Your whole life… the both of you… nothing but a lie!” “A front,” Daeron corrected her; “A masquerade for the stage of public view... no different than that of every lord, noble or merchant trying to appear as something he’s not for his own gain.” Laying her head back on his chest, she let the surprising revelation sink in. She had suspected that there was more to his game than luring her into bed, but she would never had guessed this. Then she raised her head to look into his eyes again and asked curiously; “So what do you get out of this masquerade… and why tell me?” “I get a chance to make a difference for the better,” he replied sincerely, raising his head so his lips meet hers, “and I told you because the Tel Teukiira needs those with daring and good hearts.” “But I’m just a thief,” she confessed, but then a thought hit her like a slap in the face and she bolted upright, demanded with a voice nearly choked with hurt and rage; “Was all of this just to recruit me?” “No,” he retorted, rising up to gather her back into his arms, but she sat stiff and unyielding, her body as tense as a coiled snake about to strike. “I told you the truth because I don’t want to play the fool with you... I want you to know who I really am!” She looked deep into his eyes and saw nothing hidden there… no secret agenda… no deception… just his soul laid bared to her and the tension slowly drained from her as she yielded to his embrace, letting him pull her against his muscular form and back down into bed. “I can’t be the first to share your bed,” she cooed, after settling comfortable against him again. “If you… confess your sins… to every woman you bed half of Waterdeep must know your secret by now.” “Hardly,” he laughed at her mock flattery; “a few here and at Blackstaff tower… and now you.” She lay still for a long moment and enjoyed his embrace, the warmth of his naked skin against hers, and the thought that he was risking his life by revealing the truth to her. Then she mused sadly; “You forced your family to shun you to hide your secret… while I’d do almost anything just to find mine.” “I don’t force them to shun me,” he replied in voice tainted with regret, “they’ve done that since the day I was born…. I just feed the image they already have of me.” “And what of Caerden?” she inquired, smiling slyly as she thought about the moon elf’s part in their earlier activities; “Why does he play the black sheep?” “That’s a very long story,” he replied in a heavy, solemn voice as he gently stroked her hair while thoughts of his friend and partner’s motivation for serving the greater good rambled through his mind. Credits: Michael 4 by DAZ3D, Beck for M4 by Morris, Rievel Hair by AprilYSH, Jack of Hearts by Luthbel, Rogue Brotherhood for Jack of Hearts by Arien, DMs Legends by marforno & Danie, BRC - The Cloisters by Redhouse Studios, all from DAZ3D.