Ninon knows the Manor better than most. After all, she is sentenced to live her life within these walls (she is not a spoiled brat that does not understand or feel the weight of the privilege she has). She knows every corridor, every room, so well that she could navigate them in the dark. And the advantage of "dallying" with someone such as Benedict is that even if he may not know this particular dark hallway as well as she, the low light would not be a disadvantage due to his eyes.

Oh, those brilliant eyes. Eyes whose very glance thrilled and frustrated her. For one moment they may send a shiver of girlish delight down her spine (despite outgrowing such feelings years ago) and the next, his piercing, stubborn gaze may send the heat of anger through her whenever he refuses to bend to her will, her charms.

But there is one way that she has "bent" him. Although she doesn't see it that way. Of course, none of it is proper for reasons even beyond the fact that he is meant to protect her and nothing else. It was difficult to resist, he is difficult to resist and it seems he has similar thoughts about her.

So they play this game now. She does her duty then she slips out, hiding somewhere for him to find her and then... well.

She hides now, in the dark, behind a statue of some ancient man whose name she does not care to recall (but could if she were pressed). She is silent, although she does cool herself with a silk fan, knowing full well even that subtle motion will give him hint enough as to where she is, along with the gentle, rosy scent of her perfume.