A/N: Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters nor do I claim the beautiful romance story from either the book or the movie, The Phantom of the Opera.
Who He Never Knew
Prologue
I lifted my eyes to the mirror, trembling as the sight of my beauty overwhelmed me. A white rose was perched delicately at the top of my right ear, and a veil of snowy netting covered the entirety of my face. Inky black ringlets toppled from the peak of my pale face, and cascaded gently against my exposed, freckled shoulders.
My hands quivered violently, as I let the tips of my fingers trace the dark chain that held the white-gold band that lay against my neck, and chilled my skin as harsh as Jack Frost's breath in the heart of winter. It was his ring. I vaguely remembered it on Christine's tiny fingers.
The straps of the yellowed wedding gown I was wearing clung to the sides of my shoulders, a silky charcoal colored bow was tied proportionally around my waist, and the bottom of the gown was layered in strips of soft fabric to the tips of my knees, roughly ripped and uneven at its ends.
Suddenly, an extremely pale hand crept out of the darkness from behind me and caressed my skin, gently making its way down from my face to the ring that lie at the base of my neck, chill bumps running down my spine as it moved smoothly along my skin. The other hand had slowly coiled around my waist, and ruffled the bow that had graced the dress with beauty.
He pressed his face into my hair, his grip tightening and softening depending on whether I was violently trembling, or almost possessing the stiffness of a statue, as he whispered so carefully that the rasp of his voice was almost inaudible.
My heart was galloping restlessly against my ribcage, and an intense fear spiked within my chest.
I examined the mirror closely; peering at the shadowy figures laced throughout the room, and at the dark figure that stood in an eased stance behind me.
Though shadows clung to his face, and though the mirror was fogged with scratches and cracks, the solitary flame from the red wax candle that allowed me to gaze upon my features removed the blanket of darkness from his yellow, gleaming eyes.
"Meg, will you be my bride?"
