a/n As usual, I'm combining Leroux and Kay and Webber, but this one's got a bit more Kay. Erik is not 13 in Italy, he's 16. He is then 19 when leaving Persia. Rock on.
PROLOGUE
It was painful, really, to be sixteen and in love. She was beautiful, Luciana, but she was positively infuriating. No matter what he tried, she always seemed to find him. Tonight, he had given up trying and was sitting with his back turned to her as she gazed at him. They did not speak—she merely stared while thoughts raced through his head. Thoughts he should not have been having for her—thoughts of lust. Just when he thought that he would be unable to stand another moment of this torture, she turned him to face her, leaning close to press her lips experimentally to his. He reached fumbling fingers up to trace over her cheek. She pressed closer and deepened the kiss, and he was lost. He was drowning in an ocean of need that only she could rescue him from. She did rescue him, and they cried out to each other in that night.
But then he was running from her screams of terror, praying to the God he no longer trusted to never see the vixen Luciana ever again…
He ran to Persia, to a place where women were slaves to men and treachery was as commonplace as breathing. He met Nadir, who took him in, helped him to find a place within the vile Persian court. For once, as a man, he was respected for his music and his magic. So respected was he that he was given the gift of a virgin. Even as the girl trembled on the floor of his chambers, he knew he wanted her but not unless she first succumbed to him. It was on that night that he learned kindness, both from himself and from a woman who knew, even as he moved within her, what his face was.
But then it was done. Not two weeks later, a letter arrived, desperately pleading him to return to France. Collette was in shambles and needed him with her. Jules was dead. She was alone and afraid. She hadn't the money to support herself and her little Meg. Could he please help…
Only after he left Persia did he discover from Nadir, who had been working to clean up the shambles of the life he had left behind, the secrets of the two women he had lain with…
Bellona, the beautiful child named for the Roman goddess of war…
Raja, a child of hope…
His daughters.
