10/3/13: I rewrote Chapter 9, and split it up to span it out with this chapter. Please re-read the previous chapter if you have already read it up to today.

Please review :)

Ch. 10

"You mock me," she said. "But I have suffered a similar cruelty."

"You?" he asked incredulously, turning around to face her. As he spoke, he took slow, deliberate strides until he had almost closed the gap between them. She was caught off-guard by their sudden closeness. "You, who have been born with no misfortune to your face?"

"I have been born with other misfortunes, Monsieur," she mumbled.

He sneered at her comment. Misfortunes, indeed, he thought sarcastically.

Standing before him was a woman with smooth, flawless cream-colored skin, piercing blue eyes and soft brown hair. Her slender but curvacious frame would make any man take notice. There was nothing unfortunate about her!

"And what could they possibly be?" he retorted. "Certainly nothing of severe consequence."

She knew that he had become hard-hearted and resentful because of what he had suffered, but his lack of compassion took her by surprise.

"Enough to warrant the hatred of my husband," she admitted sadly. She did not wish to confide in him, let alone to reopen the wounds that she had been attempting to heal, but she could think of no other way to get through to him. As much as it pained her to speak about these things, she knew that the subject was inevitable for as long as she would be a servant in his household.

Better to get it over with, she thought.

Erik could not prevent the wave of shock that had washed over his features. "You are married?" he seethed.

He knew that women were deceptive, twisted creatures, but this had far surpassed his own imagination. He wanted to laugh with contempt. How fooled he had been to even begin to think that she was different!

"Was," she looked down at the floor and clasped her hands together. Although she was still a wife in the legal term, she knew that her husband had taken a Mistress and had broken his vows to her. In her eyes, she was free of any obligation to him, but to make it a divorce would have been a scandal. Women simply did not leave their husbands, no matter the circumstance. "I would divorce him in an instant if I could."

Erik, still suffering from the initial shock, did not immediately reply.

He imagined what her husband had looked like; a handsome, normal face, most likely lean and well-built. He could feel the hair stand on the back of his neck with envy.

"Why? Does he not put up with your annoying personality, or do you enjoy ripping his heart out?"

As soon as the words had left his mouth, he wished that he could take them back. He watched her take a deep breath and struggle to maintain her composure, and he could see the pain in her eyes when she looked back up at him.

"I loved him!" she snapped back. "He had been the kindest man that I knew during our courtship."

Spare me the details, Erik thought. There were much more unpleasant things that he could think of doing, instead of listening to her rant about another man.

"But I failed to make him happy."

Erik almost rolled his eyes at her. Although she had irritated him to no extent ever since her arrival, he knew that her behavior was not enough to cause a man, who had chosen to wed her, unhappiness. If he had found a woman who was willing to become his wife, he would have been grateful, even despite the annoying habits that she had.

"It wasn't until after two years of marriage that he had discovered that I was unable to have children," she choked out through tears. "At first, he assured me that he still loved me, that he would be patient...but then he met her."

Tears escaped her as she pictured the woman in her mind; stunning hazel-colored eyes, long auburn hair that glistened in the light. She was the epitome of beauty.

Erik himself knew full well what it had been like to watch the one he loved in the arms of another, and he sympathized with how painful he knew betrayal to be. The contempt for her husband had only grown after her confession. How unfair everything had been; Erik would be alone during his lifetime, while he witnessed another man cast aside his own wife for another.

What he wouldn't give to have a woman as kind as Alinah by his side...and yet she could drive him to the point of madness!

He thought of how idiotic this husband of hers was, and then he compared the man's behavior to his own selfish treatment of her. He was probably no better in her eyes, and the thought plagued his mind with dark thoughts.

"She made him so very happy...she bore him a son. Everyone had suspected that he had taken a Mistress, but they did not know who she was, or even what had transpired. They hid it well.

She was invited to live with us. He had reserved special quarters for her, while I was sent to live in the opposite end of the estate."

When she had seen Monsieur Deberaux's expression soften, she continued,

"Everyday, I had to endure her mockery, I had to wonder why I had not been good enough for him. I would see him dote on her and spoil their son."

Erik's jaw relaxed and he frowned as he listened. He could feel the guilt of his previous words forming a lump in his throat.

"His anger eventually manifested itself and he would call me names and scream at me. He would call me useless and pathetic, good-for-nothing. When I would start to cry, he would hit me.

The night I left him, he had grabbed my throat and pinned me against the wall. He told me that I was dead to him. I had kept a small knife in my pocket, and I managed to cut his shoulder and when he released me, I ran. I ran as fast as I could and I didn't stop."

Erik watched her sit down, too weak to stand. She closed her eyes and swallowed the remaining tears. Every time she cried, she felt so weak and cowardly; she hated the feeling. She wiped away her tears and blew her nose in a handkerchief.

Before he could form the words in his mouth to apologize, she left the room without another word.

He sat back down on the divan and let out a repressed sigh, running his fingers through his hair. Once more, he glanced down at the meal before him and his conscience reprimanded him for getting so upset over her thoughtfulness. If only he had known earlier what she had endured, the reason why she had cowered before him, he would not have used his strength and power to intimidate her.

But then again, no matter what challenges she had faced, she had no right to intrude on his privacy, he reasoned.

Part of him wanted to follow her out of the room and to apologize for making matters worse, while the other part was afraid and confused. He could feel his thoughts and opinions struggling in his heart, trying to overpower one another, but to no avail. He was torn as to how he should respond.

After all, here was a woman who just might understand him. And it truly terrified him.