Persephone Unchained
Epilogue
Sophie scowled at the row of flowers that she was tending in the garden. Her gloved hands dug into the earth and pulled yet another weed free. She tossed it onto the growing pile.
"Sophie!" Emma called out from the kitchen porch.
Sophie leaned back on her heels and shaded her eyes from the glaring sun so that she could see the little girl where she stood.
"What is it?" Sophie yelled.
"Come and look!" Emma yelled as loudly as she could as she bounced on her heels and disappeared somewhere inside the house.
Sophie sighed and pulled her work gloves off of her hands and stuck them in the pocket of her rough, stained apron. She leaned a hand against the soil and slowly pushed herself to her feet. Her growing belly was making the daily chores more difficult now. She was nearly in her seventh month of pregnancy, and she was incredibly grateful that summer would soon be at an end. The September days were crisp now in the mornings and evenings, and pleasantly warm during the days whenever it was sunny. It was getting harder and harder to get up and down without help now. In a few more weeks she didn't think that she'd be able to manage it alone at all.
Sophie pressed a hand under her heavy belly to support its weight as she waddled up to the house.
"Emma?" She called out. "Where are you?"
"Upstairs! Hurry!" Emma yelled, her voice muffled from the distance.
Sophie groaned but headed up the stairs. It took her longer than she'd ever admit.
"In here," Erik called out from the direction of the nursery.
Sophie made her way over to the baby's room.
"It's done!" Emma shouted happily.
Erik was standing up on a ladder in the center of the room as he waited for Sophie to enter and inspect his work.
"Oh! All finished, now?" Sophie murmured as she leaned against the doorway and tried to catch her breath.
"If you pull this chain here, then it activates the mechanism which turns it," he instructed.
Sophie left the doorway and entered the room that she'd spent hours and hours painting. The entire room was one giant mural of a forest. Erik had helped Sophie plan and implement the design, but he had allowed her to make it her own pet project. The result was a pastel forest with willowy trees and friendly animals peering out from here and there. Fantastical mushrooms sprouted up on one wall by the scene of a brook that cut through the forest scene. Her favorite part was the wall with fox, who she'd painted to be peering out through the leaves of a shrub. In the center of the room there was the wooden cradle that Erik had carved and painted himself. Its legs were curved for rocking and the handles of it had been carved with vines of twisting roses. The wood was dark and polished.
She stepped forward and reached up and pulled the rope that Erik indicated and watched in wonder as the mechanical mobile that Erik had crafted and suspended from the ceiling cranked to life. The whole thing had been made to look like a starry sky with a round moon and clouds that showed glittering, jeweled constellations between the fluffy clouds. As the mechanism wound itself up a golden sun moved and covered the moon, and the clouds shifted to hide the stars from view. Sophie pulled the cord again and watched the mechanism reverse as the sun was hidden from view, and the clouds parted to reveal a starry sky around a happy, smiling moon.
"What do you think?" Erik asked as he clambered down the ladder and joined her.
"It's perfect!" Emma yelled happily.
Sophie felt Erik's arms come around her. He rested one flat palm along her bulging belly.
"I agree with Emma. It's amazing. But I still don't understand how you made the mechanism with a pull instead of a winding key," she murmured.
Erik smiled down at her before looking back up to the mobile. "Do you doubt my genius?" he asked with mock hurt.
Sophie swatted him on the arm and grinned happily. "Keep your secrets, then, husband." They stared into each other's eyes.
"Ugh, you two are being gross again," Emma said as she ran from the room.
Erik took advantage of the little girl's disappearance to pull Sophie into a deep embrace. He kissed her and took her breath away.
The baby kicked against his hand as he squeezed her to him.
"Ah! My son is already jealous of your affections," he joked as he pulled back from her.
"What makes you think that she's not a girl?" Sophie inquired playfully.
"Don't you know? You married a genius. Besides… his kicks are far too strong to be a little girl. A father knows," he gloated.
Sophie smiled and kissed him quickly. "We'll see."
Their daughter was born exactly five weeks and one day later. The labor pains began at some point in the dead of night. Sophie rose from bed and tried to walk it off, but after hours of being uncomfortable, the pains grew and then intensified. She was sitting in the kitchen drinking a cup of tea when she felt her waters break and leak all down her leg. Not false labor, then. Her time had come. The baby was on its way for real this time.
Erik joined her in the kitchen when she failed to return to bed.
"Erik," she panted between contractions, "the baby is coming. Fetch the doctor," she instructed.
"Nonsense," he contradicted her and helped her make her way slowly back up the stairs to bed instead. "I've read everything there is to know. And besides, I'll not leave you alone right now."
Many hours later their child was born. Erik wiped her brow and gave her sips of water while she labored and grunted and pushed and cursed him for doing this to her. The pain was worse than she'd remembered. How could she have forgotten all of this pain? Sophie felt the pressure intensify as her urge to push became overwhelming. She screamed and grunted as their child was born. Erik pulled the infant to safety and dried the child in the stack of clean, dry cloths that had been set aside for just this moment.
"A girl," he announced as he laid the wailing infant on Sophie's chest.
Dawn broke through the morning sky as Sophie stroked their child's cheek and cried.
"She's beautiful," she announced. Sophie stroked the tiny infant's wispy hair and inspected every finger, limb, and toe. She kissed each one and smiled even as she cried.
Erik took the stacks of cloth and cleaned Sophie of the evidence of her labor. He clipped the cord that bound mother and child together with a wooden peg and cut it through with a clean, sharp knife. Sophie felt him press another stack of cloths against her center to staunch the bleeding.
A few moments later he wiped his hands dry and joined Sophie in the bed.
"She looks like her mother," Erik sighed in relief as he inspected their daughter. There wasn't a single blemish on her.
Sophie smiled at the child that they'd created, "What should we name her?" she asked as she looked up at Erik.
He appeared surprised that she'd leave such a decision to him. His face turned thoughtful as he looked at their child and considered it.
"Aria," he replied finally.
Sophie nodded and smiled. "Aria Magdelaine Ravel," she pronounced.
Aria wailed her tiny, high pitched voice until Sophie covered her with the warm blanket and held the infant to a breast.
Erik's hands sought hers on the bed and Sophie let their fingers intertwine as their daughter found a nipple and began to feed herself. The wailing stopped as sounds of sucking filled the room.
Madame Giry and Monsieur Khan arrived four weeks later for the baby's christening. Both of them cooed and awed over the infant and declared her to be the most precious, beautiful thing that they had ever seen.
Emma helped Sophie dress the baby in her white lacy Christening gown and they wrapped the baby in layers and layers of blankets to ward off the crisp January chill. Then everyone followed suit and bundled themselves against the cold. Together again, they all headed into town to the nearest church for the Christening.
Along the way the carriage hit a bump in the road and set the infant crying. Her voice was loud and robust. She'd be a singer for sure, when she was older, with lungs like that.
Erik pulled the baby from Sophie's arms and sang her a lullaby.
Aria wrapped her tiny fingers around his proffered finger and cooed up at him.
Sophie smiled at the sight that the pair made. Already their spirited daughter had the dreaded, feared, reviled Phantom wrapped around her tiny finger. Sophie grinned at Erik as his eyes rose and met hers from across the carriage.
Sophie looked up from the desk, startled, as Erik bolted into the study and closed the door behind him with a loud bang.
"What on Earth?" she said as she turned in her chair at the desk and watched him as he stalked her silently. Her eyes narrowed at the gleam in his eye. She didn't trust that gleam one bit. Sophie rose from the chair and set the desk between them.
"What's all of this?" she asked him, a faint tremor tinging her voice.
Erik grinned wickedly and set his fingers to loosening the cravat from his neck and the top buttons of his shirt.
Sophie narrowed her eyes at him. Oh no, she didn't trust that gleam in his eyes at all. Her husband stalked her around the music instruments that were scattered about in the study as Sophie edged away from him and that dangerous gleam of mischief in his gaze.
She nearly sputtered when he pulled his shirt from his trousers and threw it haphazardly into a pile on the ground.
"Erik! It's the middle of the day!" she protested weakly. But her knees felt soft and her body was already readying itself for him.
He cocked his head and continued grinning at her as if he could smell the changes in her skin as her desire surged.
"Emma has taken Aria fishing and I, for one, intend to take full advantage of our hour of respite," he teased.
Sophie pursed her lips and played the game, edging away from him and moving around the grand piano that took up nearly half of the entire room. Erik fainted left and tricked her, then dodged right and scooped her laughing form up into his strong arms. She moaned when his mouth caught hers and he held her tightly in the circle of his embrace.
She giggled and felt like a young schoolgirl as he pinned her against the piano and pawed at her skirts. The layers of material slid up her thigh as his fingers reached and found the slit in her drawers. Callused fingertips played against her damp curls and she moaned when he parted her slick folds and found that sensitive bit of flesh between her thighs.
"Hmm," he moaned as his lips slid down from her mouth and dragged against her neck as his teeth grazed the tender skin and nipped. "Me'thinks the lady doth protest too much," he quoted as he sank one finger and then another inside of her.
"Don't quote the bard while your fingers are inside of me," she chastised as she leaned forward and bit his earlobe in reply.
His fingers spread her wide and flicked the sensitive nub in response. Sophie moaned and leaned against him for support as he pinned her against the piano. Her nipples hardened tightly against her corset as he played with her and teased her.
She shrieked a little when he grabbed her by the hips and lifted her up to set her on the top of the piano. And then he was flinging her skirts up even higher and his head was disappearing underneath it all as his fingers abandoned her and his tongue replaced them instead.
Sophie moaned and felt entirely undone as his deft tongue licked her wet folds and teased them apart. A finger rejoined the act and then he was probing her wet, hot depths as his mouth worked at her tender nub. A jolt traveled up her as he hooked his fingers inside of her and found the hidden spot that she loved so much.
Words were beyond her now as he suckled her, and licked her, and caressed her from both without and from within. Sophie reached down and placed a hand on the top of his head to urge him onward as he licked her and flicked that nub with the tip of his tongue. Her thighs quivered in response as his fingers brushed that sensitive bit inside of her while he traced lazy patterns against her with his tongue.
She panted and moaned as he feasted at her like he was a starving man. The familiar knot of tension coiled within her as she arched her back on the piano and pressed him tighter to the space between her legs.
Erik complied and quickened the pace of his thrusting fingers in response. The coil snapped and she tipped over the edge. Sophie moaned in her release as he licked her sensitive, trembling bits until she'd calmed.
Breathless and gasping in the aftermath of their lovemaking she smiled dazedly as he pulled his head free from her skirts and he grinned up at her cheekily.
"Thank you," she moaned in pleasure. "But what did I do to deserve that?" she asked playfully.
Erik leaned over her and slid his fingers up her knee length split drawers until his fingers touched the skin of her outer thighs.
"Let's make a son," he said in response.
Sophie, startled, stared at him from atop the piano. Their eyes met and she saw that he was completely serious. She paused only for a moment before her face softened and she nodded, a blush staining her face.
Erik pulled her from the piano and hoisted her up in his arms as he carried her to their bedroom.
Their second daughter, Lyra, was born ten months later. The healthy baby girl was born with a full head of wild, brown curls and her baby blue eyes faded to a bright, golden hazel just like her father.
Sophie stood at the kitchen sink and watched her children playing in the yard. Emma, now blossomed into the early bud of adolescence, was fending off the two younger girls with a wooden sword. The eldest girl waved the wooden sword against Aria's and Lyra's matching set. The littlest daughter, only four, was doing her best to hold her own against the older girls. They screamed wildly and chased each other in yard, thoroughly trampling the grass and Sophie's carefully planted tulip bulbs.
Sophie opened the window wider. "Not in my flower bed!" she yelled at them, pretending to be more cross with them than she really was. "Take your shenanigans somewhere else!"
The three girls turned to look at their mother, grinned cheekily and shrugged their shoulders, before shrieking even louder and charging off towards the tree-lined brook. Sophie sighed and closed the window with a smile.
Sophie rolled over in bed and felt the lean, hard line of her husband's prone body beside her. She let her hand wander under the sheets until her fingers found the edge of his sleeping pants and the muscled flesh beneath it.
He startled awake as she let her fingers caress the sensitive skin of his lower back and backside.
Her touch trailed upwards until she felt the strong, hard lines of his muscled back. Her fingers traced the lines of scars that had faded slightly with time. Her hair brushed against his back as she leaned over him and replaced her fingers with her mouth. She kissed each silvered scar as her fingers wandered back down to grab at and grope his backside and his thighs.
He moaned and rolled over in bed. Their eyes met as she grinned down at him. His erection tented his sleeping trousers as Sophie pulled the sheet away and bared his glorious body to her eyes.
Rising up onto her knees by his feet she peeled her shift away from her body and she was pleased when the tracking of his eyes stopped on her chest. Despite bearing three children she'd retained her figure for the most part, although perhaps there was a little more fullness to her breasts and backside than had been there eight years ago. Nevermind that her belly sagged a little when she sat.
Erik raised his hands and clasped his interwoven fingers behind his head as she played with her breasts and nipples. Then she was reaching forward and feeling the long, hard length of him as she freed him from his silk pajamas.
Sophie's fingers wandered over his erection and she played with the bead of moisture that glistened at his tip. Reaching up to pull her long, wild hair to one side she leaned down and flicked her tongue against the tip and tasted him.
Erik moaned, but made no move to shift or move away from her as her lips wrapped around him and her free hand dropped to play with the rest of him.
She licked, and sucked, and stroked him as she let him sink in and out of her wet, warm mouth. One hand cupped his balls while the other wrapped itself firmly around his base and lightly squeezed. She used her tongue to lick the length of him, then dropped her head to take him all the way into the back of her throat. He moaned when he hit the back of her throat and he hissed when she let him withdraw just to the tip, only to do it all over again. The junction between her thighs throbbed and dampened at the sound of his moans and grunts as she took his hard length into her mouth.
One of his hands pulled free from behind his head and then his fingers were threaded through her hair as he guided her head up and down his throbbing cock. His fingers fisted tightly as he held her mouth where he wanted it and she delighted in the mixture of pleasure and pain as she licked and sucked at his leaking slit.
Sophie licked another bead of moisture from his tip and savored the taste of him as she sucked and stroked him. His fingers knotted tighter in her hair, as he moaned and kept her mouth wrapped around his throbbing, dripping cock.
She stared up at him through her lashes and she met his gaze as she grasped the base more firmly and began to pump him while she licked and sucked his tip.
And then he was moaning and thrusting into her mouth and hitting the back of her throat as he bucked. Sophie held still and kept her hand at his base, grasping him firmly as she sucked the tip of his cock while he fucked her mouth and searched for his release.
Erik exploded onto the roof of her mouth with a moan. She watched him settle back onto the sheets, tired and spent, as she licked him clean and swallowed him down.
His fingers tightened in her hair at the base of her neck as he dragged her a little roughly up to him for a kiss. She smiled against his mouth as his tongue darted out to taste himself on her lips.
"What did I do to deserve that?" he pondered out loud, his voice husky and dripping honey in the aftermath of his pleasure.
Sophie smiled and kissed him deeply. "Let's make a son," she whispered against his lips.
As she pulled away from him she saw his lazy grin and flushed in her embarrassment. His fingers left the spot where they were fisted in her hair and he reached forward to cup her heavy breast in one palm. Her nipples tightened in response as he leered at her. His limp cock twitched in her hand. His fingers pinched her nipple and made her squeak in surprise.
"As you wish," he murmured. And then he was shoving her back onto the bed and he was sinking his fingers into the damp curls between her legs.
Their son was born eleven months later. His hair was jet black and lightly waved and his eyes turned bright green after just two weeks. They named him Harper.
Sophie looked up at Erik as Harper suckled at her breast.
"No more," she whispered as she closed her eyes against the fatigue. This labor had been her hardest one yet.
Erik leaned forward and placed a tender kiss against the sweat-coated curls that stuck to her forehead.
Sophie screwed her eyes shut and pinched the bridge of her nose as young Harper ran through the house, screaming in delight, while the family dog nipped at his heels playfully. Their blonde shaggy dog, named Sasha, barked in delight as her nails click clacked on the wood floor in her eager pursuit. Apparently the pair of them thought that this was a great game.
"Take that noise outside," Erik called out sternly to the rambunctious lot. The boy and the dog both complied as they threw the french doors open and dashed out into the warm Summer sun. Their playful screams echoed before they faded slightly from earshot.
Sophie sighed in relief as the noises faded to a dull roar and she took a sip of her cooling tea.
Erik flicked his newspaper to crispen the fold as he continued his reading of the headlines of the Paris newspaper.
"I received a letter from the Palais Garnier yesterday," he murmured softly.
"Oh?" Sophie said curiously, letting the unspoken question linger in the air between them. What did they want? She sipped her tea.
"Apparently someone in their management attended one of the ballets that I composed for Vienna. They want to comission me to compose an exclusive ballet just for them," he explained.
"Hmm…" Sophie murmured into her cup as she took another sip. Are you going to do it?
Erik leaned past the edge of his newspaper and their eyes met. Do you think I should?
Sophie smiled and set her cup down and shrugged her shoulders as she took a bite of her scone and chewed. She smiled at him with her eyes as he stared at her while she ate. Do whatever you think is right, husband.
Erik flicked the newspaper and returned his gaze to the headlines on the page.
"Maybe I will," he murmured out loud, and mostly to himself.
Sophie took a sip of tea and smiled into her cup as he began to hum some brand new tune under his breath while he read.
"You know, husband, it occurs to me…" she began, then trailed off.
Erik snapped the paper shut and folded it onto the kitchen table as he looked at her. What is it, love?
"... that we never took our honeymoon. Perhaps once this new ballet of yours is finished we could go traveling," she finished.
"I haven't decided if I'll accept the job... yet," he murmured as he tapped his fingers on the table. "And besides, I'm still finishing that piece for Spain," he protested weakly.
Sophie smiled at him and took a sip of tea. I know that you won't refuse.
Erik tapped his fingers on the table and hummed absently. She was convinced that he wasn't even aware that he was doing it.
"Where would you like to go?" he asked suddenly a few minutes later.
She took another bite of her scone and licked her lips free of crumbs and smiled. "I hear from a very reliable source that Egyptian honeymoons are all the rage," she said playfully.
Erik grinned at her as he picked his paper back up and snapped it open with a flick of his wrist.
"Perhaps the children would like to see all of the beauty and splendor of Paris with their old Uncle Nadir as chaperone and guide," he added as he hummed and flipped the pages of his newspaper.
A warm summer breeze blew through the open doorway. It stirred her hair and scattered the stack of papers and letters that covered their kitchen table. Sophie drained her cup of tea and sat back in her chair, utterly content, and with a smile on her face as her beloved husband hummed and tapped out a song that only he could hear.
Finis