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Erik

Chapter 50

The Walk

"Nothing to report from the two spies."

I smirked. "So Ibrahim informed me." I looked at Vincenzo, illuminated by evening light. "He also said that Raoul isn't quite so awful as we originally thought."

He laughed, pace not slowing as he walked beside me. Other people were in the Bois with us, but not so many that we needed to whisper. Most park-goers went during the day, when the sun was still above the horizon. The Phantom and the Lord of the Alley-Cats chose to wait for the cover of relative darkness.

"Raoul joined me a year ago," explained Vincenzo. "He would frequent the Cat's Eye Tavern, and badmouth his brother to high Heaven to the other patrons. It wasn't long before I approached him, asking why he was there. He told me that the tavern was somewhere his brother would never look for him - and if he did, then it would likely piss Comte de Chagny off. Raoul liked that. I spent a few months feeling him out, deciding if he was genuine or not, and then finally offered him a position as a spy. It was a short duration of shock, then an almost immediate yes."

"And you really trust him?" I asked. We passed a pond full of ducks to our right. The pink and blue clouds reflected off the water.

"If you'd heard his words, seen his face, when he spoke of his brother, you'd have trusted him too. The tavern was probably the only place he felt he could speak freely about him without word getting back to the estate. Philippe is apparently quite a cruel brother - he insults him mercilessly, belittles him, makes him feel worthless at every chance he has. In front of others, no less."

"For what reason?"

"Raoul won't say. I stopped asking."

"Hm."

"And his parents both died when he was an infant. So Philippe was his father-figure growing up. An unfortunate thing, that."

"Must be quite a significant age difference between them."

"Oh, yes. Philippe was eighteen when Raoul was born. The vicomte is twenty now."

"Their mother waited nearly two decades between children? Or do they have other siblings?"

"No other siblings. And despite the similarity in their features, they only share a father. Half-brothers. He took a while to remarry. I imagine they both look like him."

A short span of silence. If I was honest with myself, I was only half-listening. The peace of the night, the fact that I was walking through a park with the brother I'd been convinced for years was gone forever - I could hardly focus on anything but the tranquility.

No ghosts now.

I'd perform again tomorrow, yes.

But ghosts were the past. The performance was to come. Now, I only thought of the beautiful calm. The only thing to make this evening better was to have my Christine at my other side. But her father missed her and the time they spent together. He took her to supper at a restaurant they used to eat at regularly before Persia. Vincenzo and I took the evening to finally talk by ourselves, and only ourselves. When Gustave learned that these were my plans, he'd frowned but made no comment. Christine kissed my cheek and told me to tell her how it went.

"Let me ask you a question," said Vincenzo, cutting through the quiet. I looked at him and waited for him to continue. He did, "I would love if you joined my Alley-Cats."

I raised my brows, a smile involuntarily taking my lips. "That's not entirely a question."

He grinned back. "No, I suppose it's not."

I listened to the sound of the wind passing through the trees as I considered that. Four, three, two, even one year ago, I would have said yes without question. Of course, one year ago, I would have done anything to escape my role as Angel of Death. But now...

"I can't, Vincenzo," I said. "I have...stability. A wife I adore. A career that actually brings some sort of meaning to me, where I'm making honest money. These are things I never thought I'd ever see for myself. You must understand."

"I do." He nodded. His accompanying gentle expression, soft eyes and small smile, told me he was truthful. "I do understand. I suspected your answer would be as such. But you cannot blame me for asking. For wishing to be Kings of Paris with you, as we were once Princes of Venice."

Warm melancholy passed through me. One single change in my past actions could have meant he and I would never have left Venice at all. Once upon a time, I had prayed I would wake up and be in the Fox Den Inn. But now I woke up next to Christine. I wouldn't change that for anything.

"I have the necklace."

I stopped in my tracks. He did the same. "What?" I whispered.

"The necklace that belonged to Giovanni's wife. When I killed Mario, I took it."

I didn't even know what to say. I was glad he at least had that small token of his wife, of his father-in-law, but - that piece of jewelry was the catalyst for so much loss and pain in our lives.

"I have a room in the Pink Silk Inn - I have many rooms in many places, including the cellar of the Cat's Eye Tavern, but my room at the Inn is where I sleep most. I keep the necklace there, in a lockbox under the bed. It should have passed to Luciana." A pause. "I'll never marry again after her. She was my one and only love."

I looked away, that terrible guilt gnawing, growling, tearing away at my insides like some insatiable beast. No amount of forgiveness would ever feed its hunger.

"I know you loved her too."

I whipped my gaze to his, shock freezing my every fiber. "You...what?"

"I could see it in your eyes when you looked at her." He moved his eyes away. "I could feel your anger at me for marrying her, then at causing the pregnancy that killed her." His face was grave as the darkening sky above. "I am glad you have Christine, and I hope you've forgiven me for what happened to Luciana."

I was aghast. "Me - forgiven you? Vincenzo, I - the whole reason everyone else is-"

"Do not even say it. It was not you who pulled the trigger."

I grit my teeth. "Then it wasn't you who-" Killed Luciana. Killed her baby. Their baby. Vincenzo's baby. God, if Christine were to die like that...become pregnant and then die, taking a baby with her... How Vincenzo was functional at all was a wonder. My mind would have completely broken.

"Thank you," he said. He met my stare. "I know I shocked you when I killed Vaillancourt, but you should know that I want to save lives much more than I want to take them." He inhaled. "To show his thanks, Dr. Beyle offered to allow me to be his apprentice. It won't be full time - not right away, at least. I'm shadowing him twice a week, but that might increase given time. It's no formal schooling - but it's something."

"And that's what you wanted to do, isn't it? Had you not become a thief?"

"Yes." A smile began again on his lips. "It is."