"Alanna, are you okay?" Alice asked, one night after a performance. I jerked.
"No." I confessed.
"What's wrong?" She pressed, straightening her gown.
"The season's almost over… And it's only a few more months until I have to leave." I shrugged. And of course there was Erik, but I didn't want to talk about that.
"You still have a whole other season," Alice pointed out. "In December,"
"I know." I murmured.
We entered my dressing room, and I sighed as I picked up a white rose on the vanity, which was tied with a red ribbon. Erik.
"Oh, a secret admirer?" Alice asked, plucking the rose from my hands and examining it.
"Maybe." I yawned.
Alice was anxious to learn more about the rose, but I finally managed to usher her out. I sat heavily on my bed, twirling the rose between my fingers. The trapdoor creaked and I sprang off my bed as Erik emerged.
"Erik-" I said, placing my hands on my hips.
"When I was twelve, I ran away from home," Erik said, cutting over me, "I spent most of my years after in a gypsy fair. I was rescued, and I lived in the Populaire until I was nineteen before I went to Persia for 3 years and returned after I was prosecuted with a murder I did not commit. I was impulsive and obsessive, and music drove anything I did. These are 7 things I have never told anyone else. 7 things only you know, that I trust you with. I want to know you, I'm letting you know me. There isn't anything you could have done or that you could be that can be worse than what I have done." He spread his hands helplessly. "But that excuse won't keep me away forever. I let you in, and there is no way I'm letting you out."
I made myself look him in the eye, and I could see seriousness in his icy gaze. I swallowed hard and blinked at him.
"I am sure that you deserve more than I can give you as a husband," He admitted. "but I want to be a normal man. And I think you are the only one who can give me a chance at that."
"Erik," the words I had prepared in response to push him back caught in my throat. Maybe I didn't want to push him away. But I knew somewhere, that if I didn't, I would have to pay eventually.
"Please, Alanna," He held out his hand, opening his palm to expose a glittering diamond ring. I pressed a hand to my lips and looked up at him. What could I say? What could I do?
Yes, Alanna, bind yourself to the Phantom of the Opera, why don't you? Great idea! But despite what I was thinking, I wanted nothing more than to accept the ring.
"Oh Erik." I murmured. My brain and my heart were at war.
I took in a deep breath, and murmured, "Yes."
Erik smiled and stooped down to kiss me. He had to stoop, considering my height. I sighed as he pulled away. I still wasn't sure whether or not I had made the right decision.
()
The last day of the season was finally here, the last show. These last months had really flown for me, and I don't think so much had ever happened in the space of 6 months, well within the last year or so. My life was anything but boring apparently, and it would be so much easier for me if it was easy.
The last show of the season was on the first day of December, then we would spend the next few weeks preparing for the new opera. Normally there were a few months off for the cast between seasons, but Velluae was very excited and insisted that we start the new season right away. He was had something up his sleeve. Snow had started falling and coating the opera house. I liked snow, it was calm, soft. The opposite of my life.
I twisted Erik's ring around my finger as I sat alone in my room, waiting for Alice so we could prepare for the opera. I shook my head as I pulled it off my finger and concealed it in a drawer of my vanity. I traced my nails over the painted white wood, slightly irritated. Erik didn't want anyone to know of our engagement just yet. I suppose he wanted to make it easier for me, because if I waltzed around the opera house with an engagement ring, people would be asking questions I couldn't answer. I can imagine that conversation.
"Who gave you the ring?"
"Oh you know, the Phantom of the Opera."
Okay I wouldn't say that, but people would want to meet him and it would probably become more complicated than it was worth. Better if I just didn't wear it. I gave an exasperated noise and hit my forehead on my vanity.
"Problem?" Alice asked, looking at me curiously as she entered my room. I lifted my head and rubbed my forehead.
"No." I muttered. Alice rolled her eyes at me.
"Come on, Ala, let's get ready."
"Don't call me that," I snapped, with more ferocity than was necessary.
"Sorry," Alice said, raising her hands in a defensive gesture. I folded my arms and glared at my rubbish bin, where that letter I had thrown away was hiding. I did not have servants in my room every often, in case Erik was hanging around, so the bin did not get emptied very often, not that I had much to throw away.
"Can I call you 'Nana' then?" Alice said with a grin. That got her a face full of pillow.
