This chapter is rated R for sex
Once all was said and done, I had become rather nervous at the idea of being alone with Erik, despite all of the wine that I had partaken of. Having confided the secrets of my past, I felt so stripped and vulnerable now.
I even could have used Ia few drops of his love potion to steady my nerves, I thought wryly as I went to the basin to sponge off my hands. To my annoyance, they were shaking. As I looked up at my reflection in the mirror, I spied Erik gazing at me with all of the hunger that he had in the library that day.
Feeling quite warm, I undid a few buttons on my blouse.
"You are so charming when you blush," he teased gently, removing his hat and cape.
"Please, Erik..." I pleaded, ashamed of my missish condition.
Closing my eyes, I pressed the cool sponge to my hot face, enjoying the rivulets of water which streamed down my neck and underneath my blouse. The sponge was taken from my grasp. Erik stood behind me and began to caress the sponge along the lines of my jaw and neck.
"I wonder if you blush all over..." he whispered.
I inhaled sharply at his wicked remark, my insides clenching with desire. Dropping the sponge, he spun me towards him and began to cover my face with kisses.
"Please be my wife..." he murmured against my cheek.
"Erik, I agreed. Remember?" I gasped.
"I want to be a husband to you tonight. May I?"
I had dreamed and longed to hear such words for so long. Now it had come to pass. And my heart felt as if it were pounding out of my chest.
"Shouldn't we wait until my divorce?"
"We shall marry in America, I promise…" Erik took both of my hands and kissed them. "But that seems so far away…like forever…"
I felt the same way. Yet, I said nothing.
"You said that you want me…"
"Oh, Erik, I do!"
"You are not afraid of me?"
"No…it's just that…" I swallowed dryly. "If I were to disappoint you, I don't think I could bear…"
He hushed my mouth with his fingertips.
"It won't be like it was with him. I shan't let it be." He brushed a tear off my face with his thumb. "If you are uncomfortable or in pain in any way, you must tell me…"
I trusted him, but I couldn't say the words.
Slowly, I began to unbutton my blouse with trembling fingers.
With a smile of satisfaction, Erik removed my hairpins so that my hair fell wildly about my shoulders. Then he took me in his embrace.
"My Angelica...my brave angel who is not afraid to take this poor soul to heaven..."
Despite my trepidation, I giggled. "You must have had too much wine to say such a thing!"
"I am intoxicated...not with liquor...but with my sweet wife..." he said before lowering his head to kiss the top of my breasts.
I became dizzy with excitement and couldn't breathe. "Oh, Erik, I think I shall faint..."
"Then allow me to remove that damned corset of yours..."
After my blouse, skirt and corset had been removed, I was still light-headed. I sat down on the bed lest I should collapse.
Erik sat beside me, removing his shirt and boots.
What fears I had subsided as I again became aware of the scars upon his back. There must have been at least ten long stripes, marked with angry red scar tissue. I wanted to kill whoever had made him suffer so. Erik must have seen my expression in the mirror.
"I am sorry that you must see these ugly scars, my dear. My souvenirs of the kindness of humanity."
With a look of remorse, he extinguished the last lit candle. I could still see him in the glow of moonlight.
"I wish I could take away all of your pain, Erik..."
He laid down beside me and tenderly reached out to touch my cheek.
"Let us not speak of such things now," he said. "For the first time, I relish living in the present…no regrets of what could have been…no planning for what could be…" He kissed me softly on the lips. "I don't want to waste a single moment of it…not one second of it…"
Silently, he helped me take off my shift and undergarments.
Just like that night before the fire, he slowly began to explore my body with his mouth and fingers, stirring up that uncontrollable fire in my blood. The delicious quivering once again overwhelmed me as he teased me with his fingers. He urged me to cry out with pleasure as it pleased him to hear it.
"Take me, Erik..." I pleaded breathlessly. "Please…take me…"
"I shall, but you must be patient...for I will have you remember this wedding night with fondness. So much so that you will want to relive it again...and again...and again...as will I..."
I was beside myself with wild yearning when he finally ceased his sweet torture and pressed his naked body against my own.
When he entered me, I bit my lip, steeling myself to feel the inevitable pain. But to my surprise, there was no pain, only a stretching sensation as my body accommodated his own.
"Ooohhhh..." I heard Erik cry out. "Oh, my God!"
The sound of his wild ecstatic moans triggered my body to respond with a deep wave of pleasure. I gasped from the sensation. As he moved against me, more contracting waves of the same washed over me. And a curious building up of something else...
With a loud cry, Erik thrust against me one last time before collapsing upon me as if he had died from too much pleasure. For a few seconds, I had almost wondered if he had. I could not help but smile, knowing that I had made him feel this way.
"I am so sorry, my love," he rasped. "That was bound to happen, but next time it will be better for you, I promise."
I did not understand what he meant for it had not hurt at all. In fact, it had felt quite pleasant. But before I could ask him what he meant, he had already fallen into a deep sleep.
Sighing softly, I cuddled up behind him, letting my hands wander along his back and hips. And I was content...for he was mine at last.
Yet I could not sleep. I felt very much like I did during those long nights when I would be tormented by fantasies of Erik entering my bedchamber. I tried singing songs, counting sheep, thinking up stories...but I just kept tossing and turning in discomfort.
After what must have been hours, Erik stirred and asked me if I was feeling well.
"Yes, but I just can't seem to get comfortable," I complained. "Perhaps it is all of the excitement of the last few days."
He grinned as he caressed my bare breast. "Yes, we have had a time of it, haven't we?"
I could not help but cringe at his touch.
He immediately removed his hand. "I'm sorry, sweet. I was under the impression that you liked that."
"I do very much. It is just that it feels so good that it almost hurts. Does that make any sense?"
"Sadly, it does," he winced. "What a brute you have for a husband!"
"I don't understand…"
"Hush, sweet…just relax…"
I wasn't at all sure that I was going to feel any better when Erik began to caress me again. In fact, I felt as if I were about to go mad from frustration.
When he entered me again, he kept his hand between us, continuing to tease me at the same time. After only a moment or so, a long violent spasm unlike anything I had ever known assailed me.
"Yes…that's it…" I heard Erik whisper.
I thrashed about like a wild animal as Erik continued to work his sorcery upon me.
He also lost control, grasping my hips and thrusting into me with quick and powerful force. But rather than hurt me, his actions seemed to provoke more of the same spasms.
When he had finished with me, I thought that perhaps this time I was the one who had died from too much pleasure.
And I slept for the rest of the night...and morning...
I was awakened by Erik's kisses upon my shoulder.
"Come, wife. You are sleeping the day away as it is already late afternoon. We should go home."
I opened my eyes and grinned radiantly at him, stretching like a cat.
"That settles it," he said with a smile. "I must learn how to paint. For I never want to forget how you look right now...my exquisite wife glowing from the pleasure I gave her."
"Erik, you do the most wicked things to me! Are you quite sure it is healthy?"
"The healthiest thing in the world, sweet. You are lucky that you have a well-read and cultured husband."
"How so?"
"Today, it is the common belief that a woman's pleasure is not necessary in marriage; indeed, certain doctors attribute women's pleasure to all sorts of diseases. From the sounds of it, your previous husband must have subscribed to this theory."
Erik held me close as he began to caress my bare shoulder and arm with his fingertips.
"But ever since the ancient days of Greece, philosophers such as Aristotle have acknowledged that men and women are capable of similar pleasures. In fact, it was believed during the days of the Renaissance that the more pleasure a woman felt, the more fertile she would be."
I had trouble concentrating on his history lesson as his hand moved down to squeeze my hip.
"But during the French Revolution, women started to want more freedom. Thus, our bishops and doctors and philosophers have advised otherwise in order to insure that women are kept in their place, unsatisfied in dull marriages."
I moaned as his fingers stroked along the inside of my thighs.
"But I think the Greeks had it right, don't you?" he asked.
"It's awful that women have been so misled..."
"I agree, but that is the state of things."
"I am surprised that you are so well versed on such matters..."
Erik acknowledged my remark with a smile.
"I suppose I have become somewhat of a scholar on the subject. I knew that I would have to have some sort of attractive quality to keep a woman by my side in the unlikely event that I should ever possess one at all. When a pretty little minx moved in with me and wanted me to help her with her opera, I thought it best to review my studies. And again, sweet pupil, you are the fortunate recipient of my vast knowledge."
I took his teasing hand to my lips and kissed it.
"Erik, there was part of the lesson last night that I didn't quite understand. Do you possibly think we could go over it again?"
"Of course, my child. I always strive to be a patient and devoted teacher."
