"So I became her teacher. I truly became her Angel of Music and she…she…became my obsession. I was determined to place the world at her feet. In the evening, after the rehearsals for the day were over, she would come to the chapel for her lessons."

Until this point, he had forced a certain calm into his word. But, now, he could no longer maintain that control over his own voice. He heard it begin to break as he went on.

"That's went the accidents began to happen. Little things meant to intimidate the managers and remind them that I was the theatre's ghost, that it would be unwise to ignore what demands I might make on them. Adele was my messenger, the only one I trusted enough."

"Did she know about Christine?"

"Of course, she knew," he snapped, "the chorus girls were under her direct supervision and she treated Christine like her own daughter. Yes, she knew…about the lessons, at least. The poor woman never realized the depths to which I was being dragged by an innocent girl!"

He seemed oblivious to the cold and wind as he spoke.

Looking up at him…at her lover…Helene saw that he had been broken. Not once, but over and over. Sometimes by others, sometimes by his own doing.

She reached up to him, offering him her hands. He did not take them.

"Erik, you don't have to say any more."

"You asked to know everything, Helene. And you will know everything!"

His green eyes seemed to take on a strange golden glint as the night enveloped the ruined theatre and the couple that stood on its desolate roof.

"I made certain that La Carlotta met with a little misfortune the morning of the annual Gala. A simple matter of a falling backdrop and she was gone. It was my Christine's chance…and she triumphed that night. We triumphed. Even the Emperor was captivated by her voice…the voice I had given her."

He leapt down from the parapet and grabbed her by her shoulders, his fingers digging into the cape.

"Then your brother came. I knew that night…when I saw her smile at him in that borrowed dressing room…that I had lost her. But I refused to believe that anyone could take her from me. I was her Angel…and I took her under my wings, I took her away. Until then, she thought I was only a spirit. She never once imagined that I was real, that I was a man."

His grip on her shoulders grew tighter, but she kept her eyes fixed on his face even as it became too dark to see him clearly.

"In Persia, they called me the Trap-Door Lover because of my fondness for devising such hidden portals. I had made sure there were many in my opera house. The mirror in that dressing room was one of them. I led her away through it and brought her across the lake. I thought that, perhaps, I could make her trust me…make her love me. And, for the briefest moments, I thought I could."

He let go her so abruptly she nearly stumbled and he yanked his mask away.

------------------

He paused, breathing heavily.

When was the last time I felt the night air on my face…the last time I felt snow on my skin?

He looked down at Helene, saw the tiny white flakes twinkling in her hair.

It's so cold here…I should take her back now.

"She saw my face, Helene," he said, numbly, "she took off my mask…just took it off without a word. When she saw that her Angel was nothing but a hideous demon, she could not forgive me or accept me…she could not look at me."

He seized Helene's arms and leaned over her, trying in vain to find some sign of revulsion in her eyes.

"Your brother…your brother…the memory of my face sent her straight into his arms. He offered her everything I could not. Right here…on this roof…he asked her to marry him. I was there…I heard everything! I heard her tell him of the horrible, deformed face that haunted her and I heard him comfort her."

She was caught between the chill stone of the pedestal and the heat of his body. She could feel his tension in every muscle as he pressed her back.

"Do you know what it's like to be betrayed like that, Cometessa? To have your heart torn from you by overheard words, by a kiss you were never meant to see?"

She knew. She could remember all too clearly finding her husband with another woman for the first time. But it had been worse for Erik…so much worse.

"You know the rest, don't you, Helene? The chandelier…your brother's disappearance….he risked his life to find Christine…and she…she kissed me…to save him. It was at that moment…when she came to me and kissed me…that I knew I loved her. That I love her. And when she left me, it was as if my soul….as miserable and twisted as it is…was taken from me, too."

Abruptly, he let her go and backed away from her. In his eyes, she saw something of the child he had been…beaten, caged, mocked, frightened, alone….

"You're going to leave me now, aren't you? Now that you know what I am…"

He fell to his hands and knees on the snow-dusted leads. And that sight hurt her more than anything he had said to her.

She sank down beside him, doing her best to bring the cape around him as she wrapped her arms around, held him as close as she could.

"Helene, Helene…love me. I cannot love you…but, please, Helene, love me."

She pushed the sweat-damped hair back from his forehead and began to gently kiss his face.

"Erik, I do love you," she whispered against his rough temple, "and I promise, I will never leave you alone."