So sorry about the wait! I promise to update soon. Thank you so much for your thoughts to those of you who are reviewing. You are the best!
Chapter 23
"Erik….Erik? Hello?"
Erik sat at his organ, and for a moment he thought the voice he heard was only in his head, but then he quickly realized that he indeed, had a visitor.
"Erik, it's me… Nadir. I must speak with you immediately!" he called.
Erik left his organ and headed for the sound of Nadir's voice. He found him pacing nervously by the motionless lake near the entrance to his home. Meg was sleeping, and he was glad that apparently Nadir's yelling had not awoken her.
"Nadir, what on earth are you doing here?" Erik asked confused by such a surprise visit. "I thought I was to come to your home when you had purchased the ring for Meg."
"Yes. Well, you were. I mean that's what we planned, and I do have the ring, but that's not why I am here," he stammered.
"Splendid, let's have a look at it!" Erik said enthusiastically.
"No!"
"No? Why not?" Erik demanded.
"I don't mean no. I mean you must please listen to me first….I bring news that I fear you will find most important and distressing," he said urgently.
"What is it you have come to tell me Nadir? Is there some problem with the wedding plans?" Erik asked, now judging by the look on his friend's face that he may have cause for concern.
"You have to send her back Erik, right away, you have to send Marguerite Giry back to the Opera Populaire!" he blurted out.
"What in God's name are you ranting about Nadir? Why would I have to send Meg back? We are going to married in only a matter of days!" Erik replied becoming more frustrated with every passing second.
"You don't understand Erik! The Marquis…. he is rounding up a huge hoard of men to search the Opera from top to bottom! He must have over one hundred men in his assembly. They begin in the morning. People say they may be looking for a body! They say that Marguerite is dead and may be somewhere in the opera house," he spouted breathlessly.
Erik stood silently. He blankly stared at the still lake in front of him. Nadir was perplexed by the expressionless look on his face. He displayed no emotion what so ever.
"Erik? Did you hear me? They are coming in the morning! They will certainly find your home and all your things! They will realize you are alive and start hunting for you again! At the very least you must leave this place tonight," Nadir begged frantically.
"I will not run from that pig-headed imbecile! I will not send Meg away to save my own neck either! I tell you, I will die at the hands of one of the Marquis' brutes before I will give up the chance to marry her," Erik roared.
"You will do not such thing!" a tiny but angry voice cried from behind him.
Erik spun around to find Meg standing behind him wrapped up in a robe, her hair tussled from sleep, and a very distraught look on her exquisite face.
"Meg…I didn't know you were there," Erik said startled.
Meg looked at Erik and then at Nadir. Erik could tell immediately that she was extremely uncomfortable standing before a stranger in her robe.
"Oh, um….Meg, this is Nadir Kahn, a very old friend of mine. He has been helping me with some of the…with some things I needed done," Erik said attempting to be polite in such an awkward situation.
"Pleased to meet you, Monsieur," Meg said blushing with a slight curtsy.
"The pleasure is mine, Mademoiselle," Nadir responded also bowing slightly.
"Please, do tell me…what is all this about people coming to look for me?" she asked directing the question to Nadir.
"Meg, I am not afraid of Marquis…" Erik interjected.
"He is coming with over a hundred men to search the opera for you! They will be here in the morning, and this stubborn fool will not listen to reason!" Nadir said over him.
"Be careful, Nadir," Erik growled.
"You are the one who needs to be careful! You are the one who is going to have your home plundered by a hoard of paid thugs in only a few hours!" Nadir spouted. "This is no time for your stubbornness, these people could kill you Erik…especially if they found that you have Marguerite!"
Meg looked at Erik and then back to Nadir, "But…if I were to return, then there would be no need for them to search for me, and Erik and his home would be safe?" she asked hopefully.
"I cannot say for sure Mademoiselle, but I would think that your assumption is correct," Nadir said solemnly.
"I hate to interrupt your cordial little conversation," Erik said annoyed, "but I have no intentions of giving up my bride out of fear for some pompous old liar!"
"Erik, you must control yourself, please. Just because I go back to opera does not mean that you are giving me up. I will do whatever I need to do to ensure your safety. I cannot bare the thought of people destroying your home or any harm coming to you because of me," Meg said with surprising composure.
"She is right Erik, listen to reason," Nadir chimed in, glad to have someone agree with him.
"You listen to reason! Meg and I are going to be married and no one is going to stand in the way of that!" Erik yelled quite wildly.
Meg walked over to Erik and placed her warm hand on his uncovered cheek. She knew that the thought of her going back frightened him immensely. She looked deeply into his eyes in hopes that he would see her sincerity.
"Erik, we can be married whenever you wish. But I cannot marry you if you are in prison or dead. If anything happened to you I would spend my life as a walking corpse, hollow and empty. I would have had to go back at some point anyway. This is what love is Erik, you will have to trust me," she said with great compassion.
Erik looked instantly defeated. He knew this was a fight that he could not win. His options were very limited. If he stayed in the catacombs, he would surely be putting himself and Meg directly in harms way. If they fled, they would have to spend their lives hiding like criminals.
Damn that Marquis, I swear I will kill him, Erik thought in the back of his mind.
"What will you tell everyone about your whereabouts?" he asked Meg, inadvertently admitting to the collapse of his will.
"I guess I will have to tell them the truth. I will say that I was kidnapped by a despicable man, and then I was rescued by a wonderful one," Meg said smiling at Erik and taking his hand.
"Yes….yes, you could just say that your rescuer would not reveal his name to you…that he wanted to remain anonymous!" Nadir added ardently. "But you must not let on that you have been here with Erik in any way. You must act as though he does not exist. The Marquis will still want to search for your captor, so you must be very cautious."
Erik felt a pain in his chest when he heard Nadir's words. Meg would have to spend her days acting as if he did not exist.
I didn't exist before her, he thought.
"You must not delay Mademoiselle. You must make your presence known first thing in the morning. I am fairly certain that the search will be called off if you are no longer missing," Nadir said with great seriousness.
Meg nodded. She noticed that Erik looked very pale.
"I will not disturb you further, I am sure there are details you will need to discuss. Please forgive my intrusion so late in the evening," Nadir said as he began take his leave.
"Monsieur, please do not apologize. I cannot thank you enough for coming here to warn us," Meg said with genuine appreciation.
Nadir gave a small bow and then stopped, "I almost forgot," he said as he walked over to Erik. With his back turned to Meg he handed him something that she was unable to see. "Good evening to you both," he said before he took one of the gondolas and quickly made his way out of their sight.
Erik stood with his back turned to Meg. He stared in his hand at the sparkling facets of magnificent emerald ring that he had purchased for her. He had come so close to attaining his dream, and now it felt like it was being ripped from his grasp. A dark shadow of resentment seemed to over take him. Once again he felt as though the curse that had followed him his entire life had found him once more.
"I suppose you will be thrilled to return to land of the living, Marguerite. Won't it be lovely for you to once again gaze upon men with whole faces," he said coldly. "I am sure the Marquis will propose to you the moment he sees you. He is already telling the public that you are his fiancé."
"Erik, I do not care an ounce for the Marquis, and I assure you that I intend to make it abundantly clear to him that we are not in any way engaged," Meg retorted heatedly.
"Why wouldn't you want him? He is rich, handsome, and clearly in love with you. All the things that a young girl could want, he has," he baited her.
"I don't find him the least bit appealing, Erik. He is simply not the one I want," she said as he finally turned to face her.
Erik could hardly believe how she could be so stunning when her cheeks were flushed with irritation for him. He suddenly felt desperate to claim her for his own. He wanted to lock her away from the world and keep her all to himself.
"Why will you not just admit that some part of you is longing to return? I know that it must be true!" Erik demanded.
"I won't lie to you Erik. A part of me does want to return, but not for the reasons that you seem to think," she replied honestly.
Erik suddenly wished he had not pressed so hard for the truth.
"Then what are your reasons Marguerite?" he asked with less fervor.
"I want to dance again, Erik, and that is all. When I picture a life with you, that is the only thing missing. It's part of me….it's part of my soul. I believe it is part of what made you drawn to me in the first place. Can you understand that?"
Erik knew that Meg was absolutely right in her assumption that her dancing drew him to her. He remembered how he had first seen her dancing in silence on the stage months ago, and how her beauty and fluid movements were able to lift his soul for the first time in years. How could he possibly deny her something she loved so much?
Unfortunately he realized that as long as Meg continued to dance, she would continue to be the light of the public's eye. There would always be men vying for her attention and trying to win her heart. As much as it thrilled him to know that he had something that all the men who walked above him wanted, he did not know how long he could stand to compete with them.
"I do understand your longing to return to the stage Marguerite. I feel the same connection to my music that you do to your dance. But you must understand that it is extremely unusual for a man's wife to continue to be a performer in an opera house," he paused for a moment and then continued, "Of course, I am an unusual man and this opera house is my home," he said reluctantly.
"Oh Erik, there is nothing about dancing that thrills me more than knowing you are there somewhere watching me. I want so much for you to pleased with me," she said reminding him once again of a little girl eager for his approval. "Besides, I know I cannot be a ballerina forever, and I do not want to spend my days as a ballet mistress like my mother did."
"If you return to performing, we will still be married? You will still be here with me when you are not rehearsing?" Erik asked with anticipation.
"Of course I will. I would marry you at this very moment if I could," she said.
"I cannot give you a wedding tonight Marguerite, but I can give you something else," he said as he took her fragile hand in his much larger one.
Erik slipped the royal emerald ring onto Meg's tiny finger, and then waited breathlessly for her reaction. He wished desperately for her to see this ring as token of his pure love and devotion to her. He watched as her eyes widened and her lips parted but no words escaped them. She stood speechless for several moments.
"Dear God Erik," she whispered still unable to completely find her voice. "I have never seen anything like it, not even on display! It looks like something that should be on the hand of a queen!"
"A princess," he corrected her.
She looked at him with confusion, "What do you mean?"
"The ring, it belonged to the Persian Princess Perysatis," he said very plainly.
Meg stared down out the enormous shimmering emerald that seemed to catch every ray of candle light in the room. The diamond embellishment surrounding it made it sparkle even more. She could not fathom the idea that she was wearing something that had once been on the hand of a princess.
"Erik, I couldn't possibly accept this! I can't imagine the cost, and I don't deserve anything so extravagant," she said still not taking her eyes from her ring finger.
"You can accept it, and you will. Marguerite, as far as I am concerned you are far more of a princess that any woman who has ever lived and you deserve nothing less."
"But… I just…"
"Not another word about it. If I am to be your husband, Marguerite, you will have to learn to honor and obey me, and I insist that you wear it all the days of your life. Besides, my intentions for this ring are not completely honorable," Erik admitted.
"I'm not sure I understand what you mean," Meg said perplexed.
"I mean that I fully intend for this ring to be a bit of a warning sign to any of the foolish suitors who come begging for your affection. Perhaps, you can tell them you are engaged to a dangerous sailor or soldier of some sort," he said playfully as he drew her into him.
"You are very clever, Monsieur, that must be why I love you so much," she replied laughing a little. "I would be the fool to ever take off this beautiful ring, and I never will."
Erik leaned down and kissed Meg softly on the lips.
"You will return to me tomorrow night?" he somehow asked and told her at the same time.
"Yes, as soon as I can, I promise."
Despite his fear and anger, Erik tried his best to seem content with the situation that he had been forced into. Although he wanted more than anything to trust Meg, his doubts were running ramped in his mind. He was terrified that the moment she left him, she would realize how ridiculous it was to ever even consider marrying him in the first place. He suddenly wished he had taken her when she had given him the opportunity. At least then she would have had some viable attachment to him. He wanted so much to claim her as his own, but time would not permit their marriage before she returned to the opera.
Perhaps, Erik thought, there may be a way to ensure that Meg will spend her day above the ground yearning for me as I will for her.
"Are you very tired, my dear?" Erik asked Meg kindly, but with roguish thoughts in the back of his mind. "You will only be able to sleep for a few more hours you know, and I think you probably should try to lie down," he said with no intentions of allowing her to sleep.
"I think I may be too excited to sleep, but I will try to lie down if you think it's best," she said lightly.
"I certainly do. Come with me, my dear," he said as he swept her up into his arms and walked her back to his bedroom.
