I know it has been too long! Forgive me... I have been out of town. Please review and enjoy!
Chapter 26
As Erik guided Meg through the shadows of cellar tunnels pulling her with great urgency, she started to become wary of the reasons for his decision not to wait to consummate their relationship until their wedding night. She looked at him with his back turned to her as they rushed to his bed, and could not understand what would have changed his mind after he had been so adamant about the idea of them being married first.
Perhaps he no longer intends to marry me. Perhaps now that he knows that I still want to dance in the opera he has no desire for me to be his wife.
"Erik, please stop for a moment," she said feeling the need to confront him about his sudden change of heart.
"Yes, my dear," he said turning to face her with his cool green-eyed stare that seemed even more intense in the flickering light of torch he carried.
"Erik, I need to know why….why you no longer feel the need to wait until we are wed to…to…"
"Make love?" he said finishing her sentence, as he wrapped his arms around her and gave her a deeply amorous kiss.
Pulling away from him slightly and looking up at him she replied, "Yes… it was so important to you that our marriage be pure only yesterday. I don't understand why now you do not seem to care about it being such."
Erik new exactly why he wanted to take Meg this very night, and it had nothing to do with not wanting their marriage to be pure. He simply could not endure another day of her being away from him knowing that he had no genuine claim to her. However, he was certain that this would not satisfy Meg as a reason to bypass their wedding night, so he decided it was best to simply avoid her question.
"Well…why haven't you felt that it was important for us to be married, Marguerite? Don't you want your first experience of physical love to be with your husband?" he asked, trying to turn the conversation around so he would not have to admit the reasons for his actions.
Meg paused for a moment and then gently brushed Erik's black hair away from his face; she looked at him lovingly with her soft brown eyes and said, "You ask a valid question my love, and the only answer I can give is that in my heart and in my soul you are my husband. My mind has been filled with you and no other man since the first night you spoke to me on the roof of this opera. I have already given myself to you completely mentally and emotionally, so I have felt no need to deny you physically."
Erik's face instantly changed from a look of slight defensiveness to a look of utter disbelief. Meg's reasons for not waiting until they married were based on true devotion and love, and his were based on selfish jealousy. Erik had not felt such self loathing in all his afflicted existence. He truly felt unworthy of the unconditional love that she enveloped him in. It amazed him how the beauty that exuded from within her could make her exquisite face and perfect features pale in comparison.
He grabbed her and held her tightly as tears began to roll down his cheeks.
"Meg, how can you love such a demon?" he asked with his face buried in the blond locks of hair on her neck. "I wanted to make love to you tonight so I could claim you, to ensure that you would belong to me, and no one else."
Meg returned Erik's embrace, "Erik, you are not a demon. You mustn't brutalize yourself so. I am sure there is a part of me that feels the same way about you," she said quietly.
Erik's gaze met hers, "What do you mean?" he asked.
"I know it is terrible of me, but I think it would be somehow satisfying to know that I am the only woman you have ever been with," she admitted shyly.
"Marguerite Giry, it seems I find more love for you every time you speak. When you are here with me and I can see your face and touch you, it is not difficult for me to feel your love. But it seems that the moment you are out of my sight my mind and soul are taken over by hideous doubts that tell me you will never return to me," he confessed holding her petite head in his hands.
"I am yours Erik, and some day you will know it. You will believe in it," Meg replied, and tenderly kissed him on the lips.
"I was wrong to attempt to forgo our wedding night, Meg, and it is something that is oddly of great importance to me."
"Why do you value the idea so much, my love? I assume it is not out of your religious convictions," she asked slightly in jest because she knew Erik had little faith in anything other than his music.
Erik let out a deep sigh, and Meg knew that he was about to reveal some truth to her. In the yellow light of the tunnels she felt as though they were the only two people in the world.
"I am not altogether certain," he replied pulling away from her gently, beginning his usual pacing back and forth as he did when he was in deep thought. "The idea of becoming one with another person was a dream for me that I thought would never come true. Most women that I have encountered have been terrified of me, even my own mother. You see Meg… I have watched many a married man squander the love of a good wife with adultery or mistreatment. I used to say to myself in the back of my mind that if ever given the chance to find love, I would honor and cherish it like the precious gift that it is. I vowed that if only given the opportunity I would never take my love for granted, and I would always try to make things as perfect as possible. Perhaps, this is why I place such significance on the whole notion," he concluded as he turned to hear her reaction.
"You set a very high standard for yourself, I'm afraid," Meg said with an understanding smile. "Does this mean that we are no longer in such a rush?"
"Indeed, we are not," Erik replied grandly extending his arm for her. "I pray, my dear, that you tell me every detail of your day, to keep my mind off of any other lustful thoughts that may try to enter my mind."
When they had finally made their way back to Erik's chambers, he had had immediately made Meg some tea and sat her down to listen to every encounter that she had experienced during her day in the opera.
"Tell me everything, my dear, no detail is too small," he said inquisitively.
"Well," Meg began, "I hardly know where to begin. Nothing was as I expected."
"Whatever do you mean?" Erik asked perplexed.
"I was so nervous about telling everyone where I had been and what had happened to me. I was so sure that people would ask a million questions, and that I would confuse my story, but…."
"People were not concerned… they did not ask questions?" Erik asked still a little confused.
"No… no… people were concerned, especially Darcel, Liana and Madam Badaeau. They were all gravely worried about me. But mostly… everyone seemed to keep asking if I had seen the Marquis, or if I had talked to him."
Erik felt his blood beginning to boil inside his skin. Just the sound of his name on Meg's lips made him furious, but he would try to control himself for the duration of her story.
"Go on, my dear," he said trying to sound calm.
"Oh yes, here is the best part of the whole day," Meg said excitedly. "The new opera…the managers brought me into their office and told me all about it. It is called Le Belle Helene…do you know it?"
"In fact, I do." Erik replied slowly sipping his tea. "Prince Paris and his seduction of the married Helen of Troy leading to the ten year Trojan War… it has a quite decent score for a new opera."
"Yes, well you will never believe what I am about to tell you. Monsieur Jacques has already asked me to play the leading role of Helen! I don't even have to audition! He said that with all the scandal that has surrounded my disappearance people will be lining up at the door to see me. Although… it is a very unorthodox way to get a part, but isn't it wonderful jus the same?" she asked pleading for approval with her big doe eyes.
Wonderful, my wife will be playing the role of the most beautiful woman in all of ancient Greece… so much for keeping her hidden away, Erik thought.
"I can think of no one who would be more appropriate," he said attempting to share in her enthusiasm. "But Meg… is there not an aria sung by Helen in the second act?"
Meg looked down and her faced flushed with red, "There is… and I know you must think I would be just dreadful, but it is very short, and most of her lines are only one or two at a time."
"I was not aware that you sang, Marguerite," Erik responded.
"I am not surprised, monsieur," she replied snidely, sipping her tea and glaring at him, "I am not nearly as talented vocally as some."
Erik decided based on Meg's temperament that it was best not to continue the conversation on its current course. He exactly where it was going.
"And what of the Marquis, my dear, did you ever encounter him?" he inquired hoping to change the subject.
"I did, and Erik he is not as dreadful as either of us thought," she said displaying that clearly his plan had been successful. "He came to speak to me when I was leaving the managers' offices. I was quite cold to him at first, but then once he explained everything, I realized that it was all a misunderstanding."
"Um…forgive me, but what exactly did he explain my love?"
"Well, I confronted him about saying that we were engaged when we are not. He told me that he feared that after my disappearance without any husband or family, no one was taking responsibility to search for me the way he thought that they should. So he said that we were engaged so that he could take up the matter himself without seeming as if he were over stepping his bounds. Wasn't that ever so kind?"
Erik felt as though he might be sick. How could Meg fall for such lies?
Clever old bastard, he thought. He's got her thinking he's a saint for God's sake.
"He said he was just so glad to see that I had returned and remained unharmed. He asked several questions about my abductor, but I told him that he kept me blind folded," she continued.
"Very good, Marguerite, it seems as though you had a very full day indeed," Erik said swallowing all of the angry words he wanted to shout about the Marquis.
"There is one more tiny detail, Erik," Meg said hesitantly.
"Yes," Erik said raising the one eye brow that Meg could see.
"The Marquis asked me… if he could tell the public that are wedding was postponed because of the kidnapping. He assured me it was just to save face and that very soon he would announce that the engagement was called off," she said quickly.
"And what did you say to this?" Erik said as his voice began to rise.
"I told him I would think about it," she said quietly.
"Think about his Marguerite, you will be my wife very soon, and no matter what lies this fool has filled your head with, I won't have it! Do you hear me? I won't!" he roared.
"Fine," Meg cried back, "but he was only trying to help me, and I don't see what harm it could do!"
Erik crossed the room to Meg, and grabbed her by the shoulders roughly. He looked straight into her eyes.
"You will tell him the first time you see him that this cannot continue, and that you will not see him again!" he growled.
"I will tell him, but not seeing him will be difficult," Meg replied meeting his angry gaze.
"Why is that?"
"Because…he is the new patron of the opera," she said, knowing his reaction would be violent.
Erik picked up a candelabra from the floor next to them and heaved it across the room. He grabbed Meg with both arms tightly and put his lips up to her ear.
"I don't care if he is the new patron, if he knows what is good for him, he will stay away from my wife!" he hissed.
