Chapter Sixteen – To Find a Ghost

Antoinette

Paris 1875

"Antoinette, really! It's been more than two months since he left! Stop fussing over it!" I sit at the table in our parlor, my head in my hands. It's too much. I have tried for the last few months to forget the fact that a young woman I consider my daughter is doing God knows what in Persia and is followed by a man who doesn't know what's good for him…it really is too much for me. Then again, how can I not?

I do not consider it my own fault that Christine and Erik are both gone. Quite the contrary, I tried to stop them both, though to no avail. The stubborn ballet mistress will never leave me. "Antoinette," Gaston says more calmly, "there is nothing left for us to do." My husband takes my hands and holds them tightly. "They are adults, Antoinette, and they must make their own choices. What happens now is between them and God." I bury my face in Gaston's shoulder, crying like a small child. My tears don't cease when we hear a knock at the door.

Gaston gets up from my side and hurries to the door as I dry my eyes. There is some scuffle in the hallway about it being the butler's job to open the door, but it sounds as though my husband prevails. My ears are met with the jovial lovely sounds of my daughter's voice. "Mama!" she shouts, running to me before she is even fully on the threshold of the parlor. I embrace her tightly and kiss both of her cheeks while Gaston greets the Marquis.

When Christine ran out on her supposed wedding to the Marquis of Luxembourg, leaving Meg in her stead, it was discovered that the Marquis had no real interest in the widowed Vicomtesse de Chagny before they were betrothed. And so he and Meg were married. Now, I look upon my daughter, the Marchioness of Luxembourg, and I am temporarily glad that Christine was not in her place. "Mama, Charlie and I have the most wonderful news!" It makes me chuckle how she's taken to calling her husband, Charlemagne, Charlie.

"Well, Meg, tell me!" My daughter takes my hands in her own and they are shaking.

"Mama, I've only just found out; I am expecting!" Meg's twinkling blue eyes sparkle with a fire I haven't seen in her in a long time.

"Oh, bébé, that is wonderful!" I hug her tightly and feel her kiss my cheeks profusely. "My daughter, a mother! I am so happy for you, my little Marguerite." But somehow I cannot be happy. Somehow I feel like my heart does not lie in my daughter's womb but somewhere else, somewhere much farther away and yet so much closer to home.

Chandra

"I have found him, Chandra." I stand from my chaise as my husband enters the room in a flash of color. He walks to me immediately and takes my hands, though in public he would never touch me outside of duty. In private, however, he relishes the fact that I am a romantic and sensual woman.

"You have his whereabouts, I assume?" He nods. "Indira!" I call, knowing full well that the ante-Khanum is standing just beyond the threshold into my room. She hurries to my side and bows politely to my husband.

"What is it you ask of me, my lady?"

"It is all too simple, Indira," I begin. "This man, this Sir Garnier, has been found and he will be severely punished for what he tried to do to Chri….Risa." I catch myself nearly using the girl's real name and not her assumed one. Indira nods. "Indira, men are powerful but they are also incredibly weak. Men will stand up for what is right but they will fall at trivialities. We need to find Garnier's weakness and twist it for our own purposes." Indira nods.

"But how?" she asks. "He's terrifying, Chandra! Did you not see him? He's like a ghost!"

"Then we will just have to be unafraid." I pause for a moment and look to my husband, who nods. "Indira, I want him in your bed by two evenings hence. Seduce him, treat him lavishly, give him whatever he asks for. I will come for him once you have had him. He will be sorry he ever hurt my girls."

Erik

The little inn I am staying in can be described as one of many things, ranging from seedy to crap hole. All of them, however, describe my nearly indescribable mood. Still reeling over my actions towards Christine, I dragged myself into a bar and drank as if the liquor could fill the gaping wounds in my heart; I ended up drunk and hurt.

Maybe it wasn't worth it for me to try and find her. Granted, I had good intention to start with, but to think of what I've become in my anger…

I rise from the small, insect infested bed and walk over to the wash basin full of murky water below a cracked and dirty mirror. Not bothering to look at myself, I pull the mask from my face and dip it into the nearly opaque liquid for a few seconds, rubbing my fingers across the porcelain to get any grime off of it. I pull it out from the water and dry it off on my pants only to find that it's been tainted by the mud in the water.

Cursing the poor living conditions, I replace the mask on my face and pick up the little purse of money I was given by the Daroga. There is quite a sum inside, at least compared to the rest of the city's inhabitants, and I will get along for quite some time if I spend wisely. As I finger the coins in my hands, there is an annoyed knock at the door.

I walk to it and open the creaking wood only to find a somewhat familiar young woman, maybe ten years older than Christine, and two guards. I must look like quite the sight with my sweaty shirt hanging open and a mud-stained mask on my face. "Excuse me, is Sir Garnier here?" the girl asks me.

"You're looking at him," I reply, almost sarcastically. "What is it you want?"

The girl gulps, either out of fear or something else. "You are requested at the palace. You may follow me."

"Who has asked me to come?" I inquire of her, a little uneasy.

"It is a personal request of the Shah, sir. I suggest you heed it," the girl says, her golden eyes boring into me and I'm certain for the first time in my life that somebody can see right through me.

Christine

"Christine?" Chandra's voice travels through the wood of the door to me as I lie on the bed. "Christine, I've brought you your tea." Chandra has brought me my tea? Every evening one of the younger girls brings me tea to put me to bed, and at first I did not enjoy it, but the exotic drink has grown on me. However, it is unusual that the Khanum would bring bedtime tea herself.

"Come in," I respond and Chandra opens the door, coming inside with a little tray and sits on the edge of my bed. "Thank you," I say, taking the teacup almost greedily and taking a sip. The tea burns its way down my mouth and throat but it is a nice feeling now that I'm used to it.

"How are you feeling, Christine?" Chandra asks as I drink down the lasts of my tea. To tell the truth, I'm feeling slightly woozy already from the tea; the exotic spices don't work well and never have with my European body. "Mentally, of course," she adds, sensing my discomfort.

"I'm fine," I reply dully.

"Well," she begins, "I am about to make your day much better." She pauses for the effect. "We have found the man who made an attempt at you." I nearly choke on my tea, surprised at Chandra.

"Y-y-you f-found him?" She nods, and I feel very faint. Nobody could catch the...him. Nobody, not even dozens of armed guards. And the Shah and Khanum have? This is inconceivable! My feelings of dizziness and nausea come over me and I feel myself fall backwards onto the mattress, the remnants of my tea dripping over the blankets.