Author's Note: Beginning of the end, folks. Beginning of the end. Enjoy, and leave a review if you're so inclined!

Escape

Christine was content to lie on the forest floor all night. She had hurt Erik and he had abandoned her because of it. She had made a mess of everything and saw no way of repairing the damage she had done.

'He hates me. I don't deserve his forgiveness.' She sobbed noisily into the ground, her tears spilling onto the dirt.

"But I love him," she sniffled softly. "I love him."

Christine wiped her eyes. Knowing full well that she could not stay in the forest, she slowly made her way back to the stables, finding Nacre along the way. After putting the horse back in her stable, she made her way back up to her room, hiding her mud-caked clothes and slipping into bed. With a sleeping Raoul beside her, Christine cried herself to sleep.

XOX

Raoul woke her up; he was using the in-room hairdryer. She was already thoroughly annoyed with him and she hadn't been up for two minutes. She did not want a repeat performance of yesterday though, and tried to remedy her fight with Raoul while consecutively thinking of the best time to tell him she did not want to marry him anymore. Ideally, she wanted to shout it out. Thinking of the repercussions of this, though, made her shudder with fear.

'No, not yet. We have about a week left. I'll tell him when we get home.'

She discussed her plans for the day with him. He planned on going to town all day and she wanted to spend her's in the library. To Christine's surprise, he agreed to her proposal and the two went their separate ways.

The day passed without much interruption. She had a nice breakfast and was able to finish a few books that had caught her attention. She took tea in the library, where a few other château guests joined her in a pleasant conversation over books. With other plans for the day, Christine was eventually left alone by her fellow conversers. She immersed herself into her book again. Time flew by and before Christine knew it, it was 10 p.m.

'I have to get to bed,' she thought, knowing who prowled these corridors at night. As much as she wanted to talk to Erik, she did not want to incite his anger further. 'No,' she reasoned. 'An appropriate time to talk to him will present itself eventually. I'm not going to push my luck.'

She glanced at the south-west wing, and seeing no one, mounted the 72 steps to her room. She pulled her key from her pocket and was about to open the door when she heard a strange noise coming from inside her room. She pressed her ear to the door and it soon became clear what was going on. Two voices, one male and one female, clearly not talking. Fury blinded Christine as she opened the door and barged into her bedroom.

What she saw confirmed her worst suspicions. There was Raoul, naked and thrusting into a young blonde woman he undoubtedly picked up while in town. A scream of rage escaped Christine's lips. The noise, that sounded more like the cry of an animal than that of a human, made both of the busy figures jump. They leapt off each other, the girl pulling up the sheets to hide her exposed breasts. Raoul, left without a cover, grabbed a pillow.

Christine was beyond furious. She stormed into the room, shrieking at Raoul and the woman.

"Get out, now," Christine said to the girl, her voice quiet but quivering with venom.

The girl did not need to be told twice. Grabbing her clothes which had been strewn about the room, she rushed out, red with embarrassment and shame.

"YOU," Christine now rounded on Raoul, who was hastily trying to pull on a pair of pants. "You pig!" Christine felt her face flush; she was just getting started.

"How dare you cheat on me? I was never anything but loyal to you! And now you betray me like this? How dare you?" She picked up a pillow and hurled it at him

"Christine," he started, dodging the pillow. His voice was calm, but had an edge to it. "Christine, listen to me," catching the other pillow she hurled at him. "I can explain!"

"Explain!" she shouted. "I don't think you need to explain anything. I think it's pretty clear that you were screwing her! Or did I get it wrong? Is there another whore in here too?"

"She was not a whore!" he yelled, angry now.

"Oh, and now you're defending your skank? Great, Raoul, just great."

"Like you're blameless!" he yelled incredulously. "You've been gallivanting around the château and the town without your wedding ring on! Who knows how many men you've blown while you were here!"

"I have never!" Christine yelled. "And if I had, better them than you! With all the women you run around with, who knows what STD's are crawling all over your body! You make me sick, Raoul."

"Yeah? What are you going to do about it? The only reason I had girls on the side was because you wouldn't put out! 'Christine the Prude'. What was I supposed to do?"

"Respect me, Raoul!" she cried out, exasperated.

" 'Respect me, Raoul,'" he mocked in a high and whiny voice. "What's to respect? You are a woman and worthless. You are an orphan and you are poor. You aren't worth the dirt on my shoes." With that, he spat at her feet.

Christine's mouth gaped open. In two long steps, she closed the gap between her and Raoul and slapped him hard across the face. He gasped and turned his head towards her again, earning him another blow. Christine's eyes were glowing with anger, a flame behind her pupils taking over all reason. She was being led by passion now, and there was nothing left to do other than to let it take over.

She looked defiantly into his eyes and pulled the engagement ring off her finger. She held it up for a second, the light reflecting off it's multi-faceted surfaces. She then threw it at his face.

"It's over, Raoul. I will not marry you. Not now, not ever."

Then, Christine saw the same passionate gleam in her eye's reflected in his. She was suddenly afraid, just now realizing how much bigger and stronger Raoul was. He advanced upon her slowly, and she started to back up to a wall.

"Not ever, eh? Well, maybe I can change your mind about that."

He lunged at her, a feral snarl escaping his lips. He caught her arms in his hands and pinned them above her head. He smashed his lips to hers and grinded his body against her own. Christine was repulsed by him; he smelled of another woman's sex and she could taste cheap liquor and cigarettes on his breath. She kept calm though, knowing she could escape.

'Simply fighting him won't be enough. I have to get away from him. I have to run.'

Before Raoul could shift his attention to the lower parts of her body, she kneed him in the groin. He brought his hands down quickly, bring down hers as well. She was flung to the floor as he doubled up in pain. Now was her chance.