Christine played at Erik's piano, softly tapping at the keys. She didn't want to distrub the people gathered around the new mother and baby. She simply wanted something to distract her.

Erik came in the room to hear Christine playing a melody. Halfway through she mixed three of the notes up. He felt the need to correct her. "The C flat goes before the B flat."

Christine turned around to see Erik leaning against the door frame going to the bedroom. He began to approach her. By the time he had taken three steps, he was by her side, pulling her down to sit at the piano bench with him.

He replayed the melody to show her where she had messed up. Of course, it sounded better than she had ever heard it played before. He didn't stop when he finished it though. He continued into one of his own compossions. Something soothing that would lull Christine to sleep and keep her from being argumentitive with what he was about to tell her.

Her eyes were nearly closed when he decided to tell her. He kept playing, choosing his words carefully. "Christine, I need you to do something for me. Tomorrow, I need you to sing in front of the Sultana and her guests. Can you do that for me? Will you sing for me?"

"Will you be there?" Christine said half-awake.

"Of course. I will even sing with you."

"Alright." Christine rested her head against his shoulder. Erik finished playing and looked over to see Christine completely asleep. He picked her up and carried her to his bedroom. Even if she had wanted to sleep in her own room, there was no where to place her with everyone in there.

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He had known from the first time he saw her. She was special. She didn't deserve the fate that life had dealt her. Now he was certain that there was no way he could leave her to the corpse. Leaving a voice such as hers with a demon would surely cause Allah to condemn him for all of eternity.
It was bad enough that he had to be in the corpse's presence while it entertained the shah and sultana. He refused to spend eternity in hell with it.
Although it seemed that fate was condemning her to a life with this corpse, Allah would not condemn her to spend an eternity in hell with it. No. Allah would want his angel returned to him. Her absence in heaven must surely be noticed. He would have to speak to the shah this evening after the guests had retired. Surely, the shah would understand that Allah would not want one of his angels saddled with a corpse.

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The sultana looked around the room as her prized pets were coming to the end of their song. Some of her guests had killed children and not even given it a second thought, but here they were tonight- crying. She knew she had something special. Something no one else in the world would ever own. A demon thrown out of heaven, and the angel it loved and was determined to have belong to him.
The demon occasionally took some persuading to see things her way, but now with Christine here, he would do as he was told. If she could convince Christine to come out of her room with Erik, it would be absolutely delightful. Maybe she would just take Christine away as punishment next time. Judging by the look in Erik's eyes, it wouldn't be long now. She wondered how Christine would act without Erik. Even now, the attention that wasn't going into her singing was given to Erik. It was almost as if she sang for Erik and Erik alone.

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As Christine began on the last word of the song, Erik made one quick motion that wasn't caught by anyone before he was done. He took two steps before grabbing Christine and disappearing out of the room with her in a cloud of smoke. Within minutes, they were back in their back in their room.
Before Christine could utter one word or try to escape Erik's embrace, he captured her lips with his own. It was soft and gentle but demanding. No matter what the Sultana might say, Erik knew the truth. He had seen it in Christine's eyes and heard it in her voice. Christine had sung for him tonight. The room could have been empty, and her song, her soul still would have been his tonight. No words, no actions, and no one would ever be able to take that away from him. Christine's song belonged to him.
When he finally let go of her lips, Christine rested her head on his chest. She didn't care that he still held her in his embrace. For truth was she hadn't let go herself and just wanted to feel safe. In this horrid place that God had forgotten, Erik's arms were the only place that she felt safe and loved.
"Take me home, Erik." Christine whispered into his shirt. "Please. I want to just want to go home."
If it had been anyone else, they would have never have heard her soft, whispering plea. Erik, however, heard every last word and could feel tears start to seep through to his chest. He brought his hand up to her hair and began stroking. "I will."
"When?" Christine raised her head to look at him. Her eyes so full of hope.
"Soon."
"Promise?"
"Just give me time, Christine." Christine nodded at this reply and put her head back on Erik's chest.

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The Sultana wasn't sure what do with Erik. He had openly defied her. Luckily her guests had all thought that it was just add theatrics. The moment Erik and Christine had disappeared her guests had congratulated her on such a fine job and had mentioned that there was no need for the extra theatrics. She hadn't made up her mind if she should just let it go or if she should punish him for it.

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A/N: Oh, where to go from here? Luckily, I already have the next chapter written out. Please review.