"Roxana! Roxana Destler!" Erik called, walking through the empty house followed by Raoul.
"Wait here." He instructed the boy, who nodded.
"Erik?" He heard her small worn voice call from her bathroom. He darted up the stairs,taking them two at a time to get to her. He found her in the tub, fully naked, but that did not matter at the moment. Her face was what mattered. Her eye was swollen nearly shut, her cheek was purple and swollen and her lip was swollen and had scabbed over.
"Roxana..." He cried, kneeling at the tub as she modestly covered herself, still leaning her head on the edge. "What did he do to you?" He asked, swallowing the lump in his throat at the sight of her. No woman should ever be treated that way.
"He had his way..." She whispered, her voice cracked from the sobbing she had been doing. He shook his head.
"This is all my fault. I should have never left you here. The Vicomte is with me and we are going to take you to his home." He said and she nodded.

"Fine Erik...whatever you think." She said, scaring the hell out of him. She had never agreed with him on anything and for her to just submit, frightened him to the core.
"What, no protest?" He asked, smiling for her benefit. She sighed.
"I am too tired to protest." She said trying to open her right eye. He scanned the rest of her body for bruises, feeling heat come to his face when the reality that she was naked set in. Sure, he'd seen naked women. The Shah in Persia had women when and where he wanted them, but Roxana...it was too jarring.
"If you blush any more you will explode." She said, trying to laugh. He pulled her up by her arms, making it a point to look straight at her face and draped her dressing room around her.
"Is Ana alright?" She asked and he nodded.
"She's very shaken up." He said and Roxana sighed.
"Poor baby...how is my Jamie?" He nodded.
"Perfect." He said, guiding her into her bedroom.

"No corsets for you...the bruises on your ribs could get worse." He said, pulling out a soft dress for her to wear.
"Erik...that dress is blue." She said and he nodded.
"It's time for you to wear color again." He said, pulling it over her head. She had put on her chemise and stockings. He quickly brushed her hair and she braided it before he grabbed her black velvet cloak from her closet after packing a few of her things, and pulled it around her. As he did, the chain around his neck came out of his collar.
"Erik...you're wearing my wedding ring around your neck." She said and he nodded.
"To keep it safe. I am horrible with valuables..." He lied, but she only looked at her hands. "Come on, the Vicomte is waiting." She said and he nodded.
"I know what his name is Roxana. I only had to hear about him for the past seven years." He said and she smiled to herself.

"Oh God..." Raoul said, when he saw her and she waved him off.
"It's nothing." She said and he shook his head. "I had no idea...I never knew he was like that with you." He said and she shrugged.
"No one did Raoul." He couldn't look at her for he knew if he did, he would cry. "Come on." Erik said solemnly, nodding to Carolina. "Take the night off. Come with us." He said and she nodded, pulling her meager coat on.
"Is that your coat?" He asked and she nodded. He shook his head.
"This week, we are going to get you and Ana new things." He said and she began to protest.
"Please my lord...it's not so bad..."
"Hush. We are going whether you like it or not." He said and Roxana had to laugh.
"I think having power over this household has gone to your head." She said and he nodded.
"You're damn right."

"So how did you two become friends?" Erik asked Roxana as she sat across from Raoul. She laughed.
"Our parents were friends. My father worked closely with the Comte de Chagny. My father owned the museum in town with all of the ancient artifacts in it. He was an archaologist. We've been to Egypt, Persia, India and even China." She said and Erik's eyes widened.
"You've been to Persia?" He asked and she nodded.
"My father met my mother on one of his expeditions, but they were forbidden to see each other because she was the only daughter of the shah." She said and Erik gasped.
"Darya?" He asked and she nodded.
"How did you...?" She began and he shrugged.
"I used to do magic for her and entertain her father." She said and Roxana nodded.
"Oh...well long story short, she eloped with my father and the shah was so angry, he banished her and told her if she ever returned she would be executed in front of the entire city of Tehran."

Raoul watched her in fascination. He'd heard this story before, but she'd never talked about her mother being banished. Christine had told him that the Phantom had spoken of Persia once or twice but she'd never asked questions. It must have been where he learned his tricks and his art of killing. Erik chuckled.
"So you're the rightful Princess of Persia?" He asked her and she looked at him.
"I suppose so..." She said, the realization coming into her eyes. She laughed. "Not that I ever want to meet my grandfather." She added, continuing with her story of how she and Raoul had become close.
"So my father brought me to the Chagnys once when I was six to play with the girls but I was older than all of them, so it wasn't much fun. Raoul was sitting so quietly, so I asked him why and he began to talk to me. The rest is history. We were friends all throughout school and although my best girl friends were Rachele and Angelina, he was always the person I could turn to for help."

Erik studied the young man for a few moments as he laughed, remembering he and Roxana's school days.
"Were you two ever...an item? Did you court?" Erik asked and Roxana looked up at him as if he were mad.
"Goodness no! There was never anyone for me but Justin." She said sadly. "Andrew never even noticed me until I came home from finishing school all grown up. That was just before Justin proposed to me. I wish he never had." She said quietly, all of the horror from earlier coming back.
"Put it from your mind..." Raoul said softly and she nodded.
"I just want to wake up next to Justin...this is all a nightmare..." She said, burying her head in her hands. Erik shook his head.
"I wish it were. For you Roxana, but it is real and we musn't run from reality. I did that for too long and look where I ended up." He said. Raoul's own words ran through his mind as he looked at the pitying gaze Erik held on Roxana. Forget this waking nightmare...

"My lady!" Ana cried as Roxana was held between Erik and Raoul. She threw her arms about her mistress before moving to hold Carolina, who had all of Lady Roxana's things.
"Sweetheart, the master has told me he is taking us for new clothes tomorrow." She said and Ana looked up at Erik.
"I've never owned a new dress." She said and he nodded.
"You will now." He said seriously as Christine came into the hall and shrieked in fright when she saw Roxana's face.
"Don't bring Jamie out here just yet." Roxana said softly, her voice hoarse. Christine nodded, coming to take her off of Erik's hands and guiding her gently to a room she'd had prepared. She bit her lip, looking back at Erik.
"Um...as of right now, there is only one furnished guest room, so you will have to share it." She said and Roxana looked at her husband.

He nodded slightly, pursing his lips so tight that they turned almost white.
"Your hands are like ice Roxana." Christine said, trying to warm them as she brought her into the guest room, where a fire had been prepared. She picked up a wool blanket and wrapped it around the girl.
"I just want to sleep." Roxana muttered, crawling into the bed. Christine nodded and turned to leave but Roxana stopped her.
"Wait. I need to ask you something Christine." She said and Christine looked at her expectantly. "Are you in love with Erik?" Christine stopped dead.
"I...no. I love him, I do...but not as he wishes. It would be unfair." She said and Roxana nodded.
"Were you ever?" She asked, pressing further. Christine shrugged.
"Honestly I was so blinded by the illusion he'd created I thought I was at one time, but the hurt from his deceit was always there when I found out. Roxana, he made my life a living hell." She said, sitting on the bed.

"I owe him everything and he made my life a nightmare. I fell in love with my childhood sweetheart and he made me feel guilty about it. He led me to believe he was an Angel of Music. My father used to tell stories to me." She said and Roxana nodded.
"Yes, Raoul passed on some of those stories to us." She said and Christine nodded.
"He taught me to sing through that guise...He used my music to bind me to him and yet I can never resent him or hate him. I just don't love him romantically. I wanted to...oh, but I did...but I couldn't...ever since I'd first met Raoul...he was the only one...and when I left Erik that night...I wanted to kill myself for what I'd done to him. I wanted to kill him for what he'd done to me...but if I'd have stayed with him, it would have been only to save Raoul. You can't force someone to love you!" She said and Roxana stared at her a moment, letting the story sink in.

"You did the right thing..." She said softly, resting her head on the pillow. "He would have never been truly happy with half a love...if he could learn to let go...he could find love, he could..." She stopped, breathing heavily. "The only thing holding him back now is me..." Cold realization hit her like a brick. "He deserves to be happy." She whispered. Christine gasped.
"Roxana...are you falling for him?" She asked and Roxana bolted straight up.
"Goodness child! Are you mad? Of course not...I just don't want to be someone's ball and chain! Justin was the only person I can love...and he's dead. Of course I am not falling for him. He's a stubborn pig with the poorest temper and the personality of a rabid dog." She said as Christine laughed.
"Well, I wouldn't say a rabid dog..." Christine threw in and Roxana laughed as Christine darkened.

"What is it?" She asked the girl who looked at her.
"Andrew is courting my sister, Meg Giry." She said and Roxana's eyes narrowed at the thought.
"How old is she?" She asked and Christine sighed.
"Two months younger than I." She said and Roxana brought her hand to her head.
"Oh God...I just realized something..." She said and Christine looked at her expectantly.
"What?"
"Andrew threw my finances into a horrible downward spiral before I married Erik. While going through some of the files he'd left around my husband's study, I found some documents including a copy of their grandfather's will with a codicil added stating that Andrew would get a large sum of money when he married...he's in horrid debt and has a penchant for women and gaming. He has to get married..." She said and Christine moaned in grief.

"No..." She said laying her head on her knees. "Meg." She cried. Roxana petted her curls.
"Just talk to her..." She said and Christine looked up at her tearfully.
"I tried today...she's found a new circle of friends it seems. Your warnings about Sissy Avenant and Jacqueline Marquet were well founded. They led her straight into Westcliff's trap." She sobbed and Roxana pulled her into a tight hug.
"I fear your sister doesn't want to hear the truth and if that is the case, then she is in for a world of misery...not to mention the contract also stated they get half after their wedding and the rest when they produce the first heir. If this doesn't happen before Andrew is thirty-two, then the money will now go to James...the heir to the Westcliff fortune." Roxana watched as Christine went from grief to hope.
"Maybe he will tire of her..." She said and Roxana shook her head.
"He knows I will not divorce Erik and has no authority or respect to press charges against him."

Christine nodded.
"Even if he wanted to, Raoul and myself would never press charges and I read that the managers of the opera tried to go to the police but in the end had no proof of who he was beside his face. The last I heard, they'd found some rapist with a burned face, who the managers just agreed to say was the Phantom." She said and Roxana rolled her eyes.
"How bloody corrupt the law is..." She said. "Erik is damn lucky." Christine nodded.
"Oh woman are you still jabbering on?" Erik's voice came from the door. Roxana glared at him with the one eye that would open.
"Go to hell Destler." She muttered, laying back against the pillow. Christine looked in shock from Erik to Roxana. How could a married couple speak in such a way to each other? Yet, she could see they were joking. They were friends as she had never had the chance to be with him. He always treated her as if she were nothing but a delicate flower that would wilt at the first drop of rain.

He took his suit coat off and threw it across the chair.
"Ana is getting James ready for bed." He said and Roxana looked at him.
"I suppose he is sleeping between us." Erik whirled around and looked down at her in horror.
"We are...sharing this bed?" He asked and she held her hands up.
"Where else would one of us sleep?" She asked as Christine began to get up to excuse herself. Roxana held her wrist, holding her in place.
"I'll sleep on the chair." He said, eyeing the leather armchair. Christine winced at the thought of someone sleeping in an armchair. Roxana rolled her eyes again.
"Oh shut up...you'll sleep here...unless you can't resist my feminine charms..." She said batting her good eye at him. He laughed at her.
"I think I can manage." He said sarcastically, "Besides...you look like hell."