Chapter 85 The evening turns

Meg sat down on the edge of the bed as Madeline retrieved the bedwarmer. She smiled thanking her politely as she left the room. After several minutes, there was a gentle knock at the door. "Come in," Meg called, she knew it would be Raoul.

He came in closing the door behind him, he made his way over to her, pulling up a chair next to the bed, positioned in front of the fireplace. He'd brought with him two small glasses of sherry. Offering one to Meg.

She shook her head, "I've just had something from the doctor." Raoul smiled. "It is alright, he suggested that I offer it to you, it will only make you more comfortable." Meg attempted to smile as she took the glass from his hand. She felt so ugly, so truly repulsive, she could scarcely understand how Raoul looked at the marring on her face with indifference, as if they weren't even there.

They both sipped silently. The sweet cordial was the first liquor that had passed Meg's lips since the nightcap she and her mother shared on Christmas Eve. The sweet fiery warmth as it slid down Meg's throat was almost intoxicating in itself. Meg was very relaxed, her toes even tingled slightly. "I do not know what it is the doctor administered, but I'd dare say it does make you forget your pain!"

Raoul smirked at Meg, knowing the medicine was speaking for her. "My dear, that is the intended purpose!"

She simply looked into the fire, feeling very sleepy. "Meg, I do hope this room meets your approval." He paused, knowing this would be difficult. "Tomorrow, or perhaps the next day, I'd like you to go through the room, and have the butler remove anything that you'd like. I've a tailor who can recover chairs, or fashion some new curtains for you. The closets can be emptied….whatever you like."

Meg sighed. He had sensed what she felt. They both knew who the room had been expecting, and it had not been Meg.

"It may be of some comfort to you to know that no one has ever occupied this room. Christine never saw it, or knew of its existence here." Meg swallowed hard. "Yes, things were prepared for her, but that was not meant to be dear Meg."

He looked down into the fire, as if staring at the same burning ember that Meg was, would somehow connect them through their thoughts. "Raoul, thank you for bringing me here. Your compassion is a bit overwhelming."

Raoul smiled, "you are worth every ounce of it!" He reached out placing his hand most properly over hers. "Meg, time will heal all things. We shall learn how to live again, to trust again…..to love again."

Meg blushed. She didn't know if she would ever become accustomed to hearing him use those words. Part of her longed to hear more, to encourage each dewy note. The other part of her screamed betrayal. She wondered if she would forever wrestle with these thoughts, or if she would have to abandon all hope, and pass on what could be the greatest love she'd ever known.

Raoul turned as he heard the clattering of carriage wheels approaching the house. "That will be the authorities." He said, tipping the last of his glass. "Meg, I shall insist that they not question you, the doctor's explanations should be sufficient. It is possible that on the morrow that you may have to accompany me to their offices, but for tonight do not worry of the conversations you'll hear."

He leaned down kissing Meg on the cheek just under her eye. "Do not worry, rest now, I shall take care of everything." He helped Meg recline, and pulled the soft silken sheets up over her. He reached down brushing her blond hair from her forehead. "Tomorrow is a new day my dear, and with it new hope." He leaned down, closely peering into Meg's one open eye. She closed it as she felt the warmth of his breath on her cheek. She was most certain the he would place another kiss there, but she froze as she felt his lips tenderly brush hers. Her eye flew back open to see Raoul's expression as his eyes began to open. He was smiling, a sweet melancholy smile.

"Rest now." He ran his hand once more over her forehead, and then turned and departed. The door no sooner closed than Meg's chest began to heave. She wanted to scream, she wanted to laugh, she wanted to cry, but somehow, in the overwhelming draw of her weariness, slumber was triumphant. She faded off to sleep. The winds outside the window brushed the branches of the trees to and fro. The warm flames crackled in the fireplace next to the bed, and Meg rested comfortably, for the first time in many nights.

XXXX

"Vicomte, and just how did you find yourself at the house with this young woman," he said looking down at his notebook, "Meg Giry, is it?" He looked back up at Raoul.

He'd rather tired of the officers questions, but knew the situation necessitated it. "And if it's not too much trouble, I'd like to speak with the young lady myself." He said looking rather sternly at Raoul. He was about to object when the physician interrupted.

"I'm afraid that won't be possible sir, as I've administered a rather heavy dose of medicine to her so she might sleep. I'll be most happy to convey to you the extent of her injuries, but I'll not have her disturbed tonight." The officer, exhaled heavily. "Then I'd plan to bring her to my offices in the morning," he said pointedly. "Now sir, kindly do explain how you.." Raoul's father walked into the room, nodding to the physician who disappeared into the study.

He walked over to his son, and sat down. He offered the officer a brandy, which he took but set aside. Raoul was about to speak when his father interrupted. "It's an odd coincidence really, we were having lunch at the Starboard when Meg took ill. She decided to cut her visit short…" his father was rising, and without comment the officer did the same. Before Raoul could really say what happened his father had led the officer out of the room, pulling the pocket doors closed behind them.

Raoul breathed a sigh of relief. The last thing that the family needed now was scandal, and if anyone knew how to keep it at bay, it was his father.

Raoul rested his head in the crook of the chair. He desperately needed a hot bath, and a change of clothing. He lifted the glass of brandy to his lips, pouring in enough to cover his tongue before he swallowed. He looked down examining his hands. He'd never been to war, never been robbed, his own life had never been threatened. And yet, this pair of hands was now different tonight. They'd known malice, they'd felt the very power of life squeezed out of a mortal soul. He shuddered.

Raoul had never even joined in foxhunts, or the like, as he preferred not to partake of such sport. Life was precious to him, and though it was a bit contradictory for a man who enjoyed his roasted meats, he didn't relish the process, or all that it entailed. He turned his hands over and over. Bits of crusted blood still remained under his fingernails. He'd never imagined that he would be filled with enough rage to take the life of another, but time had once again proven him wrong.

He swallowed another gulp. Meg now rested in the very room above where he sat. She'd visited many times, but he'd never permitted himself to think of her as becoming one of its occupants. Time had changed things, circumstances had changed things. He wasn't at all certain where this would all lead, but he had a suspicion that his feelings would only grow with time, and he smiled as he thought about how Meg hadn't discouraged his advances, he could only imagine, she felt the same.

XXXX

Nadir smiled when he heard a rap on his door. He thought Erik would have come to discuss the plan for the morning. To talk about sitting up keeping watch in case the intruder returned. He'd thought about all of those things, and had set about making a plan to take care of the lot of them. He opened the door, and was startled to find Madame Giry. "May I come in?" She was feeling a bit forward, but she needed to talk to someone and she felt as close to him these days as she did anyone. "Certainly," he replied as he welcomed her in, pointing to the two chairs positioned by the fire.

"Nadir, I cannot sleep. I must know every detail about Meg. Was she, did that man, was there more than just the wounds that you described?"

Nadir understood her fears. He reached out putting his arm around her shoulder, leading her to the chair. "Madame, you may rest assured that Meg was not robbed of her virtue."

Madame Giry let out an audible sigh of relief. "I so feared, from what you described…" her face wet with tears. "I am most thankful, most thankful."

Nadir walked over to the decanter that he'd brought with him when he retired for the evening. Without her permission, he poured Madame Giry a small inch of it in a glass. He returned, giving it to her. "For medicinal purposes, I assure you." He tapped her knee as she stared at it in the glass, and then raised it to her lips.

"Raoul was quite shaken when I arrived," he said now pouring another glass for himself.

"It is still a mystery to me why Meg would return so early, without telling us. Something must have happened to make her leave Paris." She looked forlornly at Nadir.

He hesitated, he'd promised Raoul he'd say nothing. "It couldn't have been anything serious, or she surely wouldn't have agreed to accompany him back to Paris now would she?"

Madame Giry sighed again, "I suppose you're right. It is simply perplexes me, she had no reason to worry about us, no reason to return early." Nadir nodded his head. The pair sat in silence.

"Nadir? What do you make of Christine's dreams…have you ever known of such a thing before? How could she have known?"

Nadir looked down, he'd shared only bits and pieces of his past with anyone other than Erik, and revealing too much now did not seem wise. "Yes, I've seen it before, though never in one quite so young."

"Seen it before?" Madame Giry looked confused.

Nadir huffed, sitting back in his chair, rubbing his chin. "It is both a blessing and a curse….telling of the future is. One can see things that others cannot, it haunts them, it comes to them when they sleep, when they are awake. And though they try to escape it, it will not release its grip on their minds."

Madame Giry listened in horror as Nadir described what some he had encountered had struggled with. "They call them Seers." He said, breathing in deeply. "They live with memories, thoughts, of places, things, and faces most of whom they do not know. If this is what plagues Christine, I dare say she will come to suffer for it."

XXXXX

Erik entered the room to find Christine sitting at the newly uncovered vanity, quietly brushing her hair. She turned around slightly, seeing it was him, she smiled, and turned her attentions back to combing out her long dark locks.

Erik had tied the silk sheet over his shoulder, swathing it around his waist, it looked like something the Grecians would have worn, a toga of sorts. Christine's was merely wrapped just underneath her arms, knotted at one side.

Erik smiled as he made his way over to where she sat, holding his side, leaning down to put a singular kiss on her left shoulder. She glanced up at his reflection in the mirror, smiling coyly. "It amazes me how you'd procured all of these things…had them here…it's as if you'd known I'd be here…." She trailed off.

Erik came to rest on his knees, just slightly to the left of her, looking up into her eyes. "It was but a dream my dear…a longing hope of my heart…and now you are here…we are here," he said reaching up to lightly run his hand across her abdomen. She smiled, sitting down the brush, sliding her hand under his face, she leaned down and passed a fluttering kiss across his lips.

Erik stood, reaching down pulling Christine up into his arms, holding her closely to him. When their skin touched, it was such reassurance to their souls that all would be right with the world, somehow made right. There was such magnetism, as if the two parts of a whole could not be kept separate, not made complete, could not exist without the other. They stood in the middle of that large room, holding each other dearly. Compassionately rubbing their hands along each other's backs. Christine's head nestled in Erik's chest, his head leaned down covering hers.

How Erik wanted to lift Christine into his arms as he had so many times before, but he had to be realistic, a quality that was not in his strong suit. Rather choosing to be prudent, he slid his hand down to hers and led her quietly to the bed.

Christine moved slowly up the two stairs of the pedestal until she came to the edge of it, Erik followed her. As she leaned back, pushing the covers away with her hands, Erik came to rest next to her, his eyes smoldering, though she could see pain behind the passion.

Christine slid in to her familiar place in the crook of his arm, placing her cheek and her hand on his chest. "Erik, I do so share in your desires, my advances earlier yesterday in the garden no doubt betrayed me. But I worry…."

Erik looked down at her, lifting her chin so that he could look into her eyes. "Is it the doctor, has he said that we…" Christine kissed his chest gently, returning his gaze. "No my dear….I worry about you. You've been aware of your surroundings for only three days…you've had much to process…much to think about."

He looked down at her, his brow furrowed with concern. She reached up and touched his cheek, her hand sliding along his jaw. "Erik, no doubt you worry, you brood….I can see it in your eyes." Erik glanced away, the smoldering in his eyes now being replaced with another more distant reflective gaze.

"Erik, you could no more protect Meg, than I could have prevented having that dream. There is much that neither of us understand, but will have to accept. Raoul.." Erik felt himself pulling away from Christine. But she continued "Raoul, has been a part of our lives for a long while now. And try though we might, it seems we will not escape him for some time to come. I do not understand why he's taken Meg away from her mother, from us, but I have to trust his intentions are honorable, that he was doing what he believed to be best for her."

Erik closed his eyes. He knew so much more than Christine. He didn't want to burst this tiny bubble of reprieve that they'd created tonight, and tell her of what he knew. He decided to be silent. Perhaps listening would satisfy her for now.

She continued. "I do think Raoul has become rather fond of Meg. Perhaps even more so than anyone realizes." Erik looked down at her "whatever makes you think that Christine? That would only further complicate things." Christine began running her hand across Erik's chest drawing patterns…something she did when she was nervous or distracted, he'd learned that about her. She propped herself up on one elbow, looking down at Erik.

"The dream…I'd not shared all of the dream." Erik, ran his hand up along her back, pulling her once more to the security of his chest. "Do tell me Christine, it is safe here, no one else will know of what you speak." She let out a shuddered sigh.

"While we played cribbage tonight, I'd seen flashes of light, as though the room we were in held ghosts of times past." Erik pulled her closer, rubbing her shoulders. "Go on." She felt foolish sharing these visions, it was as if she'd gone mad and her mind wandered to places it couldn't possibly have been. "I saw darkness, a lifeless body on the ground, and Raoul….Raoul, holding Meg in his arms. Her face was swollen, the fabric of her dress torn to shreds, and he was crying." She paused, stifling an urge to cry. "Then, another flash of light, and I saw him standing by a window, Meg up in his arms."

Erik knew….Nadir was right in his assessment…Christine had the gift.

"Christine, that does not mean…" she interrupted him "there is more. While you visited with the doctor tonight, as I sat at the vanity, I saw Meg. She too sat at a vanity…in a rather curious room. A large bed, silk curtains, elaborate ornaments all about…she was brushing her hair. It was eerie really…almost like we were sitting on opposite sides of the same mirror. Though I could see her, she could not see me." Christine's eyes looked as though she were a million miles from the bed she now shared with Erik. He'd seen that look before in the eyes of another, and it had frightened him then, but it terrified him, for her sake, now.

"Then it changed, somehow changed," Christine's gaze moved, her eyes seemed focused on an image that Erik could not see. "Meg was lying down on the bed, silk sheet pulled up under her chin, Raoul was talking to her, telling her not to worry, and then….I saw him kiss her." Christine let out a gasp.

Erik closed his eyes. It had only been four months ago when she herself had been engaged to this man. Though she was now married to him, carried their child within her very womb, it was obvious in her face that she still held a fleeting fascination with Raoul. In parts of his heart that he'd kept guarded even yet, it made him sad. Some part of her hadn't let go of Raoul, even now.

"Christine, do not worry about Raoul, about Meg, they both….." Christine's blinked through her foggy thoughts as she pushed herself back up to rest on her elbow. "Oh Erik, do not think that I was….no….that is not at all what I was thinking…."

Erik felt a small wave of relief wash over him. "Then Christine, what is it?" Christine settled back into Erik's arms.

"We shall be parted…all of us shall be parted, I can feel it." She sighed, pulling herself even closer to Erik. "I had so hoped, after our reunion at Sara's, our flight from Paris, our long stay together at Courtland Manor, that we had somehow made a new life for ourselves…all of us…together."

Erik understood now. Christine was mourning what she knew would come to pass. She was still so young, and yet her wisdom, and her gift, grew each day.

Erik had found his soul mate, his split-apart, someone who could understand the workings of his mind, the depths of his despair, the intricate details of worry, of foreboding. He would once again have to be her teacher, but now, the subject matter would be far less tangible, more abstract, and a depth of darkness that even made Erik tremble. He would have to teach her, lead her, through battles with the demons in her mind. This they would move through together, one thought at a time.

Erik reached down, taking Christine's trembling lips into his. "I love you Christine. I will help you. This gift frightens you. Memories of a future that has not yet been haunt you. You will learn to come to terms with such things…but for now, you must seek shelter in something familiar, tangible, powerful….it is the only way. There is no way out of this, simply a way through." He rubbed her back reassuringly. "Now, do you know of the Psalms?" Christine looked at Erik inquisitively, "yes, but how does that help me now?" Erik looked down at her, a seriousness in his eyes.

"I've much to share with you my dear, and I shall in time, but for this moment, let me just say, that in my darkest hours, the twenty-third Psalm brought me comfort. Yeah though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death…." Christine and Erik recited it together.

It brought an eerie calm to the room. In each other's arms they found such comfort. Though when the night began Erik's intentions had been more of passion than of peace, now, he wanted nothing more this night than to hold and protect this woman in his arms until she drifted off to sleep.