Disclaimer: I do not own the Phantom of the Opera or any of its characters, they are the brainchilds and brillian of Gaston Leroux, Susan Kay and Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Chapter One

Angel of Music you denied me… turning from true beauty… Angel of music do not shun me… come to your strange angel…

Angel of music… you betrayed me!

The last few words had been spoken so clearly, that it were as though he had been right beside her bed.

Christine woke with a start, her forehead chilled by the slight perspiration forming upon her brow and her heart racing beneath her chemise. She brought her hands to her eyes and tried to bore the images, the haunting melodies out of her mind. Why must he haunt me so? A thin ray of sunlight was trickling in through the slight parting of the curtains, giving the room a serene quality that could only be achieved with the morning light. The window had been opened, Adele, their maid must have already been in this morning. She wondered what time it was as she rolled over to wake Raoul. Christine was met with empty bed, What more did you expect? The nettling voice inside her head questioned, how long has it been since you woke up in his embrace? She pushed aside these thoughts as she heard a soft knocking at the door.

"Madame, are you awake?" It was Adele, the young maid whom Christine had become quite close to. She reminded her painfully of Meg with her cheery nature, vibrant smile and pure heart.

"Yes Adele, you may come in." Christine stretched widely in a very unlady-like manner, but considering there was no-one around to see, she felt very free to do as she pleased. Adele came bustling in carry a steaming tray of delicious smelling foods.

"I brought you some breakfast Madame, you missed main breakfast this morning…"

"Adele, how many times have I told you? Please call me Christine, you make me feel so old calling me Madame all the time," she joked lightly.

"Yes Ma- I mean Christine." Adele said, placing the steaming tray upon Christine's lap. She glanced down at it, savouring the rich aromas wafting from the porridge, French toast and tea she had brought her.

"Adele, would you be able to tell me the time?" taking a bite out of her toast.

Adele promptly informed her that it was indeed very late into the day, 10:30 already. Raoul had left for a business meeting very early this morning and he had given the maids strict instructing not to disturb her, however Adele had thought that at 10:30 she might have been getting a little hungry.

"Famished." Christine giggled and Adele smiled. "Care to join me?" she asked, gesturing to the space of bed beside me. Adele's smile faded.

"Oh, no Madame that would be very inappropriate of me…"

"Nonsense," Christine cut her off, "I am inviting you…You know I get awfully lonely on my own sometimes."

"No Madame, I really shouldn't…"

Christine's face fell slightly, and Adele seemed to notice this, as she climbed ever so hesitantly upon the bed to sit beside her.

"Please, please do not tell Monsieur le Comte about this, I'm sure he would send me away." She looked fearful, "I have no where else to go."

"Adele, I assure you that Raoul shall do no such thing even if word were to slip out, please, for the moment you are not my maid, you are my guest…"

And so they spent the next half hour eating out way through Christine's breakfast, although Christine noticed Adele barely touched anything. The truth was that Christine didn't want to be alone, not right now… she feared that if she were alone that grief-stricken voice would come back to haunt her, as it did in so many of her dreams…

XxXxXxX

"…over there!"

"Who? The comtess?"

"Only by marriage my dear…. filthy little Opera rat she is… how she ever managed to worm her way into fine Parisian society defeats me…"

"Surely she can not be that bad?"

"Don't let looks fool you Clarisse, there's no telling where she's been…"

"Oh, shush…here she comes!"

"Good morning Ladies, fondest greetings to you all. I hope this morning finds you well?" Christine smiled graciously at the two women; one of whom looked flustered and rather embarrassed, the other donned a cruel smirk.

"Madame le Comtess." The cruel-eyed woman sneered, giving Christine a gracious smile which turned out to look more like a grimace. That's right, go on and smile. Pretend you weren't talking about me, Christine mused. "How is your husband? I see he is not here with you this morning."

Christine plastered a smile on her face. "No, Raoul has business with the de Changy estate to attend to, he shall not be returning for another week or so, depending on whether his business goes smoothly. Since Philippe passed away he has had to take on numerous responsibilities." She stated matter-of-factly, despite the feelings of despair in her heart. To show weakness in front of women of this character is to commit social suicide.

"That must be very hard on you Comtess, I can't imagine how I'd feel if it were my husband that was away all the time. You must not see a lot of him nowadays…" Christine tried to keep a passive face; this woman was truly vulgar. "It's such a pity that a husband such as yours… should be such a …. Phantom."

Christine's breath hitched in her lungs, as her eyes shot up to meet the woman's. Was that a smirk on her lips? Surely she didn't know…? The panic must have been evident on Christine's face, as the woman smiled widely, bowing her head slightly before turning to walk off; "Good day to you Comtess." Her lady friend followed in tow.

Christine was left dumb-struck, staring at the woman's retreating form. Who was she?

"Adele," Christine stopped her passing handmaiden. "Adele, could you please tell me who that woman is?" She pointed towards the group of ladies, describing the woman with fiery red hair, fair skin and a voluptuous purple day gown.

"That lady Madame?" she nodded. "Oh, that be the Dutchess of Cornwell my lady."

Christine nodded, "Can you tell me about her?"

Adele thought for a moment. "I don't know much my lady, only what I hear in the servants' quarters and around town gossip. Her name is Cornelia; her husband is Richard de Martineau – the Duke of Cornwell. She stems from an old family, old money, and she's a well-known purist as far as nobility is concerned." Well that would certainly explain her dislike for me, Christine thought grimly.

"Does she, er, ever attend the Opera?" She asked nervously. Adele's eyes brightened.

Of course, my lady, her husband was patron before Monsieur de Changny. Though," she paused, "naturally she still attends the opera; every showing I believe."

Oh, great, Christine gritted her teeth. "Thank-you Adele, you may continue."

If Madame de Martineau attended the Opera Populaire frequently then of course she would know all about the scandals surrounding me, Christine thought miserably, Lord, I hope she was not there the night of Don Juan. She looked over at the Dutchess, and saw to her discomfort that she was gazing steely at her. If looks could kill.

After all the guests had left and the last dish had been cleared away, Christine sat and pondered what to do with the rest of her afternoon. Of course she had taken no pleasure whatsoever in the course of the tea party, good lord she could think of better ways of occupying her time... actually, Christine thought, come to think of it, now that I'm here, that's probably not true. Still, the vulgarity of some the women surprised her. Gone were the days when she thought Carlotta was an unbearable toad of a women, she was an angel in comparison to these women. They truly made over-dramatising, tantrum-cracking and pure unadulterated cattiness and gossip an art form! Well, why wouldn't they be good at it? Christine mused humorously to herself, they do practise it pretty often! Christine would sooner die than willingly invite any one of them for tea again and actually enjoy it.

"Oh Meg," Christine sighed, "how I wish you were here..."

"Well, then I guess the timing wasn't so bad after all."

Christine whirled around to find her life-long best friend standing in the doorway, her blonde hair glowing in the sunlight and a wide grin spread across her face.

"Meg!" Christine ran up to her friend, wrapping her arms tightly around her slender form. She smelled of everything that reminded her of home, candle wax, perfume, lantern oil and a numerous other things.

"W-what are you doing here?"

"Oh, is that the greeting you give your best friend?" Meg smiled jokingly. "I haven't seen you since you left Chrissy, can't I come and check up on you every once in a while? You haven't replaced me have you? You haven't become to good for me?"

Christine grinned. "Are you kidding? You really have no idea how vulgar the women are around here are, I honestly don't know what I'm going to do without you!"
She hugged her best friend again for good measure, her eyes widening in shock, as the formidable countenance of her old ballet mistress, and friend appeared framed in the door way.

"Madame Giry!" Christine smiled fondly after releasing Meg from her death-like grip.

"Hello Christine, my you do look well."

Christine blushed under her gaze. Despite the fact that it had been many months since Christine had ceased being a student of Madame Giry's, she still felt her hawk-like gaze steadily watching and appraising her.

"Christine, I'll allow time for you and Megan to catch up, I have no doubt that there is much to tell. However, I must also speak with you today, in private preferably." And with that she whipped around and strode purposefully from the room.

"Well that was strange." Meg noted, before exclaiming wildly, "but who cares?"

"Come," Christine urged her to sit down. "I want to know everything about anything about everyone!"

Author' Note: Okay, Chapter one, let me know what you think!