Chapter 25

Erik's POV

When everyone left to tour the house, I was alone with only the Daroga and Christine. I knew that my old friend would have doubts about both of our intentions, and although I had believed Christine I could not yet bring myself to trust her completely. The past year had shattered any small trust that I had in my heart so I knew that I needed a more objective person to view our relationship. For that reason I told my old friend that I wished to speak with him in front of Christine. I did not want to put Christine on the defensive since we had only reconciled earlier in the day, but these answers would not wait. I had to pursue this matter gently without making Christine feel uncomfortable but it was important that I do so. If she were serious I wanted to propose to her immediately to bind her to me, otherwise propriety would dictate that I send her back with the Comtesse. I was afraid that my attraction to her was so strong, that I could not live in the same house as her without giving in to my carnal needs.

I addressed Nadir carefully choosing my words "Daroga, I knew that you would want to ascertain that Mademoiselle Daae is not under any duress from me at this time."

Nadir gave me an amused glance and replied "I did not think that you had coerced her this time. The last time that I saw you, it was clear that you had no desire to kidnap her once again."

"No Nadir, it was my intention to never lay eyes on Christine again, but as you can see fate had a different plan for us. Mademoiselle Daae has belatedly discovered that I am not as much of a monster as she had previously believed."

I turned to Christine, who wore a puzzled and slightly hurt look on her face, and explained "The Daroga and I have had little time to speak to one another since he delivered Raoul into my clutches. Unfortunately, the Vicomte forgot all about my old friend that night, and failed to rescue him from my maze. You may have recognized Nadir from the Opera Populaire. He was a frequent patron but he has been more than that to me for many years. He has been my best friend and confidant since I was a very young man. He does not always agree with my actions but for the most part we have remained friends despite our disagreements."

Nadir pointed out "Forgive me Mademoiselle for saying so but our most recent disagreements have revolved around his relationship with you. I agree with the others, that your change of heart towards Erik seems a trifle strange after all the effort that you have made to remove him from your life. To be perfectly honest, mademoiselle, I find myself wondering why I needed to risk my life to show the Vicomte the way to Erik's home, if you were going to change your mind yet again. Your previous actions and feelings cost my masked friend here, his sanity, his home and almost his life. I care about Erik a great deal and I do not want to see him hurt once again. What assurances can you give me that you will not change your mind and go back to your Vicomte?"

In the past I might have defended Christine from such questions, but Nadir was right to be concerned. Christine had never been consistent with her feelings. I had no real assurances that she would not betray me, yet again. I could not trust my own feelings; last time they almost led me to my death.

She faced Nadir, bravely, and told him "I have not been inconsistent with my emotions although it may appear that way. I have loved Erik for a very long time, I just was too afraid of him, and his feelings for me. I persuaded myself that these feelings were wrong and that I needed to be free of him to remain who I was. It was only on that night that I realized that I had it backwards the whole time. I needed Erik to remain who I was; it was my rejection of him that was changing me, not Erik. I explained this all to Erik when I saw him today. I acknowledge who we are to one another. I assure you that I have no desire to be free of Erik any longer. What can I say to help you believe me?"

I could see Nadir looking at her closely as he used to do when we interviewed prisoners. Nadir always had a good instinct for ascertaining the truth and I hoped that it did not fail him now. I wanted his blessing badly. If Nadir could believe Christine's sincerity then most likely she was speaking the truth. After a short time he smiled at me and told me.

"Allah forgive me if I am wrong, but I think that you can believe her Erik, I see no reason for her to be dishonest towards you. She could have married her Vicomte and has not done so."

I was pleased that she had passed the Old Persian's scrutiny. He let little get by him and if he thought that it was a trap he would have warned me. She looked relieved as well. I told her that I would like to show her the garden but first that I needed to exchange a few words with my friend. She took a book in French from a small shelf and settled down to read it.

Nadir looked at me a little trouble and spoke to me in Persian "I do believe her, but be careful with her doostam, even I can be fooled. I do not want to see you on your knees once again. I heard everything that you said that night and how you told her that you loved her, both on stage and then again later, only to be betrayed. Only time will uncover the truth about her. To change the subject, do you trust this cousin of yours?"

"No, of course not." I told him "He is too good to be true. I believe that he is hiding something from me but I have no idea what. Just to be safe, I would like for you to investigate him."

"I think that it is wise, doostam. Tomorrow I will go to Strasbourg and contact my friends in Paris. I am sure that they have associates in Berlin that could help us look into him. Is there anyone else that you would like for me to investigate?"

I told him "Yes, the Comtesse de la Bois. She appears to be who be who she says that she is but there are two different facts that give me pause to wonder about her. My first concern is that she is related to the boy, the Vicomte. They are cousins of a sort. Given their age differences and the physical distance from one another, I doubt that anything will come of it; but if she is close to him and were to discover my true identity, she might be trouble for me. She already knows that Christine and I have a past relationship and she knows Christine's true identity which could tie her back to me. The question would become 'how many masked men' has Christine been associated with in the past? She is a very bright woman and may figure it out."

Nadir nodded in agreement "I have not yet met her, but think that it is wise to keep an eye on her as well. She could definitely bring trouble upon you."

I have another concern which gives me even more cause for suspicion. She was once in love both with my grandfather and with his brother, Christian's grandfather and married a third man, who was apparently their close friend. She mentioned that she would throw a party and bring us all back together again. It sounded as if there had been some hard feelings between all of the parties back then. I want to know the extent of what I am involved with here. I have had enough drama in my lifetime to wind up in another such predicament. Perhaps you should question some of the older servants here to ascertain what occurred in the past."

"We have all tired of the drama in your life Erik. I for one would welcome a break from it. I have spent too many years trying to get you out of trouble and keeping you alive."

"I have done the same for you Daroga, even though you don't quite have my knack for getting into trouble. I sometimes wonder why you put up with me after all these years.

Wouldn't you like to do, as Darius has bidden, and go back home to Persia? The Khanum is dead, I am sure that the Shah would forgive you by now, for helping me escape."

Nadir sighed and looked into my eyes with his own jade colored ones "I do miss Persia a great deal. I miss being among my own people and hearing my own language and celebrating my Muslim holidays with my fellow believers; but when you saved my life and I saved yours we took it upon ourselves to look after one another. I do not take that job lightly Erik. If I did not do it no one else would do it in my place. I know that you are in your heart a good man, and for a time I forced you to become a bad man. Someone who you were not meant to be. I have prayed to Allah to bring you happiness doostam. I know of no one more deserving than you."

"Yet you led the Vicomte to me." I reminded him.

"Not for his sake, but for yours, old friend. I told you months ago that if you tried to force Mademoiselle Daae into loving you that it would be a disaster. I was correct. Did I not advise you that if you let her go, and freely choose, that she might fly back to you? You cannot force love upon someone Erik; you must be given it by free will, or not at all. You cannot control what another person might do any more than you can control the movement of the tide on the ocean sands. When you let Christine go, you gave her the wings to fly back to you and she did. You always required hope and confidence that she would grow, and mature, and find the real man that you are; that you keep hidden behind your mask. Remember, I could hear every word that passed between you, Christine and the boy that night, and in the end I was proud of you, Erik. You did the right thing by releasing Christine without any preconditions, knowing that she might not ever return. You triumphed over your baser nature by sending her away, to be happy with the Vicomte, at the expense of your own needs. It was at that moment that I knew that my years of following you to keep you safe, and out of trouble, were not in vain. I could have died at that moment and spent the rest of eternity in paradise with my wife and son. When you recovered consciousness, you came for me as I knew that you would. I stayed alive because I did not want you to bear the inevitable guilt that you would have felt if I had not survived."

I laughed "You know me too well Daroga, but why would I have felt guilty when you betrayed me?"

"Because I didn't betray you Erik; you betrayed yourself when you took what did not yet belong to you. You betrayed the man that you promised me that you would become, long ago, on that last night in Persia. If you had remained who you were when I made you promise not to kill any more, you would have died inside long ago. It was your hope for a better future that kept you alive." He told me.

I admitted reluctantly to him "You have always had a way of making me feel less wretched about myself. It is time for you to settle in and then tomorrow I will have Yves, my stable boy take you to Strasbourg. I would not have these matters wait. If the boy comes after me once more I will need to be prepared."

"That is why I would have advised you to leave him alone." The Daroga admonished. "Was it worth it in the end?"

"Not really." I admitted "But he did try to kill me, and did so in a cowardly way. If he had viewed me as a man, he would do the right thing and challenged me openly to a duel, as men of his class do. Instead he tried to put me down like a rabid dog."

"Yes but perhaps now you have made him the rabid dog." He reminded me.

"Perhaps." I admitted "But he was too pretty anyhow. His face will have a mark but it will fade and will add an aura of mystery and daring to him. He will not lack for attention from the fairer sex." I added bitterly.

Nadir laughed "Speaking of attractive men, your cousin seems to have taken a liking to Meg Giry. I am sure that you must have noticed."

I smirked "Who couldn't have noticed? Neither party made any attempt to hide their admiration for one another."

"Perhaps there will be two weddings in the near future at this Chateau." The Daroga observed.

"Perhaps." I told him "This old Chateau definitely could use a woman's touch. It appeals more to my Germanic side than my French one. Even my lair had more light than most of the rooms here."

Nadir laughed "It is still better than the prison cell that I broke you out of in Tehran."

"Yes, and also the one that I rescued you from in Istanbul." I reminded him.

Nadir looked over at Christine who appeared to be enrapt in her book. She looked up for a moment and gave me a tender glance. I smiled back at her reassuringly.

"I am pleased with your change of fortune, doostam. It appears that she has finally matured and realized her love for you. I hope that you and she will finally find happiness." He looked at me and smiled knowingly "Take your eshgh and do as you please. You have wasted enough time on speaking with this poor old man."

I laughed "You are neither poor, nor old Daroga, merely tired of dealing with my fragile emotions. I give you leave to take a rest from most of your cares while you are here. I am sure that despite my paranoid fears that have given rise to this newest assignment, your stay here shall be quite tranquil for once. My cousin will be more than happy to hunt or fish with you. You might even convince me to go with you, if you are persuasive enough."

Nadir joked "I doubt that I will find much tranquility here. You never cease to find something new to keep me busy. I am just happy that you did not bring that mirrored maze with you. I did not exactly enjoy my recent stay in it."

"Hmmm perhaps I shall have to build one here. It would go with the atrocious medieval décor." I told him.

We ended our discussion and then my old friend left Christine and me alone once again. I wanted to show her that, in loving me I would give her the world. It had been my intent on that long ago night when I first brought her to my lair, but my disgusting face came between us. Then she was still in many ways a child; she was not ready for what I could give her. Now she had left that child behind and was perhaps ready. My mother once told me that I would never find anyone to love me, because of my face. Perhaps at last I could prove her wrong. Christine had given her heart to me, and I was going to accept it.