Chapter 26

Thank you again to all my faithful readers and reviewers particularly TMara, Brambled13, MarilynKC, Brintravlr, Miss Fleck734, Rupert Bear, Kitkat and the amazing Judybear236. As we say here in Dixie, Y'all are the best.

Christine's POV

To face my old friends was hard to do, but I felt that I stood my ground with them. A few months ago I would have been mortified to be placed in such a situation, but I was no longer a frightened child. I had begun my transformation during that final confrontation in Erik's lair. I had ended it this morning when I withstood the storm of his anger. For the first time since he revealed himself to me and everything had gone so wrong, I heard the rich musical tone of my old friend and tutor. There was no sadness or anger in Erik's tone only kindness. Our time in the music room had purged much of our remaining pain and we both found a release in our music. Erik looked at me once more with the same adoration that I once craved and feared. I felt peaceful for the first time in at least a year. I knew, at last, that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I prayed that his pride would not get in the way of a renewed marriage proposal. To his knowledge, I had turned him down on that last night in the lair. He did not know that after those two kisses, which had lit a fire within me that I had truly been prepared to accept him.

When he was done speaking with Nadir in Persian, he came over to me and took my hand in his, very gently. "Come with me. I want to show you something." His voice was so sensual and alluring, like the first time that he had beckoned me to his lair. I could follow that voice to the ends of the earth and still love its rich timbre.

I followed him out into the rose garden; the one where I had seen him last night. The buds had not yet opened, but they already gave off a perfumed fragrance, a promise of beauty when they did. He motioned for me to sit beside him which I gladly did. For a moment Erik and I sat in silent companionship taking in the beauty of our surroundings. In all of the years of our acquaintance we had never before been outside together in the sunlight, enjoying the orb's healing rays. Erik seemed a little less fearsome and imposing in the light, more human, and approachable. He seemed to be deep in thought as if he were deciding whether to say or to do something.

After a moment, Erik broke the silence and searched my eyes, to see my expression. I think that he expected me to be in fear of him as I had always been until now. I could see that he was satisfied that I was content.

He turned to me with his amazing eyes blazing with emotion and asked me "This garden is beautiful isn't it?"

"Yes" I breathed "It really is. It will be magnificent in the summer."

He continued "It is strange that I have always had an affinity for roses. They are very hard to care for because they need constant attention and pruning. They can prick you and hurt you if you handle them wrong. But in the end they are worth the trouble because despite their fragility, they are beautiful. Like a rose, love can be fragrant and beautiful, but it can also be trampled upon and crushed. Wouldn't you agree?" He asked me giving me a fervent stare.

"I do agree with you, mon ange." I replied. What he said was the truth; love was a most difficult, yet beautiful emotion, and both of us had been hurt by our love in the past.

Erik continued "Christian has informed me that my family has lived here since the time of the Romans. The tower behind us was built by the very first of them, a Roman legate who was left here by Caesar to command the border between the Empire and the Germanic tribes. It was said that this legate bore a mark on his face, which was put there by the Roman God Apollo. As you know, I have always been drawn to Apollo and his lyre; particularly the statue on the roof of the Palais Garnier."

Erik's voice mesmerized me, as it always did when he told me such stories; I listened to his voice caress each word. Raoul used to claim that Erik wielded his voice as a weapon to draw me to him; he could do as he pleased with me while I was under its power. But I realized now that I was lulled by its seductive qualities which called upon my soul to commune with his. Perhaps it was a weapon, but it was as much a part of Erik's allure as Raoul's face was a part of his. I could not blame him for using it to his advantage. I fell in love with Erik, at first, by listening to his voice. In truth, Erik's voice could not be anything but seductive and I was helpless to resist its siren call, but our communion sprung from more than just his voice. Our souls recognized their kinship, transcending beyond the bounds of our mortal flesh. It was the reason why his face no longer mattered to me.

He pointed to his mask, and what lay beneath it and continued, explaining "This disfigurement is apparently not unique to me, but has periodically appeared in my family line. While I have always viewed it as my curse, my cousin has a different perspective; he refers to it as 'my blessing'. Christian claims that, in the past, every Mulheim who has borne such a mark has been gifted with genius, and brought good fortune to the family. I am not a huge believer in myths and legends. I have used my knowledge of magic to create seemingly supernatural effects to suit my ends. I have little choice but to use any gifts that I might have."

He stopped talking and looked at me "What I am trying to tell you is that to live with my disfigurement is not easy for me. It comes with many sets of challenges which, up until now, have affected only me. I would offer you my hand in marriage, as I once did in Paris, but should you choose to accept I need you to realize that you would be forever seen as a part of me. You could be subjected to the same cruelties that I have been forced to endure from the moment that I came forth into the world. Most of the world does not see my disfigurement from Christian's perspective but from my own, as a curse; or worse from Raoul's as an abomination. I am viewed as something less than human, a monster, a thing, even a demon. If you were to join with me, you would most like be perceived as either naïve, insane or a social climber. Few would see why a woman as beautiful as you would willingly choose to be the wife of such a repulsive creature. Most of the time, I am not even sure that I should allow you to choose such a fate. To do so is an entirely selfish act on my part. That was why I was willing to let you go with your boy." He looked away despondently.

Poor Erik, he still trusted his own appeal to me so little. I knew that some of it was due to my past treatment of him. I wished again fervently that I could have changed the recent past. I had to settle for reassuring him of my fealty now.

"Erik haven't I proven to you that I do not see you as repulsive in any way. Anyone who would see you as such, is not worthy of attention or concern. I have already told you that I have learned to see beyond your appearance. It may have mattered to me in the past, but not anymore. If you would like to, you may take both your mask and your wig and discard them both forever. I do not love you for either your face, or your hair, but for your spirit."

He was stunned at the ferocity of my emotions "Only a few hours ago, I believed that you had wished me dead; a part of me shared that desire. I had lost all hope of any future happiness. I was a broken man wanting only to entomb my shattered heart in ice. But you have melted that barrier with amazing swiftness. You have renewed my hope for a better future. Now I am anxious that the last barriers between our souls might be broken."

"I would like that as well Erik." I replied. "I really do love you." I told him.

He searched my eyes once more, and must have been encouraged by what he saw. He smiled at me radiantly and stood up from the bench and knelt down before me, and withdrew a ring from his pocket. His eyes beseeched me, as they did before in the lair. He started to speak and I placed my hand over his mouth.

"Stop." I insisted.

He looked at me in anger I could see that he thought that I was going to reject him.

"No." I told him "I only stopped you because I want you to remove your mask and your wig. I want to see the man that I will be accepting. I need to see your true face, not the armor that you believe that you need to face the world."

I could see the anger drain from him. He gave me a glance as if making sure that I meant what I had just requested.

"I would take it off myself, but after the other times that I did so without your permission, I have decided that it is not a wise thing for me to do. Not yet; perhaps when you trust me fully again." I told him.

"I do trust you not to flinch and scream Christine. God help me for being such a fool to do so, but I do trust you." He told me. "I will let you remove them if it pleases you." He told me.

"Thank you." I replied tearfully. I reached over to his face and lovingly and gently removed both of them slowly revealing his face to me. I smoothed down one of the few strands of hair to be found on his head and gave him a gentle kiss on his marred cheek. "That is much better." I told him. "Now I can see the true face of the man that I love, not an emotionless mask." I amazed myself at how little his face was affecting me now that I had accepted that my love for him was real.

"You may proceed with the matter of which you wished to speak to me about." I told him with fake condescension.

He gave me a sardonic gentlemanly bow "As my diva commands, mademoiselle."

He pulled out the ring once more. I could see that it was a completely different ring than the one that I had pressed back into his hand. That ring had been Raoul's engagement ring. I looked at the one in Erik's palm and gasped at its splendor. It was exquisite, a large blue diamond surrounded by a halo of smaller white ones on a white gold band. It was very precious and unique.

"Christian is quite resourceful. He gave it to me before our tete-a-tete this morning. He was quite optimistic that we would reconcile even though I tried to give it back to him. It belonged to my grandmother." He told me as if reading my mind.

Once again he held it out to me in an offering and looked into my eyes with a heartfelt plea. "Mademoiselle Daae, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife? I love you with all that I am. You would make me the happiest man alive should you agree." He looked at me like a little boy asking for a chocolate. His verdant green eyes were irresistibly warm. I think that a part of him still braced for rejection. The sadness within was still there.

I met his gaze and then took the ring and placed it on my finger and replied with equal formality "I would be most honored to accept your proposal monsieur le Baron. I love you as well. " I looked at him and could see the heartfelt pleasure cross his eyes, as if he truly believed that I might have rejected him. My eyes were full of tears of joy. I never believed that I would have the chance to undo the mistakes of my past again. I felt the urge to kiss him and asked "Would you care seal our engagement with a kiss?"

He laughed "Is that what comes next? Despite our differences in age, I have had little experience in asking a woman to marry me, at least not without kidnapping her and trying to force marriage upon her. I trust that I have done better with you this time around?"

I laughed as well and replied "I trust that you have. I don't believe that you will need to gain any further experience in that regard. You are a quick learner."

He smiled "I've been told that I am a genius, but I have certainly not excelled in this area in the past. Of course most women would run the other way if they had a proposal from me, especially unmasked."

"But I am not 'most women' Erik. I am the woman who loves you. Now if you please you may kiss me."

He took his place on the bench and took me into his arms. He explored my mouth urgently and moaned with pleasure. "I look forward to getting to know you better yet mon amour. I do not think that too long of an engagement will do."

He kissed me yet more urgently I responded in kind "I am not sure that I could wait very long either. We have wasted too much time already dwelling on our sorrows. I want to make you happy, exquisitely happy." I told him.

"I want to make you moan with joy. I will make you sing for me and I shall do the same. Let me take you to new heights of pleasure far beyond your fondest dreams." He promised.

"You already have, Erik. Just promise to love me forever and never leave me again, and I will be satisfied." I told him.

"I already asked the same of you. That is all that I ever wanted from you Christine, your love and your companionship." he reminded me of that night on stage, right before I once more betrayed him. This time was different; I wanted the same from him.

"This time my answer is yes." I told him "From here on out it will always be yes."

"Mine too, mon Coeur." He told me.

We sat for a while longer in silent companionship enjoying one another's presence and silently watched the light fade in the sky as the April sun began to set. I caressed both his face and his head very gently more like a mother soothing a child. Despite my past repugnance for them, I found his skin to be soft. I knew that I was the first person to touch him in those places in such a loving way. I could feel my last inhibitions melt away, like the April snow heading into May. A new feeling of acceptance filled my spirit, and I could feel the dormant music stir once again in my soul. It was freed once again from its earthly tethers, alive once more.

I murmured to Erik excitedly "I have found my voice again. Have you?"

He smiled back "Yes, and it feels more alive than before. I feel like I could compose an entire opera in a single afternoon to suit your voice, but of course the irony is that no one would ever hear it. I am still a wanted man back in France."

"For a crime that you did not commit" I reminded him.

"There is that, and Piangi, which was an accident, but still by my hand. Also, I assaulted the Vicomte; he would have me pay for that. At the time I thought that I was being reasonable given that he tried to kill me, but Nadir is right, it served no purpose but to stir him up against me." He reminded me.

"Raoul promised me that he would not look for you." I told him. I only partially believed that Raoul would honor that promise to me. Even after his promise to me, I found him in Erik's lair with many gendarmes. If he found out that Erik and I had reconciled God knows how he would react.

"Do you believe him?" He asked, he could read the truth in my eyes.

"I didn't think so." He continued. "It was such a small mark and I only grazed the skin. It will probably heal with little permanent damage. I wanted to scare him, and make him understand my perspective a little more."

"Raoul does not listen to anyone. He did not really listen to me. It is one of the reasons that I realized that I could not marry him." I admitted.

"He has a young man's perspective of the world. For him there is no middle ground, everything is either black or white." Erik told me "I could never afford that luxury. I was perceived as evil from the time that I drew my first breath. Yet I had done nothing wrong. I was a particularly well behaved child. If my face had been normal, I could have been a good man."

"You are a good man in all that matters. Someday, the world will see you as I do." I told him.

"The world can be damned; I only care what you think. It is all that I ever cared about." He told me insistently.

"Well in that case let me show you what I think." I told him.

We almost went further that night. I am not sure that I would have stopped Erik if he had tried. I was willing to let him take my virginity but he was a gentleman and insisted upon waiting until we were married. I could sense that Erik would be a very gentle and patient lover, and that we would teach one another what to do. I could feel my body tingling even from his light caresses. He seemed to know instinctively where to touch me to draw out the most pleasure. As we watched the sun set on this auspicious day, we both knew that much had changed since the sun first appeared in the sky. Our shattered hearts had begun to heal and forge even a stronger more durable bond than before.