Mia tried to repress a sigh. It was amazing how much longer a carriage ride seemed when she was with Gaston. "You look handsome tonight," she said softly, daring to make eye contact with her husband. He grunted in reply before shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "I was thinking," Mia continued awkwardly. "That perhaps after tonight, we might enjoy a stay at one of the southern estates."
Gaston shook his head. "I've been called away to London for business."
Her eyes widened. "What? When?"
"I just found out." Mia knew what that meant. She could ask any of the servants and they would have known for weeks. It hurt that he didn't feel the need to tell her anything. "I'm leaving straight from the Masquerade."
"How long will you be gone?"
"A few weeks at most," he replied with a shrug.
"Oh." Mia swallowed the lump in her throat. When she was sure her voice wouldn't quiver, she said, "Well Raoul invited me to spend some time with them. Perhaps I'll accept his invitation."
"I'd rather you didn't. You know how I feel about him."
"It's just that with you gone, I thought…"
He cut her off. "The answer is no Amelia." She forced herself to bite back her response. It looked like she was going to be stuck in the house alone, again. Mia closed her eyes and didn't speak again until the carriage lurched to a halt outside the Populaire.
"Gaston," she started again softly.
"You heard my answer," he said as he climbed out of the carriage. "And my answer has not changed in the past five minutes." He pulled her out behind him. "So if I were you, I'd try to avoid trying my patience."
She nodded dejectedly before taking his arm. No one could know that the two of them were anything but a happy couple. But then again, there were a lot of things that no one could know. "Barineau!" Andre called. The two managers were waiting at the top of the staircase for them.
"Quite the party, eh?" Firmin said cheerfully as the four walked into the grand foyer where most of the guests had already gathered. "What do you think?"
"It's lovely," Mia answered with a rare smile.
"As are you, Madame," Firmin replied as Andre handed her a glass of champagne.
"Thank you Messieurs." She glanced over at Gaston, who was clearly seething. He was a very jealous man, and even though she knew that the managers were only groveling, but it was definitely bothering his husband. Mia knew she had to get him away before he took this out on her. "How about a dance, darling?" she asked, putting her hand on his arm. Gaston nodded gruffly before grabbing her arm and leading her roughly to the dance floor.
Erik spotted his target the moment she stepped out of her carriage. Tonight she would be his. He was going to make Raoul de Chagny pay dearly for taking Christine. First he was going to take Amelia, use her as bait, kill the Vicomte, and once she had no further use to him, Erik was going to kill her too. He wasn't about to let her live, not when she shared the blood of his worst enemy.
First though, he was going to have to get her away from her husband. Erik had overheard him telling the managers that he was going to London for a few weeks, so he had more than enough time to lure the Vicomte back here. The trick was separating the couple. Barineau was obviously possessive and it was going to be hard getting Amelia away.
He moved through the crowd completely unnoticed. Instead of his customary white half mask, Erik was wearing the same outfit he wore during the performance of Don Juan Triumphant. To avoid attracting attention, Erik rarely stopped moving, and whenever someone looked directly at him or made eye contact, he was gone by the time they did a double take.
After watching the couple for a while longer, Erik noticed that even a man glancing at Amelia was enough to set her husband on edge. He wondered how Barineau would react if someone approached her directly. Erik slipped towards a man who had just finished a dance with another woman. "Do you see the blonde in the blue?" he asked softly.
The man started to turn to look at Erik, who was standing behind him, but he stopped when he saw Amelia Barineau. "Yes," the man breathed. "Yes, I do."
"She's been staring at you all night. "She's waiting for you to ask her to dance. You should ask her," Erik goaded.
"Do you think so?" He was clearly enthralled with Amelia. Erik supposed that if she weren't a de Chagny and the sister of his nemesis, she could be pretty, beautiful even.
"I know so," Erik hissed. "Go ask her." The man whirled around, but Erik had already disappeared into the crowd again. He watched as the man strolled boldly up to the Barineau couple, clearly not paying attention to her husband. Erik smirked as Barineau shoved the man backwards, raising his hand to strike him. Amelia pulled him away, quickly preventing any violence. Barineau grabbed her arm instead and dragged her towards the door.
"Gaston, will you please calm down?" Mia cried as her husband pulled her out. "He just asked me to dance. I was going to turn him down anyway!"
"You're going home," her husband snarled.
"Darling, please!"
"Enough Amelia! You're going home and that's final!"
She sighed in defeat. "Fine. I was getting bored anyway. Come on darling."
"I told you, I'm going to London after this party. I have to stay for a while longer but then I'm leaving."
"But what about me?" Amelia asked.
"Go home." Gaston left her standing in front of the door, completely bewildered.
Mia felt tears burning her eyes. She swallowed hard and began to push the door open when she heard her name. "Amelia," a nearby voice called softly.
"Hello?" she called back. She looked around, but there was no one nearby. "Hello? Is there someone there?"
"Amelia." Mia followed the voice, determined to find the source. "Amelia." She soon found herself walking down a deserted hallway, chasing the voice. "Amelia." Mia found herself in the same room that she had accidentally locked herself in last month. Again the door swung shut behind her. Mia whirled around and was horrified to see that it was locked again.
"Help!" she screamed. "Somebody help me!" Suddenly, Mia was roughly grabbed from behind. Mia let out another scream, but a sickly-sweet smelling cloth was clamped over her mouth and nose. She tried to twist away, but she couldn't break the iron grip that was holding her. Her surroundings began to spin. Just before she fainted, Mia saw a man wearing a black mask covering his face.