Hello all, sorry about the long wait. I'm going to try to post once or twice a week for a few weeks here; I'm going to have this baby in about six weeks and I'd like to have as much of the story up as possible by then! Hope everyone likes getting a chance to see Cesar again.

Chapter 37. July 1887.

Christine halted, staring. "Erik! That's Cesar!"

"Yes, it is," he answered blandly. "I was intending to take you for a ride on him, out into the country."

So this was why he'd wanted her to wear the other dress. She'd ruin this one riding a horse in it. She thought momentarily of admitting her mistake and going back to change, but then she saw the amused look in his eyes and decided she wouldn't give him the satisfaction. She tried a different tack.

"Erik, what on earth is Cesar wearing?"

"A pillion seat."

"A what?"

"A pillion seat; a place for you to sit securely behind me. I designed it."

"Erik, I'm pregnant! What if I fall off?"

"You will not fall off," he said impatiently. "Do you not see the stirrups? You won't fall off unless I do, and that will not happen."

"But…how can you be sure?" she asked.

"Because I designed it."

She heard the renewed irritation in his voice clearly; he hated it when she questioned his ability to do things. She chewed on her lower lip. She did want to go, but…

"But... I'll have to ride astride."

"I do not recall that that was an obstacle before. You did quite well at it."

"I'd been playing Siebel, I was wearing breeches!" she said hotly. "And you had hypnotized me! You – you kidnapped me and made me ride that way! I didn't know what I was doing! It was an awful thing to do. Why would I want to do that again with you?"

"Yes, my sins are infinite," he agreed, and his voice was like sliding velvet. "Pray do continue enumerating them. I am sure it is doing me a world of good. In the meantime, however, I do not want to leave this poor beast tied up in the dark any longer while you invent more reasons to stand here and argue. Now, do you want to spend the day out of the city or not?"

She did, very much. It had been very thoughtful of him to arrange this for her, a whole day in the country she missed so much. Stalling for time, she said sulkily, "Everyone will see us. It would be terribly indecent, riding astride with my skirts hiked up."

"No one will see us," he said, now sounding exasperated. "They are not awake yet."

She raised startled eyes to him. "What time is it?"

"About four a. m."

"You woke me up at – at three in the morning?"

"You went to sleep very early last night. Seven o'clock, in fact. I thought eight hours of sleep were likely to be enough, and I knew you would not want to ride through the city in the fashion you describe in the daylight. I was intending us to be out for quite a long time, till after the sun went down."

This was all sounding better and better. To ride out under the stars, to watch the sun come up. to spend the whole day in the quiet and peace of the outdoors... to see the sunset, in a way it was impossible to in Paris even if one weren't living underground, and then to ride back in starlight again...

"But of course, my dear," he went on baitingly, "You will not want to ruin your dress. What a pity you did not trust your husband's choices."

"No, I'm going," she retorted, making up her mind then and there.

"As my lady wishes," he answered mockingly, and went to the horse's side. A moment during which Christine could not see past him, and then, with a magician's flourish, he turned and produced a pair of black ladies' riding boots.

"Here," he said. "You will need to wear these, or your stockings will be shredded. Yes, I know I'll have to put them on for you, as you cannot bend enough in your corset. Go and sit down on that bench."

Christine turned in the direction he was indicating, and saw a wooden bench, almost at the edge of the circle of lantern light. Had he made it? No doubt. She did as he had ordered, without comment this time, and Erik kneeled before her, moving the lantern closer to them, and slid her skirts up a little. She was wearing walking shoes which came up to the middle of her calf, and whose buttons generally required to be fastened and unfastened with a buttonhook, which she had not brought along. But they were no match for her husband's hands, which made short work of them and were soon drawing the shoes off. Erik slid the boots on in their place, helped her get her heel all the way down into the bottom of them, and then rose and placed her shoes in one of the saddlebags. He bent then, and began tucking his own trouser legs into the knee-high boots which she had not noticed he was wearing.

"Since when do you have riding things?" she asked, as she tied on the straw hat.

"Why should I not?" he countered, neatly leaving her curiosity unsatisfied, and, finishing with his trousers, straightened and untied Cesar's lead rope. In addition to his normal saddle and the pillion seat, the horse had intriguingly full packbags hanging over his withers and some sort of roll behind the saddles. Into one of the bags went the rope, Erik's nimble fingers performing the task in such a way as prevented his now-very-curious wife from seeing any of the other contents, and then he took the reins and led the horse out into the dark street, Christine following them and watching Cesar's tail swish back and forth.

Once outside, Erik vaulted easily into the saddle, the movement as graceful as was every other one he made. He manoeuvred the horse close to the mounting block, Cesar acquiescing amiably, and Christine understood what she was to do. She climbed onto the block, and with considerable inelegance on her part, during which Cesar stood patiently still, Erik helped her scramble up behind him. Her skirts rode up above her knees, but there was no help for it, and she was devoutly glad of the early hour that made the street deserted. Thank God there were clouds over the moon.

"Put your feet into the stirrups," he ordered, and when she obeyed, he set Cesar off at a walk.

They went on quietly for a bit, during which Christine adjusted to the feel of the pillion seat, and then Erik told her to put her arms around his waist. She did so gingerly, not sure if he were still angry with her, and then he put Cesar into a trot. Everything was dark and silent, and the horse's shoes seemed to ring inordinately loudly on the cobblestones. Christine was uncomfortably sure that someone would put their head out of a window at any moment to see what all the racket was at this hour; but no one did. They went through the silent streets of Paris, the horse trotting easily, and were soon out of the main part of the city and moving along the serenely flowing Seine. Here Erik said, "Hold tight," and when she tightened her arms about him, he set Cesar to a canter.

Christine was initially uneasy with the rocking motion of the horse at this speed, but her feet in their boots were secure in the stirrups, and clinging to her husband's tall self-assured form helped. Gradually she got used to the feel of everything, and began to be glad they were going faster. They would be well out of the city before the sun rose. Pale fingers of light were appearing; the dawn was coming.

Christine was enchanted. She had no responsibility for guiding the horse, and so she was free to drink in all the beauty of the sunrise. The grass was still dewy, and soft gray mists floated in the valleys and ditches. The great glowing ball came over the horizon, first creeping with infinite slowness, and then finally bursting over it in a blaze of golden glory.

They went on in silence for a while, and then Christine's stomach growled, suddenly and loudly. She was embarrassed, but Erik merely pulled up the horse, and when they had stopped he leaned down, rummaged briefly in one saddlebag, and then drew out a hardboiled egg. He peeled it efficiently, dropping the shell into the gutter, and handed it back to her.

He waited calmly while she ate it, and then said, "Do you want anything else, or can you wait until we get where we are going? It will only be about another hour or so."

"No, I'm fine," she answered. "Thank you." She wrapped her arms around him once more, and he started the horse again. Christine tilted her hat to the back of her head and rested her cheek against his back for a few minutes. Then she turned her head and pressed a kiss between her husband's shoulder blades. "I am sorry I was angry," she said softly.

He was silent momentarily, and then he responded, "I am sorry too," and laid a hand over hers, lacing their fingers together. He did not draw it away afterward, either; Cesar was moving surefootedly, and it was clear even to Christine that Erik could control him with one hand with no trouble.

Eventually Christine drew her head back a little and asked, "Where are we going?"

"To a wild place I found years ago, deep in a part of the forest of Meudon which no one but me ever goes to. I hope you will like it." He seemed in a slightly better mood now, and she was grateful for it. That biting edge was absent from his voice now, and she pressed her cheek against his back again, holding him tightly.

"Oh, I'm sure I will. I love forests. Are French ones much like Scandinavian ones?"

"I do not know," he answered. "I have never been to Scandinavia."

"Come with me sometime, then," she said, her voice cajoling, "and let me show it to you."

"Of course," he said, sounding surprised, and then he asked, "Do you like to travel, Christine?"

"Oh yes," she said. "I learned to when I was little, travelling with my father from one fair to another."

"Both of us spent our youth going from fair to fair," said Erik pensively. "But I am sure your experience was far more pleasant than mine."

Christine tightened her hand in his. He squeezed back, and then said, in a different tone, "Were you ever able to visit anywhere besides Sweden and France?"

"No," she sighed. "There was never any opportunity. After we moved to France, Professor Valerius was kept busy with his students at the University and could not take time for many holidays, other than the ones we took to Perros for a few weeks in the summer, and there was not money for Grand Tours anyway. We were not poor, but…not rich either. And then…then my father was ill for years…and then after he was gone, there was Mama to look after, and my studies at the Conservatory."

"I see," Erik said, and he sounded very thoughtful. After a bit he said, "So…you would like us to travel somewhere together."

"Why – yes," she answered, surprised. They had never discussed such a thing before. "Where?"

"Anywhere you like – so long as it is not one of the countries where there is a price on my head."

"Are there so many then?" she asked, half teasing, but half concerned.

"A fair few. Your husband was a busy man in his youth."

"What – what did they put a price on your head for?"

"Knowing too much, generally. Offending someone important, sometimes. Petty thievery, once in a while."

"Oh," Christine said. "They execute people just for petty theft?"

"In some places. The Orientals tend to have lists of capital crimes which are far longer than any European would deem necessary. None of these niceties about needing to have all of a prescribed group of 'aggravating circumstances' in order to execute someone, as with our law code. You are very lucky, Christine, to live in a civilized country – not that you are likely to commit any sort of crime, of course, capital or otherwise."

"But they still execute people for some things here," ventured Christine, thinking of his murders.

"Only if the criminal is caught," he said smoothly, and she thought there was a touch of smugness in his voice. He did not believe he could ever be captured, she mused. But if he were…

Well, he hadn't been, that was all. Once again he'd neatly evaded those intent on bringing him to justice, and left them unsure whether he even existed in the first place. The authorities, and most other people, were convinced that there never had been so much as a real ghost, let alone a man masquerading as one. The denizens of the Opera were sure that a ghost was exactly what he was, and one to be treated with the utmost respect lest he spirit someone else away. There would be no more murders now, of course, and he was safe. She pressed her forehead against his back, and held him to her.

O-O-O

They came to the edge of the forest in due time, and when Christine saw well-worn paths in several directions, she wondered at her husband's bringing her to a place where people would be passing by. But after only a short time on one of the paths, he turned abruptly off and took Cesar into the trees. The horse complied, and they went steadily further and further in, past rocky outcroppings and small streams, bushes and clumps of flowers, their petals wet with dew, and the cool early morning light ran along the edges of boulders and turned the tree trunks into tall black spikes. Christine turned her head from side to side, enchanted. Riding through the thickets of trees had its drawbacks, however; an overhead twig caught at her hat, and another one grabbed at her skirt and tore a bit of ruffle off. Erik turned at the sound of ripping fabric.

"I am sorry about your dress, Christine."

"Oh well," she said, too thrilled with the outing to be upset. "It's my own fault for not doing as you bid me and putting on the dress you set out. I should have known that you had a reason for it."

"I should have told you what I was planning, so you could have changed into the wool gown, instead of leaving you to make a mistake without knowing you were." His eyes were sad behind the mask.

"But then your surprise would have been spoiled!" she said gaily.

"It was spoiled anyway, because Erik had already put you in such a bad temper that you could not enjoy it."

"I am enjoying it now," she replied, and kissed him as best she could with him twisted around in his saddle. His lips clung to hers in a way that made her think he would have liked to have prolonged the kiss, but he moved his head resolutely away after a moment and turned back around.

She had been riding pressed up against him for over an hour…and he had not kissed her at all for a day and a half, up till now. Most likely he had thought she did not want him to. But she did, now at least, since they had ended their quarrel. She should do something to let him know she still desired his touch. Her arms were still around his waist; teasingly, she let one hand begin to slide down.

Quick as a flash, he had her wrist gripped in one cold hand, its strength leashed but definitely there. "Christine," he said warningly.

"Do you not want me to touch you anymore?" she asked coquettishly.

"I did not say that," he responded. "But now is not the time; I must have my attention on guiding the horse."

"Would now be the time if that were not the case?"

"I decline to say, as I shall only end up in the trap you have doubtless set for me if I do."

Christine decided to carry out her own investigation as to whether he would in fact have been amenable if they were not on horseback, as he was being unforthcoming; she did, after all, still have one hand free. She started to move that one, and before she knew what was happening Erik had both her wrists gripped in the hand which was not holding the reins.

"Do not," he informed her, and now there was amusement in his voice, "ever underestimate my reflexes."

His wife wriggled her fingers experimentally, to no avail whatsoever. "Erik, let go. My hands are going numb."

"Do you promise to behave if I do? You must leave me enough of my senses to manage Cesar, as we are no longer on anything like a proper path. Do you want me to fail to notice a low-hanging branch until it hits us both?"

"Oh, all right," she grumbled. He let go, and she put her arms back in their previous position. "What about when we stop? Will we be somewhere private enough for you to…indulge me?"

"I suppose that depends upon your definition of 'private enough,' " he replied, sounding surprised but pleased. "You would…even consider it? Outside, I mean?"

"I think so," she said thoughtfully. "You said we were going somewhere secluded…and it isn't as though we need to undress."

"No, we do not," he answered. "We have certainly proved that from time to time, haven't we?" His tone was suddenly warm and caressing, and her desire for him, which had just begun to grow, instantly increased tenfold.

"Yes," she said, trying to inject the same sort of tone into her voice, and apparently she succeeded at least in part, for she felt him tensing slightly in her embrace. "We have."

They could not come to their destination soon enough.

O-O-O O-O-O