Unmasqued

Indeed, Christine knew she had never sung so beautifully. She felt the music filling her veins, sounding her nerve endings… carrying her away. She felt Erik's presence, knew he had somehow caused Carlotta's embarrassment to pave the way for Christine's own triumph.

As she sang, she did as he requested: She sang for him. She felt his hands on her skin, his gentle lips scoring her bare shoulder. Her breasts, lifted enticingly, tightened and swelled as she recalled the gentle, persuasive hands that had fondled them earlier.

She felt naked, bare, warm, and titillated and basked in the heat of the limelight, and she felt as though she and her angel sang together, somewhere, alone. And joined together as one.

They were joined. They would be one.

And when she was done, when she broke from the trancelike state that had enabled her to sing without nervousness or fear, the applause of the audience brought her back to herself. She bowed and curtsied and accepted the roses and lilies and gillyflowers tossed and presented to her. Elation grew inside her as the audience continued to cheer, until her excitement was such that she was hardly able to stand still. She had succeeded! She had never been so happy, so exultant, in her life.

When a large mass of blush-edged white roses dropped at her feet, bound with a crimson ribbon, she looked up and saw Raoul waving to her from the box nearest the stage. Smiling, flush and exhilarated with her triumph, Christine picked up Raoul's offering and buried her face in the beautiful blooms.

And when she ran off the stage and hurried her way through the wings of the backstage, Raoul was already there to meet her. Somehow, he managed to slip an arm around hers and whisk her off into an empty wardrobe closet before she reached the foyer de la danse and any of her other admirers could get to her.

In the small, close room, lit by one single lamp, they were surrounded by racks of glittering gowns and feathered headdresses, props of swords and shields and belts and girdles. Lacy corsets, flowered hats, gloves, and silky, beaded skirts pushed them together so that they stood very close in the narrow aisle of the closet.

"Christine, my love, you were brilliant!" Holding her hands, he gazed at her fervently, his shadowed blue eyes gleaming with pride and emotion.

"Thank you, Raoul," she cried, hardly able to contain herself, and dropped the roses at their feet as he drew her into his arms.

His kiss was brief and gentle, sweeping reverently over her parted lips. "You are so beautiful," he whispered against her mouth, drawing her flush against him. "And you sing like a perfect angel. You are perfect, Christine."

She pulled away, resting a hand against his handsome cheek, excitement still raging through her. His skin glowed golden in the yellow light, his butter-colored hair tipped with a nimbus from the illumination behind him. "I am not perfect, Raoul, but it is kind of you to say so. Indeed, my tutor says I still have much work to do." Christine smiled up at him, her attention on his slender, elegant lips. How lovely it was to see the man in front of her, to touch him and to look at him… Still exultant and bold, she stepped forward into him and raised her face to kiss his delicate lips.

His arms wrapped around her as though suddenly loosened from bounds, pulling her roughly up against his body. Their mouths fought to taste the other, to sample and lick and nibble. His shoulders, high and broad, felt sturdy under Christine's hands… so different from her encounters with Erik, where she had never faced him… never felt the length of his body pressed up against her breasts, her mons… never fulfilled the need to touch him, to trace her hand over his body.

"Christine," Raoul muttered, and he was moving along her jaw to her neck, his mouth wet on her skin. She arched back, pushing her chest into his groping hands, wanting to feel those fingers over her tight nipples.

Her breasts pulled free and he bent to take one into the warm cavern of his mouth. Christine arched against him as he sucked, her hand trailing down to the bulge between his thighs.

Suddenly, the door just behind Raoul's shoulder opened.

Christine pushed him away as she recognized the erect black figure of Madame Giry. "M-madame," she stammered, hastily thrusting her breasts back into their confinements.

"Christine. You are keeping him waiting." Her black eyes scored over her and then over Raoul as she waited, arms crossed over her middle, for Christine to put herself to rights.

"Of course, madame," Christine replied, suddenly overcome with remorse. How could she have kept Erik waiting? Of course he would want to see her… after her performance tonight, he would want to be with her… to touch her. To make her feel.

As she was making a final adjustment, Raoul had turned politely away, but as she stepped out of the wardrobe closet, he was waiting for her.

Just as Erik was waiting for her.