The Princess and the Phantom

Chapter 10: A Christmas Eve Nightmare

It was the same nightmare yet again.

Christine, his darling, sweet Christine.

She was laughing, her soft blue eyes full of love and contentment. Her belly was round, and she strolled arm-in-arm with her husband on the grounds of the de Chagny estate.

How could she have betrayed him, after everything? After all they had shared?

But, she had. It was a betrayal of trust, of the heart, of everything that had meant anything to him.

He was bitter, but it was heart-ache that plagued him worse and kept his sleep fitful and his waking hours tormented. Not even a new country, a new life, and new people could soothe the wretched memory of her smile.

Christine, his Christine.

Not his any longer...

Raoul de Chagny awoke with a start, covered in sweat. He pulled in deep gulps of air to try and calm himself.

How could she? His waking mind continued the interrogation of his dreams. After all he and Little Lotte had been through, how could she have simply left him and gone with his older brother?

But, she had. She had done it so calmly, too, announcing to him one afternoon that she could no longer marry him, that it was his brother, Philippe whom she truly loved. Philippe – of all people! – who had objected to strenuously to Raoul's attentions to the lowly chorus girl-turned-diva.

He had attended the wedding, feeling like a ghost walking among the living, making everyone slightly uncomfortable with his brooding presence. And a few months later, when he had returned from a whirlwind trip of madness around the continent, he found that she was soon to present his brother with the de Chagny heir...a son that should have been his!

That had been the final straw. Raoul had fled France, moving to England and throwing himself into the whirlwind of society. Yet there again, he had found no comfort. No, he had only found one mistake after another.

Now he was trapped.

It was as if he had awakened from two years of sleepwalking, only to find himself engaged to the beautiful but difficult Lavinia Herbert.

And there was no getting out of this engagement, really. Gentlemen didn't do that, even though he suspected that Lavinia didn't have much of a heart to break.

To hell with it, Raoul swore silently. He'd go through with this sham of a marriage and sham of a life, and resign himself to Hell afterwards.

He thought fleetingly of the Phantom and for the first time, he felt a twinge of sympathy for the man. Both of them abandoned by Christine. He wondered what had become of the Phantom, but the question soon slipped from his thoughts as he slipped back to sleep, the early morning sounds of Christmas Eve in London lulling him into troubled rest.

***

"My happiness is complete having you here with me," Sara announced as she poured tea for Ermengarde St. John and Lottie Burnett in the parlor of the Large Family's house.

Becky sat with them, silent but happy to be part of Princess Sara's circle. Over the years, though she never lost her deference for Miss Ermengarde and Miss Lottie, she felt an unspoken bond with them in that they all were bound together by Sara's kindness and magic, and in that there was nothing they would not do for their beloved friend.

"What shall you do now?" Miss Ermengarde asked, fumbling with a small sugared cake.

Miss Sara tilted her head to the side as Becky had seen her do so many times when she was thinking quite intently.