Persephone's Angel

The Star Princess and the Emperor of the Night

Chapter Sixteen: The Star Princess and the Emperor of the Night

--* All of the lights in the Palais Garnier were gone! It seemed that no one was stirring! "Where is everyone? It's only eight o'clock" said I, my Opera Ghost grinned but remained silent; helping me out of the cab and paying the driver. My Opera Ghost never allowed me to pay for anything, and the one time I did (we were in a small restaurant for lunch and the waiter came with the receipt whilst he was in the WC), he took me to a dress store and every dress I tried on, that he liked, he bought.

I didn't even have a need for a new dress!

Now, my Opera Ghost took up my arm and held my hand, leading me away from the cab and up the stairs to the Palais Garnier. My Opera Ghost had a skeleton key that would open any door in the Palais Garnier, he now produced it from his pocket and unlocked the front door; it was pitch black! The lobby was pitch black! I had never seen and/or heard of such a thing coming from the Palais Garnier! My Opera Ghost cleared his throat and the sound echoed off of the walls, it was quite eerie.

I started to venture into the lobby, but he grasped my arm and pulled me back. "Wait a moment, my dear" he said softly, he turned back to the darkened lobby and cleared his throat again, louder and more expectant this time. I then heard a voice say 'oh' and instantly candles were lit and the entire cast and crew of the Palais Garnier was before me, they yelled:

"Surprise!" And I jumped back! They were all fancily dressed and huddled into a large group ten paces away from the door. I giggled and we all clapped; my Opera Ghost never let go of either my hand or my arm as he led me into the room, the gramophone was turned on and even more candles were lit! Shiny, sparkly, golden stars hung from the ceiling, along with a giant moon in the middle of the ceiling; it, like the stars, was golden, sparkly, and shiny.

Golden tinsel was thrown around statues holding candelabras, it was wrapped around the gramophone, and constricted around the banisters to the grand staircase. On the walls shimmering, paper stars were stuck at various heights; my breath was stolen from my lungs. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen; my Opera Ghost smiled down to me and I started to become emotional; tears ran to my eyes and I tried to bat them away with my eyelashes. "What's wrong, my sweet? Is it not good? 

I-I can plan another if you so fancy it" my Opera Ghost said quickly, I shook my head and smiled, wiping my eyes.  

"No, my angel, this is...this is so much more than I expected and so much better!" I paused and my Opera Ghost smiled "it's my first birthday party and it's...amazing" I said, unable to hold the tears back; I wrapped my arms around him and pressed my head against his chest. He chuckled and hugged me back, kissing the top of my head. The audience around us gave a collective:

"Aw!"

I allowed a few tears to spill from my eyes and onto his shirt, smiling and inhaling his perfume; he smelt of lavender and peppermints. His hug was so warm and I never wanted him to let me go! I dried my joyous tears and he lead me away from everyone, taking me down to my bedroom and showing me a multicoloured dress! At the top it was dark blue, then blue, then purple, then pink and then, at the very bottom, it was light pink. The sleeves were short and poofy, but I had no quarrel with that, there were four silver stars going around all sides of the dress (on the colour pink) and my Opera Ghost handed me a silver headband with two stars on the side and a crescent moon in the middle. 

I hurriedly put the dress on and came out of my bedroom to see my Opera Ghost dressed in a black tuxedo paired with a black cloak, the inside fabric of the cloak was dark purple with little stars made out of an even darker purple material. On the outside of the cloak, along his shoulders, were several small, silver stars. He upturned the cloak's collar. He wore a black hat with the same purple/dark purple star pattern on the inside of the hat; and two, medium sized, pink feathers (the pink matched my dress) stuck out of the hat.