The Art of Manipulation || Phantom of the Opera & Loki the God of Mischief ||

What Secrets Do The Shadows Keep? Teaser

|| What Secrets Do The Shadows Keep? {Sequel to The Angel's Shadow} Teaser ||

Erik

Maurice and I were seated on a park bench, watching the group of women and children by the pond, the six of us enjoying the afternoon sun. The women and children are our families: Maurice's wife, Violette; and my wife, Mélodie, along with our two beautiful children, Aria and Charles. While Aria busies herself with picking flowers, Mélodie and Violette sat on a blanket with Charles in between them. Sensing my stare, Mélodie peered over her shoulder and met my gaze. Her lips spread in a bright smile, Mélodie wiggled her fingers in a flirtatious wave and giggled when I smiled down at my lap, a smitten blush creeping over my cheeks. She returned her attention to our children and her best friend, the smile never leaving her face.

What would I do without Mélodie? What would I have done if I had actually lost her due to my mistake with Christine; otherwise known as our affair? I would die, that much is certain. The grief would feast on me like maggots in a grave. There wouldn't be much variance between an actual corpse and me, the maggots wouldn't know the difference.

Maurice broke the contemplative silence, his eyes focused on the woman who was constantly on my mind, "In time, she will discover it, you know. No matter how many people you scare into keeping their mouths shut, Mélodie will eventually find out what happened. If someone doesn't slip and tell her, that block in her memory will disappear and she'll remember. And when she does..." He trailed off, leaving the rest of the sentence to hang in the air with pollen floating around us.

"I know." I answered softly, tilting my head as I watched Mélodie and our children before me; the scene so perfect I almost feared it wasn't real. "Until that time comes, I'm doing everything in my power to keep her happy, and..." A somber smile lifted my lips as Mélodie laughed and tackled Aria to the ground beside her brother. "...ignorant." Aria squealed and giggled as Mélodie tickled her, her smile wide and her eyes bright with joy.

Happy. I must keep her happy. I must keep her innocent and blissful. I must keep her ignorant to the pain I had put her through before she lost her memory.

I often wondered what would have happened if Mélodie hadn't lost her memory. What would she say? What would she do? Would she have forgiven me? Would she have believed me when I told her I hadn't slept with my ex-lover? Would she have left if she hadn't?

I felt an ache in my heart at the last thought; the thought of Mélodie out of my life forever. How bleak everything would be; how dull and lifeless. My life would be like it was before: full of darkness and death. If I had thought I would have died when I lost Christine the first time, I would probably die a zillion more deaths if I lost Mélodie. And those would be real deaths, I would make sure of that.

"Have you thought of moving away? Away to someplace where there are less people who could tell her?" Maurice trained his eyes on me, the sun peaking through branches and making him squint.

I chuckled at the idea, remembering the night I had told Mélodie I had been looking for a house, a place to raise our children above ground. It was the night she had made me a birthday dinner, my first real birthday celebration. The news of the house hunt had been the first brick to crumble from the walls of our fortress of happiness; of Mélodie's happiness. But she had said 'yes' to the idea anyways, thinking more of my wishes than hers, wanting to make me happy when it should have been me making her happy.

Smirking at Maurice, I answered his question, "The first time I suggested we leave the lair and buy a house didn't end so well, if you can recall." It was a stupid ambition, that house. It was selfish and greedy of me to not realize I had everything I ever wanted already in my arms.

"You're right." Maurice lowered his head, remembering that whole ideal before Aria was born. "She loves that lair, and the opera house. It holds many great memories for her. And memories for you, too. Although," he glanced up at me hesitantly, "I'm not sure if all of them are memories you want to keep."

He was referring to Christine and to the night Mélodie's fiancé had come to kill me; both memories I keep deeply buried. Brushing a fallen leaf off of my trousers, I said, "The treasured memories have now outnumbered the painful ones. I find myself remembering the nightmares less and less," I nodded towards my wife, "thanks to Mélodie." I no longer cared about those memories of Christine and Valentin; they're distant now, unimportant; mere stains that will finally be removed with the next wash of laundry. "And for the record," An amused smile danced on my lips as I met Maurice's gaze, "I didn't scare the people into keeping the secrets from Mélodie."

He gave me a very unconvinced look; one brow raised and his head tilted downwards.

Looking away, my smile broke through and I confessed, "Alright, the managers. I scared the managers." I grinned at his chuckle and added, "You can't stop me from having at least a little fun, Maurice."

Sighing and shaking his head, he teased, "Once a Phantom, always a Phantom."

Mélodie had told me the same thing before we had gotten married. It was after she was discovered at the Opéra Populaire and was obligated to return to New France and rule in place of her deceased father. Before she was supposed to leave France, she had snuck back to the opera house and we met in secret many, many times; both of us unable to quench our thirsts for each other. With a smile on my face, I looked at the woman who turned me into a man and said through the smile that was now always appearing on my face, "So I've been told."

_______

Cover designed by: Ariel T. ( ifihadyoux )