In My Darkness: La Chatte Noire

Chapter Fifteen: Marriage Talks

Chapter Fifteen: Marriage Talks

Camillé smiled as he left, enjoying their flirting. At times, it was playful, and then there were times like this when Erik was quite forward with her. Granted, she was just as forward as he was. It was an interesting way for them to keep things light and loving, but address the fact that they were undeniably attracted to one another. She removed her boots and walked out of the room towards where Erik was standing at the entrance of their lair. Her hand slid over his back and rested on his arm as she stood beside him.

"Comment c'est passé (What happened)?" Camillé asked, and he took her hand in his and looked down at her.

"Ecouter (Listen)," he told her.

She did as he asked, and heard a squeal and a bunch of giggling girls. Then there was a great commotion and someone sighed. Suddenly, one of the girls exclaimed to the others, 'I am getting married!' Camillé smiled.

"So one of the ballet girls is engaged," she noted, "How sweet."

He looked down at her. "You think so?"

"Bien sûr. Someone getting married is always sweet. I would not want to be married myself, but I understand the appeal," she said as she pulled away from Erik and walked away.

His eyebrows furrowed and he followed her. "You do not want to be married to someone?"

"Considering my previous experiences with engagements and people wanting to marry me, I think I would rather avoid that," she reasoned, sitting down at her desk and picking up a pen.

"And… what if it were someone you truly loved… say, myself, asking for your hand in marriage?" he asked, taking the pen from her hand.

"Erik," she started, sounding startled, "what are you asking?"

"If, hypothetically, I were to ask for your hand in marriage, what would you say then?" he said, twirling the feather pen in his fingers and focusing on it instead of her.

She cocked her head to the side. "That depends. How long have we been together by this point?"

"Let us say… a year?"

"Well, my answer would likely be… well… I don't know. How much do we love each other?"

He looked down into her eyes. "Let us say that you are my entire world; I love you more than anything."

"D'accord, and how much do I love you?"

"I would like to think you love me as much as I love you."

"In that case," she drawled, "I think I would say yes. But," she said when he smiled at her, "we would have to have been together a long time and you would have to be deeply and completely in love with me and understand my hesitation towards the whole marriage idea and you would have to promise me that you would wait for me to be ready to marry you."

He smiled down at her and knelt down beside her desk chair. "I could meet all but one of those requirements, mon cœur."

"Oh really? And what is that?" she asked, a bright smile on her face.

Erik leaned forward and kissed her softly. "We have not been together long enough yet by your standards."

He handed her back her pen and left her there in silent awe from his words. Something in how he'd said that almost sounded like he would be waiting for that day. It made her smile that he wanted to marry her, despite her claims that she was not ready to be married. She put her pen to paper and wrote multiple love poems in one go. Only he could have made her write so much of love. He had, without words, told her that he would wait for her and that he loved her completely. But… he didn't know her well enough yet. Still, she had loved him before she'd ever seen his face. Speaking of which…