Page 72 of Angel's Fall

“Did you have to aim more guns at her?” Erik demanded, forcing himself to look directly at the boy. Let him take in the full horror of his face. Let him tremble at the fire in the Phantom’s eyes. “Is she in chains too?”

“She’s finally free,” the boy countered. It occurred to Erik that, after months of mutual hatred, this was the first time he and the little welp had actually exchanged words.

“And very relieved to be so.” It was de Martiniac who said it, provoking a sneer from Erik. He noted how only the boy cringed.

“I’m going to kill both of you. I think you are aware of that. But how it happens will be up to you. If you harm her in any way, I will make it slow and more painful than you can imagine.”

“We are not the ones who hurt her,” the boy seethed, baring his teeth as he advanced. “And I do not think you are in any position to be making threats, monster.”

“These won’t hold me forever,” Erik smirked back, testing the strength of his chains. As he did, the boy, unfortunately, smiled.

“They don’t have to. By this time tomorrow, you’ll be in a real cell, in a jail, where you belong.” The boy’s smile broadened, and Erik fought a shiver. “Surrounded by guards, all of them looking at your hideous face. I gather you don’t like cages.”

“Then you’ll be tried, convicted, and guillotined for your crimes,” Antoine went on, cool and smug, but there was something more in his eyes. “Or perhaps, we’ll be merciful – come visit you in your cell and help arrange your suicide. Either way, I’m sure there will be some doctors out there who’ll want to study you. Preserve that awful visage in a jar for crowds to enjoy forever.”

Erik missed his mask and how it would have made it easy to hide his emotions at that threat. As it was, he had to force his jaw not to clench, his eyes not to widen, his core not to shudder. His own brother was describing his worst nightmare, and he could not allow him to know how it terrified him. Defiance was all he had left.

“Christine will never allow that. She just saved me again. She won’t let me die.”

“She will be the first to testify against you, once her mind is clear,” the boy said in triumph, and Erik made himself laugh. “And she will do it as my wife.”

“You’ll make your wife tell Paris all the things she and I did then?” Erik mocked. “Things I thinkyoucould not imagine, boy. Didn’t you hear her say it? How she was mine in every way? Right under your nose—” Erik was able to brace himself for the kick the boy delivered to his ribs. The pain was worth it.

“Don’t speak that way of her,” the boy snarled, kneeling close and peering at his rival. “I know you forced her. Look at you. I’ve never seen anything more hideous and disgusting. The idea that any woman would touch you of her own free will is insane. Shethanked mefor saving her.”

“It was touching to watch,” Antoine added.

“Liar.” Erik cast the man a glare. They were lying. Christine was somewhere above, worried sick and trusting that Erik would find a way out of this. He would find a way to take her home so they would never have to face this awful world again. After his revenge.

“She wept when we got her away, knowing she was free at last and that you were in chains,” the boy mocked.

“I will never believe that,” Erik hissed even as the image of it bored into his brain. “She loves me.”

“No soul on earth could love you,” the boy spat back, and Erik stiffened his spine. It was impossible to believe that he was loved, yes, but he would not let go of the miracle. He would trust her. He had to.

“Ask the Daroga if that’s true. He’ll have quite the tale to tell,” Erik replied. “Is he watching her now, wherever you’ve hidden her away?”

“She’s recovering, and happy to be rid of the vows you forced her to swear.” With a gleeful flourish, the boy reached into his pocket and pulled out... Christine’s ring. “She cast this thing off like a curse the first second she could.”

“Liar,” Erik repeated, even as the sight of the gold band glinting dimly in the light made his insides twist. The boy threw the treasure into the dusty shadows. “I’ll give it back to her with your apologies when I see her again.”

“I do admire his confidence,” Antoine drawled.

The boy gave him his compatriot glare. “It’s insanity. Delusion.”

Erik’s hate for the boy and the world and way of things he represented surged through him so powerfully that he nearly wretched. He had been so wrong to come above – such a fool. But they all would pay for reminding him that the living world was cursed.

“Perhaps,” Antoine replied. “It is fascinating to consider how living with a face like that and living underground like some sort of mole or insect has twisted his mind.”

“You know, Monsieur, we have not been formally introduced,” Erik sneered, ignoring the furious boy in front of him in favor of speaking to his closest blood kin directly for the first time in his life. “Whom has this young idiot doomed along with himself?”

“Just another grieved son left fatherless because of you.” Antoine gave an aloof shrug that Erik would have been proud of. They were related. “We’ll be fast friends soon.”

“If he tries to move or escape, break his hands,” the boy ordered as he rose and met Antoine’s eyes. “We’ll return with every gendarme and commissary in Paris. The next time I see you, Erik, I’ll be watching them put you in a cage where you belong.”

“The next time we meet, my face will be the last thing you ever see, Monsieur de Chagny,” Erik snarled. “I can’t wait to have my hands around that pretty neck of yours. I’ll watch the light fade from your eyes, and it will be beautiful when I send you to join your useless father.”

The blow was more forceful than Erik had anticipated from such a soft, young thing, sending his head crashing back against whatever crypt he’d been chained to. It made him dizzy, along with the loss of blood. He couldn’t focus on the sight of the boy walking away. He couldn’t see anything, and maybe that was for the best. He would let the darkness swallow him now and find Christine in their dreams.

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