Chapter Sixteen || Letters & Announcements
Mélodie
I don't know if it was the letter to Erik or the cooler weather that made me feel unusually chipper. I wanted to believe it was the cooler weather, but I couldn't deny that my letter to Erik had me excited. The thought of receiving a reply and hearing from him left me bubbling. I couldn't wait to see his elegant handwriting and to hold something that he has held. I couldn't wait to smell his aroma of roses and parchment. It would almost be like having him here, a few feet - or centimeters - away instead of an ocean. And how I wanted him to be here, with me. But, call me selfish, I want all of him here with me. I want not just his body but his mind as well. I didn't want him to be within my reach but his mind on someone else. Someone whose name begins with the letter "C". "C" for canker.
The bright sun kissed my pale skin while I sat at my vanity table brushing my hair. Through my open window a breeze lazily danced around my ankles and the birds once again sang their sweet, pure tune. In my unexpected joy I felt like joining them, wanting to become one with their purity and sweetness. I started by warming up my voice, doing the scales that Erik had taught me months ago. While I did that, one particular song came to my mind: Habanera (L'amour est un oiseau rebelle) from the opera Carmen. For those of you who only speak English, it means "Love is a Rebel Bird".
Has there been a title more accurate than that? Or lyrics more true?
Love is a rebel bird you cannot domesticate. No matter how hard we call for it it doesn't come to us. Like a stubborn child it comes to us when it wishes and flies away when we beg. But when it does come to us...what an unworldly experience that is.
L'amour est un oiseau rebelle
Que nul ne peut apprivoiser
Et c'est bien en vain qu'on l'appelle
S'il lui convient de refuser
Rien n'y fait, menaces ou prières
L'un parle bien, l'autre se tait :
Et c'est l'autre que je préfère
Il n'a rien dit mais il me plaît
L'amour! L'amour! L'amour! L'amour!
Love.
Oh how I long for my Erik. My lover who spoke through his music. His entrancing music that soothed my soul.
I kept humming Habanera (L'amour est un oiseau rebelle) while I made my way through the palace to my brother's office. Poking my head through the door I found my brother sitting at his gargantuan desk. He had one hand in his hair and the other holding a letter. When Dantes looked up from the letter and saw me at the door he quickly folded the piece of paper and put it in a drawer, "Mélodie!" He let out a breathy laugh, "I didn't hear the door open."
Stepping all the way into the room I shut the door and sat down in the chair before the desk. Giggling I said, "You were too lost in Violette's letter to notice."
Dantes chuckled but the smile didn't quite reach his brown eyes, "Yes. Violette... She's been updating me on Paris news." His eyes flickered up to mine and he bit his lip.
Violette probably overwhelmed him with whatever piece of gossip she wrote to him. Unless you know how to nod your head and pretend that you're listening it can be quite...overwhelming, shall we say?
Smoothing out my dress I asked, "What has happened now? Don't tell me Chef Pierre has finally proposed to the head maid." I widened my eyes in mock shock and Dantes smiled briefly.
YOU ARE READING
The Angel's Shadow || The Phantom of the Opera || Book Two
Fanfiction|| Book 2 || Sequel to The Shadow's Melody || When I was a small child his voice captured my soul. He haunted my dreams and stuck close to me like my shadow. I loved him, that man they called the Opera Ghost. And he loved me, too. But would his love...
