5A/N: A short "bonus" chapter, with POV shift. I really did intend to write their full lesson together, but the writing bug crawled off!
"Anything you wish."
After she had spoken his name, Erik forgot why he had ever hesitated to reveal it to her. He longed to hear it again and she, generous creature that she was, obliged without his needing to ask. How could he refuse anything she requested of him?
And so he told her as much, though she could not understand the full extent of that simple phrase. That he would gladly die for her...kill for her... But she knew nothing of his past, of what he had done and been before coming to live below the Opera. Instead, he once more used Mozart to conceal the depth of his feelings. He did not dare sing his own Don Juan to her, not yet...
S'ella sospira, sospiro anch'io; è mia quell'ira, quel pianto è mio; e non ho bene, s'ella non l'ha.
He sang as Don Ottavio, pledging his devotion to his betrothed, Donna Anna. Taking on her joy, her tears, her anger as his own. As Christine's eyes closed, he took the opportunity to study her, in turn. Even in the blue light of the underground lake, his Angel was beautiful. But despite how vulnerable and small she looked curled at his feet, he knew the courage it must have taken for her to return here, to the monster's lair deep below the earth.
He envied the cushion supporting her head, remembering the feel of her curls brushing against his skin as he had cradled her slight weight in his arms. He wondered if the memory of that embrace repulsed her now that she knew what lay behind the mask…But she had returned to him, had not shied from his cold hands, and it was more than he deserved.