How dare you say such a thing!" he roared. Christine could see how much it affected Erik to hear the Persian say that he had killed her mother. His reaction was enough, even if she had not known that her mother had died of an ailment.
"Erik! Let him go!" Christine cried, running to him and grabbing onto his arm.
"I would never hurt Emma!" he cried.
"I know that, Erik, I know!" Christine said, desperately trying to get him off of the other man, who was beginning to turn purple. She knew he could easily kill him and she could not let that happen! Erik's gaze was deadly as he stared at the Persian, his hands tightening.
"Erik, please!" she whispered, scared of his temper and what he was capable of. He glanced at Christine and could see how scared she was of what he was doing. With another angry shove he pushed away from Nadir, who crumpled to the floor. Erik stormed out of the room, knocking things over as he went. Christine rushed to the man on the floor and helped him get into a sitting position.
They could hear things being knocked over upstairs and she silently cursed Nadir for unleashing Erik's temper. Nadir's neck was purple already and beginning to swell.
"You had better leave, Monsieur," Christine said. Nadir glanced at her.
"How did your mother die?" he asked.
"She was very sick," Christine answered, knowing she did not have to answer.
"Erik did not kill her?" he whispered, guilt washing over his eyes. Christine shook her head. She doubted very much that her father would have let her marry him if he had killed Emma.
"Then the letter was wrong..." Nadir whispered, more to himself then to Christine.
"Letter?" Christine asked. He looked at her in surprise, as if he had not known that he had spoken out loud.
"It is nothing, Madam...it appears I made a grave mistake," he whispered.
"Someone wrote you a letter...saying that Erik had murmured my mother?" she wondered. Nadir said nothing.
"You came all the way from Persia to get Erik for killing my mother?" Christine said, piecing it together. Nadir was impressed with how much Christine had come up with already.
"Yes..." he said, seeing no point in lying. Who would send him a letter saying Emma was murdered and frame Erik for the act?
"You were close to my mother?" she asked. The Persian nodded. Christine said nothing as she helped him to his feet. Emma Daae was an important link to this whole thing. Erik had been close to her obviously and that would explain some of his life, perhaps, and this Persian knew something as well. Had the stories about Persia her mother once told her more fact then fiction, had her mother been to Persia? If so, what had she been doing there.
"I am sorry for causing so much trouble," Nadir murmured, bringing Christine back to reality. She shook her head and walked him to the door.
"You were acting under false pretenses. Perhaps you should talk to whoever wrote you that letter," she suggested. Nadir sighed, if only he knew who that was!
Erik was throwing anything and everything in sight when Christine finally made it to their room. His face was livid and Christine knew she had to stop him before he hurt himself.
"Erik!" she said, but he ignored her. He grabbed the mirror she had had moved into their room to help her get ready and threw it across the room, shattering against the opposite wall. Christine cringed but rallied her courage. She went to him and took his hand, but he made to pull away from her.
"No," she whispered, doing the only thing she knew would work. She leaned up and kissed him. This was the one thing that she knew Erik would listen to. He would not hear her tell him to stop and he would never see reason, so she kissed him. She opened her mouth like he had done the last few times and coaxed him to open his mouth, although it appeared he needed little coaxing.
Erik pulled her against him and kissed her with all the passion he had shown her the other night. She had known that if he had not pulled away that night she would have allowed him to continue and make love to her, she did not know if she was thankful or not for that decision. He pulled away, leaning his forehead against her own, his breathing labored.
"I would never hurt your mother, Christine, if you believe anything believe that," he whispered. She nodded.
"I know," she whispered. He took her face in his hands and kissed her again, this time slowly. When he pulled away he gave her the first genuine smile she had ever seen.
"Would you like to go out tonight, Christine?" he asked. Christine stared at him. Had she heard him correctly?
"What?" she whispered. Erik sighed.
"The Persian's visit made me realize that I have far to much on my mind. I would like to take you to an opera and then perhaps dinner, would you join me?" he asked. He watched the wide, surprised, but utterly happy smile cross her face as she nodded.
"Oh, yes! That would be wonderful!" Christine cried. Erik smiled again. This would be a good way to take the evening off of his mind as well as Christine's, because he had not liked the look she had had on her face when she had watched him nearly kill the Persian.
"Then hurry and get ready."