"From now on whenever you leave the house someone will be with you at all times," he informed her. Until he found out who was setting this 'trap' he was not going to take any chances. Especially with his wife. The carriage finally pulled in front of the manor and Erik helped Christine out. They had not even reached the door when Susannah burst out of the house.
"Oh, Master! It is just awful!" she cried.
"What is it woman?" Erik asked, not in the mood for one of her hysterics.
"In your room!" Susannah cried. Erik left Christine on the steps while he ran upstairs. What he saw did not help his mood. Several dead rats lay on the floor in a pool of their own blood. Someone had used that blood to write on the wall.
Revenge is coming.
Three simple words written in rats blood.
"Oh, my God," Christine whispered from behind him. Erik turned away from the sight and tried to pull Christine close but she shoved him away. She continues to stare at the sight before her, wondering, not for the first time, what the hell is going on? She turned on her husband.
"You have a lot of explaining to do."
There will not be any discussion in here," Erik said with a sigh. Christine was more then glad to get out of that room. She followed him into the library after he barked at Douglas to get some men to clean up that mess. He went to the window to stare outside while he gathered his thoughts, thinking about what he could and could not tell Christine just now.
"I am telling you the truth when I say I do not know who did this," he said. Christine said nothing.
"I have done many things in my life that I am not fond of, Christine," he continued. She did not know if she wanted to hear all of this right now. With the attack and then the rats there was only so much she could take.
"I have many enemies, any one of them could have done such a thing," he said. It was hard for Christine to understand a life such as this because she had been raised with love and care, and she had certainly never done anything in her life to cause someone to become an enemy.
"Erik...I am frightened."
Erik's body tensed and the room became quiet from Christine's statement. Erik did not know much about his wife but the one thing he did know was that she was strong. He had seen that every time she talked back to him, but the voice that spoke those words was small and frightened. He turned to look at her and could see that she was not lying, she was frightened. He sighed and did not know what to say. Most of his life he had never had to comfort anyone and he did not know how to do so now.
He realized that being a husband entitled certain responsibilities. The first being to always protect his wife. Christine had just seemed so strong that he had not thought about this. But even the strongest women got scared sometimes, and tonight had certainly not been ideal. It must be worse for Christine when she had no idea about anything and she was not used to living this way. She had had to deal with too many things recently and it was not fair to her. So he went to her and wrapped her in his arms, hoping she would not pull away from him. She didn't.
He rested his head on top of her curls and for the first time marveled at how nice it was to hold a woman in his arms. He had had women in his arms before, true enough, but they had been crying out in ecstasy of his touch...it was simply nice to hold someone to give them comfort, to make them feel safe. No matter what he said to the contrary he wanted Christine to be safe.
"Erik?" she whispered. He looked down at her.
"Yes?"
"I know you do not want to answer any of my questions...but can I just ask one?" she whispered. Her eyes were pleading and Erik could not refuse, what harm would one question pose?
"Alright, but just one," he said. She nodded.
"How were you involved with my mother?" she whispered. Erik stiffened and pulled away from her, beginning to walk towards the door.
"You said you would answer one question!" she cried. He turned to face her, angry.
"The answer to that question will only lead to more questions!" he snapped. Christine said nothing, but her eyes continued to plead. When Erik reached the door he turned to her. His answer was soft and sad.
"She took me in when I was a small child. In many ways she was like my elder sister," he said before disappearing out the door. He had been right. That answer had only given her more questions.