Chapter 34
The ticking of the grandfather clock was about to drive me mad.
I’d passed it by a hundred times, pacing up and down the hall outside Raoul’s bedchambers. It took me exactly thirty-seven seconds to complete each loop. Thirty-seven seconds to go from the staircase to the far window seat and back again.
I could see my worry marked in the plush piling of the blue carpet runner and knew I’d probably made an enemy of Raoul’s housekeeper.
They’d been in there for hours. Raoul, his valet, and the doctor who’d been called in.
The second the older man had arrived, he’d ordered Raoul upstairs for a thorough examination and shut the door in my face, leaving me alone in the hallway. At first, indignation and rage had fueled my pacing, but the constant footsteps had long since dulled both into mindless routine.
Thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-five—
I stopped short as the door behind me clicked open and the physician, Dr. Auberjonois, crept out into the hall, squinting for me.
“How is he?” I asked, racing toward the older gentleman.
“He’s going to be just fine. He needed a few stitches and is using a cooling poultice for the burns. He’ll certainly be sore for a few days, but there doesn’t appear to be any internal damage and no broken bones.”
A sigh of relief escaped me. “Oh, thank goodness! Thank…thank you! Can I see him now?” I tried to peek over his shoulder, but the room was too dark to immediately spot Raoul.
With a shake of his gray head, Dr. Auberjonois closed the door behind him. “I’m afraid not. I’ve prescribed a strong course of tonics to ensure that he gets all the rest he needs, and I have instructed his valet on the proper dosage. Monsieur le Vicomte is already asleep.”
“Oh.” I frowned, feeling thwarted. “I…I so hoped to be able to see him—just to make sure he’s all right.”
“He is. I assure you.” The physician took my elbow and gently led me down the hall. We passed by my ticking nemesis, but before we descended the stairs, he stopped. “He said there’d been an altercation of some kind?”
I nodded, unsure of exactly what story Raoul would have told or what details he’d want me to give.
“It must have been a terrifying ordeal,” Dr. Auberjonois mused, curiosity shining in his gaze. “Strange to see burns such as his from a fistfight.”
“I’m just so relieved he made it through relatively unscathed,” I said as evenly as I could.
The doctor reached into his black valise and pulled out a little amber bottle.
He pressed it into my hand. “Two drops of this in a cup of tea before bed,” he instructed, “and you’ll sleep.
” He patted at his coat pockets before gesturing to the stairs.
“I’m told Madame Henry has ordered you a carriage back to your apartment. ”
I glanced again at Raoul’s door, indecision twanging within me. Impulsively, I broke away from the doctor and hurried down the hall. I entered his chamber without so much as a knock.
Raoul was positioned in the middle of his bed. A dark-blue cover had been pulled up over his bandaged chest.
“Mademoiselle!” the valet hissed. He’d been sorting through a tray of bottles on Raoul’s bureau, lining them up in neat order.
“I’ll only be a moment,” I promised before leaning over the side of the bed.
Despite all my time spent at Raoul’s town house, I’d never been in this bedchamber before.
It was done up in dark greens and an even darker wood grain.
I was touched to see the little tintype photograph we’d taken together at a studio along the boardwalk positioned on his bedside table; it must be the last thing he studied each night before turning in.
I picked it up, admiring the pretty gold frame. Though taken only months ago, the picture already inspired a feeling of sentimental nostalgia.
“We look so young,” I whispered to Raoul.
He didn’t stir.
Dark circles lined his closed eyes. I’d never seen him look so exhausted.
I glanced back to the tintype, studying our faces. We did look young then. Young and blissfully unaware of all the woes coming our way. I wished I could slip back through time and somehow warn us of the approaching danger.
Don’t return to Paris, I’d say. Stay away! Stay away!
Beneath his mound of eiderdown blankets, Raoul shifted, stirring as if in a bad dream.
I pressed a quick kiss to his forehead, willing him to wake up and smile. I’d give anything to see him smile again, like that picture from the boardwalk, so pure and radiantly hopeful. I’d cherish that smile, that hope as I should have. I’d protect it and keep it safe.
“Miss Daaé, please,” the valet insisted. “Dr. Auberjonois was so adamant about his rest.”
I nodded to the man, then turned back to Raoul, leaning in close so that only he could hear my whispered promise.
“Sleep well, my love. I’m going to take care of everything.
The moment you’re up and ready, we are leaving here forever.
Never again will we ever darken the door of the Opéra Populaire.
We’ll be safe, together.” I kissed him once more, this time on his stubbly cheek. “Dream of me.”