Unmasqued

succor.'

'I will not! I will stay here with Erik!' Tears streamed down her face.

'Let her go.' Erik's voice, rough and raw, drew their attention. 'It is me you want, Chagny. She has nothing to do with this.'

'Au contraire, mon ami, 'Philippe told him smugly. 'She is in the very center of this, for she is everything to you. And the best, most painful way to destroy you is to destroy that which you love… for you have never loved anything before… and have never been loved in return. Most especially by our father.'

'Father?' Christine gasped, and her attention flew among the three men.

'Ah, yes… that is the one secret I am most determined to keep, Miss Daae. The identity of my bastard half brother… the deformed monster that he is, we Chagnys cannot allow him to claim his position with the family. Never have. Never will.'

He paused… looked consideringly at Christine. 'Although, I might… might perhaps be convinced toward leniency… for a price.'

She knew immediately what he meant. His lewd gaze, his lascivious smile, the bulge in his trousers.

'Raoul has had the opportunity to test the wares, of course, but I have not… because of your interference. Perhaps we might come to an arrangement of our own, Miss Daae?'

'No,' Erik snarled, fighting anew. 'Christine, no!'

'You won't find it so very difficult, will you, Miss Daae? After all, from our brief interlude at the masquerade ball, you seemed to find me… not so very distasteful. Not so distasteful as you might have pretended. It must be the Chagny blood. We all have it. All three of us.' He laughed softly, his eyes fastened on hers.

Christine's heart thudded in her chest. 'Would… would you leave, and let us go free?'

'If I found your performance convincing enough… I'm sure we could come to a satisfactory arrangement.' His mouth curled and he watched her, waiting. Waiting.

'Christine, nooo…'Erik was sobbing now, twisting and turning, trying to break free.

'Tell him to shut up, or I will shut him up,' Philippe told her quietly, never moving his attention from her.

'Erik… please. You will make it worse.' Her words came out rusty, but they seemed to have an effect, for he stopped calling… subsiding into heavy, rough breathing behind them.

Ignoring Raoul, who had released her during the exchange with Philippe, Christine drew in a deep breath. Philippe blinked easily, but his attention remained avid and steady. She stepped toward him and lifted her face, pressing her lips to his.

He did not move and she drew back, looking up at him.

'Surely you can do better than that,' he told her. 'I said the performance must be convincing.'

Refusing to look at Erik, she stepped forward again. Pulling in a deep breath, she lifted her arms, and felt her breasts rise from behind the corset as she slid her fingers around the back of Philippe's neck. Bringing his head down, she rose on her toes to kiss him, moving her lips over his in sensual, sleek strokes. From the shift of his breath, she knew she had been successful, yet he did not move.

She kissed more frantically, thrusting her tongue into his mouth to taste his tobacco and wine-scented tongue, and bringing her hips forward into his, where his erection told her she'd had an effect.

Christine stepped away again, breathing heavily, and his hand lashed out to grab her wrist. 'That was an adequate beginning, Miss Daae.' He yanked her back up against him. He looked down at her, forcing her wrist straight down along his thigh, and sliding his other hand between them to fondle her breast. 'Why stop now?'

'I thought… I thought we could move somewhere more comfortable,' she said, trying to make her voice and expression coy. She did not want to do this in front of Erik. 'To the boudoir.'

'That would be nice, wouldn't it?' Philippe smiled down at her, twitching his finger over her nipple in a rough rhythm that sent little sparks to her belly. Christine swallowed, shocked that her body would respond so quickly… so easily… in such a situation. 'But we wouldn't want my brother to miss the show, would we?' He glanced back over his shoulder to where Erik stood, then smiled back down at Christine.

Her throat dried. 'You are evil,' she whispered into his face, even as the languid stroking over her nipple caused her quim to swell and burn with arousal.

'Not evil,' he told her, 'merely obsessed with beauty. And determined to get what I want. Now, off with your clothes. You are wasting time.'

Christine cast a glance at Raoul, who appeared to be little affected by his brother's orders, despite his pronouncements of affection for her. In fact, his eyes seemed to glitter a bit brighter.

She did not dare look at Erik. If she did, she couldn't go through with this. But she would do this for him, for them. It was only sex. She could do it.

'Now, Christine,' Philippe said sharply. He tautened the rope around his wrist, giving a threatening yank. Erik gasped and coughed, and Christine spared him a brief look.

'I will… Please… let him breathe,' she begged. She met Philippe's eyes and drew in another deep breath, then placed her hands over the top of her corset and pulled it down suddenly.

Philippe moved slightly, and Erik's horrible choking stopped. But his tortured breathing rasped in the air, and she could not look at him.

Her breasts were bare, and Philippe smiled as he looked at them. He sat back in his chair and waited, and Christine felt Raoul behind her. Before she could react, Raoul gripped the back of her neck, holding her in place under the long curls of hair, tight enough that she hardly dared breathe. With a swift, rough motion, he pulled at the laces Madame Giry had done up only hours before and yanked the corset down and off, whipping it away. Her skirts and crinolines dropped to the floor, leaving her bare to everyone.

Raoul hissed in a deep breath, and positioned her wrists behind her so that he could cover her lips with a harsh, passionate kiss. Christine closed her eyes, kissing him back, feeling the shameful way her nipples tightened and moisture pooled between her legs as she was held prisoner.

As Raoul kissed her, his fingers tight on her jaw and her hands clasped behind her back, trapped between her ass and his bulging erection, she felt a movement in front of her. Philippe's teeth closed over one of her breasts, tight enough to hurt, but not hard enough to break the skin. Pinching and fondling her other breast, he teased her nipple with his teeth, nibbling over the very front of the sensitive part, then using his tongue to slide over it.

She twitched and jerked as the pleasure-pain caused her body to tighten and moisten and swell. Raoul's hand-at least, she thought it was Raoul's hand-slipped down between her legs, sliding through the growing wetness there as she trembled inside. Her breathing was raspier, and her eyes closed… she couldn't think about what was happening. She just had to get through it.

Philippe moved to her other breast and sucked gently, as though to contrast with his rough attention to her first nipple, and she reacted to that by arching her back, pushing into his face. Raoul had finished kissing her, leaving her mouth to open and gasp when he bit at her shoulder.

Erik was still half-hanging by his neck, his arms still pinioned behind him. His eyes were closed, one with dark lashes marking his cheek, and the other with the lashless lid hanging awkwardly to one side, drawn into an obscene shape. His chest rose and fell rapidly, his nostrils flaring as though to drag in as much air as possible.

Christine jerked her attention away, relieved that Erik was not watching… although he could hear. He could hear every sigh, every lick and suck, and the moist sounds of fingers sliding through her sex, the shifting of skin against clothing.

'You! Open your eyes!' Philippe shouted, and Christine realized he was talking to Erik. 'Open them and watch… Watch everything, or I'll cut her throat when I'm done with her.'

'It wouldn't be the first time,' Erik managed to growl, his eyes bloodshot red and burning with deep fury.

Christine braced herself for Philippe's response, expecting violence, but he merely laughed. 'Ah, you still have some spirit. It must be getting difficult for you, Erik. Well, just wait. It'll only get worse.' He pushed Christine down onto her knees before him.

Raoul moved closer. He'd opened his trousers and his cock roared free, red and purple, and glistening at the tip, at her eye level. He took her by the back of her neck and brought his cock to her mouth. 'Open up, my dear. It's not as if it's the first time.'

Christine opened her mouth. He slid in, all the way, and she could barely hold her jaws open wide enough. He