Rossignol

Raoul deChagny pounded on the door with all his might. His insistent thumps echoed crazily in the vast, stone-enclosed darkness.

“This is highly irregular,” the man beside him muttered. “I thought he wanted to get married.”

“He does,” Raoul swore, his lips pressed into a thin line. “By God, he pestered me about it endlessly until I thought I would go mad. If it wasn’t for your ingenuity he wouldn’t have this opportunity.”

“And it is your sister he wishes to marry?” The darker man scratched his head. “I confess I never believed Erik would find a woman to match him, mush less a deChagny. How did they meet?”

“I’ll tell you over a brandy,” Raoul answered impatiently. “Now that he’s forgotten about teaching me to sing I suppose I can indulge.”

“Erik was teaching you to sing,” the man repeated in disbelief. “I go on holiday and when I come back all is madness.”

“The story might require two or three bottles of brandy,” Raoul hypothesized, pounding on the door again. “What on earth made you get a binding license anyway? I thought you Muslims did things differently.”

“Contrary to what a Catholic might believe,” the dark man drawled, “we Muslims are not heathens. Marriage happens in my country too, you know.”

“Forgive me, I know little of your culture.” Raoul slammed the butt of a torch against the door with all his might, repeatedly. “Goddamn him,” he cursed. “He’ll give me heart problems! Making all his demands and nesting down here with Celeste like a snake in his den!”

The Persian gently pulled the torch from Raoul’s stiff fingers. “Let’s come back in a few hours,” he soothed. “If we wait until nightfall we have a good chance of catching him awake. I confess I don’t understand how he missed us setting off all his alarms, but I’m sure they are both fine. Erik is too stubborn to simply die.”

“You’re right,” Raoul replied, straightening. “Let’s go have our brandy. Maybe after a bottle or two I can get through the ceremony without weeping like a woman.”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” the Persian replied with a smile.