Maria's POV
It was a beautiful day that I awoke to, the sun was streaming through the window and the birds were chirping outside.
Knock knock knock
'Maria dear, it's time to wake up!' That was Loveday, calling from the other side of the door.
'I'm coming!' I replied. I threw myself out of bed and began to get dressed. I slipped into a beautiful dress that Loveday had left for me. It was a dark shade of red, and with lovely gold swirls sewn into the sleeves. It was very comfortable, as were most of the dresses Loveday gave me. I then made my way down to breakfast, where everybody was happily enjoying their morning. I greeted them all and proceeded to eat my breakfast.
'Oh Maria dear, I am afraid I cannot do lessons with you today. Digweed and I are planning to go to London for a small holiday, and we depart this morning.' Mrs. Heliotrope informed me. I smiled and politely asked how long she planned to be gone for. 'Oh we will probably be back sometime next week. We've yet to decide whether it be early in the week, or later.'
My face beamed as I thought how wonderful it would be not to have to do lessons during Mrs. Heliotrope's absence, and I thought that she truly deserved the holiday. Her wonderful husband Digweed also deserved the break. 'Well that's splendid! I wish you both the very best on your journey!' I told them. This made Mrs. Heliotrope very happy indeed.
Breakfast finished, and I went out to the stables to see my horse, Periwinkle. 'Hello, sweet. How is my darling horse today?' I spoke to her whilst feeding her an apple. Periwinkle neighed her delight and I laughed as butterfly flew past her nose and startled her.
I was walking through the hall, when I stopped outside the drawing room to the sound of voices. I instantly recognised them as my Uncle Benjamin's and Aunt Loveday's. I was about to continue walking when I heard something that caught my attention. 'Benjamin, really I don't think it is worth fussing over. Nobody was harmed, and the women seem quite…I suppose you could say excited.' That was Loveday.
'That's not the point. That brother of yours and his gang are always stopping people wandering through the woods. And whenever women are the victims of the ambushes, they walk away smiling like airheads because they believe themselves to be special because they were stopped by Robin De Noir.'
Ah yes, Robin De Noir. The infamous 'bandit' that is usually found going through the woods, making sure everything is peaceful. Whenever they spot something, or someone, they think is suspicious, they stop them and search them to make sure. This soon came across to people as 'criminal-like' because they jump out of nowhere and scare people. Women and girls that are stopped by the gang (usually not because of suspicion but because they're men and boys) come back to the village talking about how exciting it was and how they thought the De Noir gang very much fancied them.
I hadn't seen Robin since we saved Moonacre. That was two years ago, and I hadn't seen him once. Loveday went to the De Noir castle at least once every month for lunch and usually invited me to come along. I always declined. I'm 15 now, and Robin is 17. If he was half as handsome as women claimed him to be, I don't think I would ever trust myself to meet him again.
Truth is, when I met Robin I hated him. He and I were enemies because he was a De Noir and I was a Merryweather. We broke the curse upon the valley and now our families are at peace with each other. Friends even! But when he started helping me save Moonacre, I saw he was good at listening and smart and yes, handsome. When we saved Moonacre, we just kind of… stopped talking. We didn't have a reason to. But since then I'd heard him asking of me many a time, and I of him.
I wonder what would happen if we did ever meet again…
Robin's POV
Females. They just can't contain themselves.
I personally love when we see a few in the forest and decide to stop them. I have never seen them walking alone in the forest; they are always with a friend. And when we first show ourselves they look scared and scared.
And then the blush appears.
Some of the boys flirt with them, I just smile and wink. Sometimes I mock them, annoy them, and tease them. And on occasion we prefer to just stay silent and dangerous and scare them. Today, the boys saw two of ladies walking in the forest, looking very out of place indeed. There are 4 of us; Red, Jimmy, Davey and myself.
Jimmy decided he would emerge from the bush and flirt with them. We all followed, and watched as he stepped out. We did the same. The women stop and look at us, shock appearing on their faces like they'd just been hit with a bucket of water. They gasped, and as usual, the blush appeared high on their cheeks.
'Well what are two lovely ladies such as yourselves doing out in the forest?' Jimmy asked. They both giggled. They were pretty, but didn't catch my attention. One had brown hair up in a bun and the other had dirty blonde hair hanging at her shoulders. They were dressed plainly, and linked arms when Jimmy started talking to them.
'We're taking a stroll. And we really must be going.' responded the brown haired one. Red tried to convince them to stay, and the blonde haired girl kept her eyes on me. I winked, and her blush went a bright pink. They insisted they leave, and took off.
No doubt going to brag to their friends they'd just been 'fancied' by a De Noir gang.