I've never written for this fandom before, even though I love it - please tell me how I did (read and review) xx

They'd known each other for a long time. She couldn't have been more than four when they'd met - Robin six, nearly seven. As young children they'd played together, for a while unrestrained by society's expectations and standards.

But when she'd turned ten her governess - strict and stern - had forbidden her from playing with him. Her governess had been trying to do that for years, but her father had agreed with her protests. Until now. Now she was on her way to becoming a grown woman. She had to act like a Lady, not just know how to act like one. All of the time.

It was lonely.

There weren't many other girls her age at Knighton Hall and even less of them were allowed to play with her.

Robin was still allowed to do as he wished. "Thirteen years old and still running around like a child," her governess often said tutting and giving condescending looks as though it was something to be ashamed of. Marian didn't really care - she just wanted to join him.

But even if she had been able to - as a village girl - she wouldn't have been allowed. He started to spend his time frolicking with the village girls, and she watched from her window as her insides burned with jealousy.

When she was thirteen they'd been formally engaged. He hadn't stopped the frolicking, merely made it more discreet. She loved him and loathed him.

By the time he was eighteen he had matured and his sense of honour had developed. He stopped the frolicking and tried to focus his advances on her.

But she was wise to him by now. She'd seen him sweet talk the other girls and she'd seen him break their hearts. She was stronger than that. But when she was with him her guard dropped down - a subconscious action that wasn't her choice. It made her defenceless to his charms but allowed her to see that the young boy she'd once known was still there, hiding inside this handsome and impulsive young man who made her heart race for reasons she couldn't quite explain.

After a year or so she willingly gave him her trust. They were strong alone but together they were invincible - or so she'd thought. She had just turned eighteen when he went to fight in the Crusades, only weeks before their wedding, and they had fought like never before.

They'd screamed and shouted and she'd broken all of the codes of conduct that were demanded of her as a Lady. Her governess would've been horrified. Rightly so.

But it hadn't changed his mind.

She hated him for that, leaving right before they were married - something she'd dreamt of since she was a child, all the emotion she'd buried when they'd become engaged dragged to the surface and boiling.

But she loved him too.

She always had and she knew she'd never stop.