I have been trying to write this ever since I started posting for this pairing. Getting the background interwoven has been a nightmare, but this as good as I can get it I think. The result has made it quite texty and heavy going to read at first, but please persevere and give it a chance! Full notes below.

Maria had never considered that settling back in at her home at Moonacre Manor might not be as easy as she had always imagined. In the four years that she'd been away at school in London, it seemed a new equilibrium had been reached in her absence, and in returning, for good this time, she was trying very hard not to disrupt this. School, after all, was supposed to have taught her how to deal with situations like this. And she supposed it had, because she knew what she should do. It just wasn't what she wanted to do...

It was this sort of warring with herself that had led her to be sent to school in the first place.

In the year following the five thousandth moon, Maria had adjusted very quickly to her new life in Moonacre Valley. This was rather impressive given it had turned out to be the period in her life in which she'd seen the most change. The biggest of these had of course been the death of her father, her initial uprooting from the city to the countryside and the whole business with the Moon Pearls. And then, straight afterwards, her uncle had married Loveday, so she'd acquired an eccentric new aunt who'd quickly become someone between a mother and a sister to her. She'd also gained by this event a far happier and contented uncle to the one she'd grown accustom upon her arrival. Sir Benjamin had still retained an outwards appearance of grumpiness, but this no longer stemmed from bitterness of heart, but because he now lived in a household he no longer had sole control of, being outnumbered, and most of the time overruled, by women.

Following Sir Benjamin and Loveday, Maria's beloved Miss Heliotrope had also been married, and to her uncle's sole male ally of the house, Digweed. Mrs Digweed had thus found herself with new responsibilities as a married lady, and given how much she enjoyed bossing her new husband about (which he enjoyed just as much), she had found it necessary to take a step back as Maria's sole educator and began to share the task with Sir Benjamin. He had introduced a variety of new subjects into Maria's education, taught her the responsibilities of her station as a Merryweather of Moonacre Manor, and, given the new Lady Merryweather's preference for the gardens and barefoot wanderings across the estate, involved her in the running of the household in her place.

No change, however, had been greater than the change of Maria herself. Gone was the uptight, somewhat spoilt and sheltered city girl she'd arrived as; the discovery of the Moonacre curse and adventures breaking it had seen to that, the things she had once regarded as important rapidly changing. Since the return of the Moon Pearls to the sea, Maria had accepted and grown into her role as the Moon Princess. Her free time had been spent roaming about the valley, sometimes astride Periwinkle (usually bareback in the dresses Loveday had continued to lay out for her), and other times on foot, accompanying Loveday as she drifted about the estate or exploring the forest with a certain other De Noir.

It had all felt entirely natural to Maria, the wildness growing within her heart part of her new role as the Moon Princess; but rumours about her had begun to fly in Silverydew. Upon reaching the ear of her Uncle, he had promptly decided she was to be sent off to school, infuriated by the audacity of those gossiping about her. By most, she was regarded as the bringer of prosperity to the valley and keeper of its peace, so this had in many ways been quite an overreaction. It was far more likely that her uncle had actually been more alarmed by talk of her prospects, his niece now somewhere between girl and woman.

Either way, the decision to send her to school had been fixed. Maria had certainly not been happy about it, since it was not so long ago that her uncle had been insisting that her father ought never to have kept her away from Moonacre; that as a Merryweather she belonged there. But her protestation and arguments had all been to no avail though; and soon everyone within the Manor felt that was in her best interests to go, including, to her upmost surprise, Loveday, who had suggested it would be good for her to mix with other girls of her own age during her adolescence. So it had been decided that she would go, to learn to balance herself as both as a young lady and as the Moon Princess.

This had been a good theory in principle, but a problem lay in the word balance. This suggested the issue had merely been that she indulged one of these sides of herself more than the other. But in Maria's opinion, battling was a far more accurate description of the situation.

In London, away from the magic and moonlight, it had turned out far easier to let the ladylike side of herself win, as the opportunities for her wilder instincts were much more limited. That being said, Maria had still seemed to get into far more trouble than any of the other girls, finding school life very difficult to adjust to given the rigid routine she now had to follow, in contrast to the freedom she had become accustomed to at Moonacre. And the formidably strict headmistress that ruled over the school had not made this transition any easier. But Maria had managed it, returning during the summer and winter breaks with the determined resolve to prove herself to her family and waiting for the day when she would be returning for good...

Which led her to her present dilemma.

When she had arrived back, a week ago, from her final year at school, she'd discovered that there was a houseguest at Moonacre. Of course, if she'd had known that, she'd never have thrown herself from the carriage in the manner she had and made such a spectacle of herself. But since she hadn't, her excitement had overwhelmed her and she'd flung her arms around the neck of the closest person (her uncle, opening the carriage door) with a cry of delight.

It was only after this that the then slightly dishevelled Sir Benjamin had seen fit to inform her that the son of one of his friends from university was visiting, and introduced her to the slightly surprised young man standing just behind the family.

Despite thus failing her first test of ladylike behaviour, Mr Abbot hadn't seemed to mind what Mrs Digweed later termed her enthusiastic arrival. Quite the opposite; he was pleasant and polite young man who seemed to immediately take a shine to her. Maria was, after all, a pretty young woman who everyone spoke highly of, and happened to be the niece of the man he was doing business with; it was only natural that he'd take an interest in her. And Maria hadn't minded him at first. But presenting himself as at her service at every opportunity was beginning to become very tiresome. She'd been dreaming of the day she was to return to Moonacre, of spending time with her family and getting to know her two young cousins, exploring the woods and estate again...

But instead she was temporarily housebound with her time constantly monopolised by the attentions a well-meaning, but apparently oblivious, young man.

Sighing, Maria reminded herself that this attitude was ungracious of her, since it wasn't Mr Abbot's fault she was only lately returned from school. Nevertheless, she couldn't stop herself from still cursing inwardly when she spotted him walking through Loveday's heavenly gardens.

For heaven's sake, she had just wanted some time to herself, beneath her favourite apple tree, with her favourite book. She really didn't want to promenade around the grounds making polite conversation with him, which was what she was going to have to do, and which she knew she should do, if Mr Abbot found her. And given the very wide, very flat expanse of lawn she had wandered across, bordered only distantly by the trees of the De Noir forest and virtually impossible not to be spotted on, this outcome was inevitable. She looked around despairingly, but there really was no-where she could escape to without first been seen...

Apart from one. If she desperate enough.

Which she was.

It only occurred to her after she'd climbed high enough into the apple tree that this was exactly the type of behaviour she was trying to avoid. If caught, Loveday would laugh, Uncle Benjamin would pinch the bridge of his nose and sigh in a world wearied way and Miss Heliotrope (Maria still had trouble calling her Mrs Digweed to herself) would splutter indignantly. She'd just have to pray she wouldn't be noticed by anyone, most particularly by Mr Abbot, who she could hear approaching.

Maria held her breath as he stopped at the base of the tree, trying to remain as still as she possibly could despite her precarious position. She could imagine him looking around, his blue eyes crinkled in confusion, blond hair flopping endearingly over his face...

Oh please don't look up and see me, please, please just go back to the house, I might be anywhere in there-

"Oh, good day," Mr Abbot called out.

But he couldn't be talking to her, could he? That definitely wasn't something a gentleman would say upon seeing the young woman he was trying to court perched precariously in the leafy upper branches of a tree. Was it?

"I was just looking for Miss Merryweather. I could have sworn I'd seen her out this way and I was going to ask her if she wanted a walk in the gardens since it's such a nice day…"

Although relieved that he clearly wasn'tspeaking to her, Maria was still at a complete loss to whom Mr Abbot was talking to. She hadn't seen anyone else around. The only person she knew with the annoying ability of appearing from thin air, usually by dropping from a tree, was-

"I'm sure she'd love that," a familiar voice drawled, "In fact I was talking to her not long ago in the library and she was telling me how that was the very thing she was hoping for. I'd have asked her myself but I always forget to give her my arm, which annoys her..."

Oh she was going to murder him. Well, as soon as she was out of the tree she was. For now, Maria was forced to settle with biting her lip to stop from giving herself away. Mr Abbot, meanwhile, took the remark to be serious rather than sarcastic, no doubt unsurprised that a man wearing feathers and leather would forget to do something as gentlemanly as offering a lady his arm so she was able to successfully walk across a completely flat, dry surface without falling down.

"Oh," he replied, frowning, "Well, perhaps she's still in there. Excuse me,"

Maria continued to hold her breath, remaining as still as she could as Mr Abbot retreated back to the house. And then-

"You can come down now," Robin called, "I've put him of the scent,"

Maria couldn't hold in her anger any longer. "Put him off?" She repeated, her voice trembling. Yanking an apple from a nearby branch, she hurled it at him. "He's going to be insisting I take his arm all the time now! You did the absolute opposite of putting him off!"

"Did I?" Robin asked, looking completely unconcerned by both her tone and the apple that had bounced off his bicep, "Well perhaps you should just do it yourself then,"

"You know full well I can't do that," Maria retorted furiously, "It wouldn't be-"

"-Proper? Oh and we both know you couldn't possibly be impolite, don't we?" He shot back, voice nothing but mocking. This only enraged Maria further to a point beyond words. So she express herself non-verbally by throwing another apple at him.

This time though, he caught it, and looking right up at her, took a bite out of it. Leaving her speechless for an entirely different reason.

"I mean, what's he supposed to think with all these mixed message you're sending him?" He asked, around his mouthful of apple.

"You're the one mixing my messages!" Maria managed to snap, trying to keep the waver out of her voice as he took another bite from the apple.

The nerve of him! He'd been making a mockery of herself and Mr Abbot the moment he'd met her uncle's guest, the day after she'd got back. Immediately taking stock of the situation, a gleam had entered his eyes and he'd spent the entirety of the lunch Maria had been forced to invite him to dropping comments, designed to provoke her and sail straight over Mr Abbot's head. Rather than shoot back equally smart quips, all Maria's efforts had instead gone into repressing the desire to stab Robin in the leg with her fork, all the while ignoring the smirk on his face that indicated he knew exactly what she wanted to do.

"All you need to do," Robin told her, ignoring her last comment, "Is tell him to sod off, nice and clearly. That way, there's no room for any misinterpretation,"

"I wish you'd sod off," Maria snapped, trying to untangle her skirts from the gnarled branches so she could climb down.

"See isn't it easy?"

"You make it easy!"

"But ironically, you don't actually mean it with me,"

"Oh I can assure you I do-" The words were hardly out of her mouth however when her foot slipped and there was a loud crack as the branch her weight suddenly dropped onto gave way. She felt a swooshing sensation in her stomach as she tumbled through the air-

- Only to land straight into Robin's arms.

"No you don't," He replied, his eyes fixed on hers, "Because where would you be without me to always rescue you?"

Maria couldn't answer. Rendered temporarily speechless again, all she could do to stare at him, her mind still catching up with how she came to be only a hairsbreadth away from him.

Robin De Noir had always had the annoying ability to discompose her. She'd never really been sure how he felt about her: on the one hand, during her first year at Moonacre, she'd followed him about the forest and he hadn't seemed to mind, showing her secret and beautiful places in the trees and bantering with her. Even after she'd been sent to school, he'd made the effort to keep up this habit, despite the shortness of her visits home and his own decreasing free time.

But on the other hand, he'd always found her struggle to master herself, and her later determination to prove that she could, during her brief spells home, extremely amusing. And apparently decided to make it his life's mission to make this even more difficult by provoking her into doing the opposite. Given how much he was always around, gradually taking on more responsibilities and consulting with her uncle on behalf of his father on matters of shared business between their two families, he'd been impossible to avoid. And as much as she had wanted to kill him sometimes for his infuriating tendency of continually popping up, practically dogging her footsteps to constantly poke fun at her new ladylike habits and tease her, it was difficult to resent him for this when he still also always made time to take into forest and visit the sea, things she ached with a vengeance for in London.

Maria had long known that his behaviour had only been half the problem though. A few years older than her, Robin had always been ahead of her, a young man before she'd become a young woman. Her prolonged absences, spent surrounded by whispering adolescent girls and a draconian headmistress, had very much woken her up to this fact. And during those midnight conversations between the girls in her dormitory about the feelings they were forbidden to indulge (and so naturally revered even more), the only person Maria could ever bring to mind was Robin: His broad shoulders and his strong jaw. Those dark, smouldering eyes...

At first, she blamed this on the fact that she didn't know anyone else, hadn't spent half as much time with any other boy as she had with Robin, so of course she would think of him. But that didn't explain the blush in her cheeks whenever she did... Or the fact that she'd spent her second Christmas holiday with her eyes lowered whenever he was around due to the fact that the rugged stubbly beard he grown, (probably to keep his face warm over the exceptionally cold winter since he spent most of his time outside), was keeping her face just as warm because all she could think of when she saw it was how she wanted to run her fingers across his jaw and shivering at the thought of how rough it would feel against her skin…

Or the following summer, when she'd visited the De Noir castle with Loveday. She'd spent the duration of that visit staring out of the window, not paying the slightest bit of attention to the conversation between Loveday and her father because she'd been too busy watching the group of De Noirs working below. Or rather, she'd singled out Robin, his dark shirt clinging to him in the heat of the day, and following only him with her eyes, wondered idly if he could lift her as easily as the logs he was hauling about on his shoulders...

Well it turned out that he could. Had she still been at school, the feeling of his arms around her and the way he'd instinctually caught her would very definitely be something that her mind strayed too during her headmistress's lectures on the sinfulness of lust and passion in a young lady.

But she wasn't.

"Put me down," Maria eventually managed to say. When Robin only raised his eyebrows, she was forced to add "Please," in a slightly more civil tone.

This had the desired effect and Maria hastily stepped backward as soon as she could, a shiver of something running through her. The feeling of breathlessness did not last long however, as sweeping his eyes over her, Robin smirked.

"Oh dear, what will Mrs Digweed say?" He tutted, "But then, maybe such a messy, unladylike sight will put off your Mr Abbot,"

"He's not my-" But Maria stopped though, biting her tongue since it would be pointless to continue. Instead, with as much dignity as she could muster given the gigantic rip along her skirt, ruined hair and scuffed bodice, she turned on her heel and strode away back to the house.

When she reached the entrance hall, she was met by Digweed, whose eyes widened slightly as he took in the sight of her. "Err, Mr Abbot was looking for you Miss," He informed her, overcoming his bewilderment.

"Was he?" Maria replied with as much indifference as she could summon, "Well please tell him I'm indisposed if he should ask again,"

"Very good Miss," Digweed replied, "And I'll tell Mrs Digweed the same shall I? In about ten minutes?"

"Thank you Digweed," She said gratefully, heading towards the stairs to make the most of this head start to making herself respectable again.

The crunch of an apple sounded from behind her, causing Maria to stumble as she reached the first step. Momentarily closing her eyes, she ignored it, continuing on and refusing to look round, not wanting to see the laughter in Robin's eyes as they followed her upstairs until she was out of sight.

O

Mr Abbot left two days later. This wasn't without first dropping several hints to Maria that he was intending to return as soon as he was able. Maria gave him polite, but vague answers, which somehow still seemed to please him anyway. Despite this, and the threat of his return, Maria was able to breathe a sigh of relief and relax after his departure, feeling that she was no longer at risk of constant incidents of impropriety. Grateful that her time was her own again, she spent the following few days entirely devoted to her two young cousins: her three year old nephew George and one year old niece Eliza, names both chosen in honour of Maria's parents.

By the end of the third day, Loveday was clearly very grateful to Maria for the slight reprieve she was providing her with from her children. Maria herself was exhausted. Eliza had wailed every time Maria had attempted to put her down in her cot, stubbornly fighting the sleep she so desperately needed, and George had been hanging off her skirts the entire afternoon, insisting they play this game and that game, and when it was time for bed, had thrown a tantrum at not being allowed to come to dinner with Maria and his parents. A compromise had eventually been reached, for Maria to read him a bed time story although she'd had to read this story three times before he'd finally fallen asleep.

Maria thus hadn't had the time to tame her now very frizzy hair, or change into a dress that wasn't covered in George's mucky hand prints (jam, paint and mud all from various parts of the day). Seating herself at the dining table, Maria had been surprised to see Robin there too. She hadn't seen him all day, but assumed that he'd probably been with her uncle so long discussing business matters that naturally he'd been invited to dinner. Her uncle himself was too engrossed in continuing these discussions to take notice of Maria's dishevelled appearance, a fact for which she was very thankful. Her former governess had only joined the family for breakfast since she'd been married, so she was safe from being reprimanded by her as well.

Loveday, understanding only too well the effect her two children had after a day spent with them, simply poured Maria a large glass of wine.

It was the first break Maria had had all day and she wasn't feeling particularly inclined to participate in the discussion at the table. The best way to manage the estate's timber stocks wasn't a topic that interested her much anyway, and as a result, her attention quickly drifted from the discussion. It wasn't until the third course that she was abruptly pulled back to it when her uncle directed a question to her and wrenched from her absentminded musings with all eyes now on her, she promptly knocked over her goblet in embarrassment.

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone watched the red wine slowly spread across the white table cloth. "Heavens Maria," Loveday exclaimed, "You were a million miles away! What were you thinking of?"

This second question only served to make Maria flush even more, since her preoccupation had been the expanse of Robin's chest visible through the open neck if his shirt. Trailing her fingers down what she suspected were the very well defined pectorals of the young man sitting opposite her were not thoughts she cared to share with anyone at the best of times, let alone announce at the dinner table. The said young man was looking at her expectantly with his eyebrows raised and she sent a quick prayer of thanks to the heavens that she hadn't actually been caught staring at his chest. Small mercies.

"Nothing of consequence," Maria hastily answered, righting her goblet and praying they would drop the subject before she caught fire from the heat still flooding her cheeks. Her cup was refilled and she couldn't help but think the contents would be of better use thrown over her as she tried to ignore the lazy smirk Robin was watching her with. To her relief, her prayers were answered and the matter was not pursued.

Not until they retired from the table and Robin immediately sought her out anyway.

"I can understand what you'd daydream about in London," He remarked, catching up with her where she stood by an open window, trying to remain cool in the sticky heat of the summer evening, "But now you're back here, what could possibly make you attention wander so much?"

"You just can't let things go, can you?" She accused, scowling at him.

"Well it must have been interesting given how much you were blushing," He commented, eyes boring into hers with that tell-tale (and irritatingly attractive) smirk of his dancing across his lips, "Although what a proper young lady like you must have been thinking to make her so red-"

"I was blushing because I was suddenly the centre of attention!" Maria cut in. Annoyingly, she could feel herself flushing red again, but at least this time she could put it down to irritation. Mostly. For heaven's sake, was it really necessary for him to stand quite so close? He was literally towering over her, forcing her to look up into his face since she was determined to avoid looking at his chest again.

Really, why couldn't he wear shirt that actually buttoned up properly? It was all the more noticeable tonight as the persistent summer's heat, climbing higher and higher each day, had led to him temporarily abandoning his scarf and feathers, so there was a good deal more visible to draw the eye than usual. Hence her ill-timed trail of thoughts at the dinner table. But warm or not, the heat was hardly an excuse for him to parade about improperly dressed. How should he like it if she went around with her dress gaping open? What sort of message would that send out? Very much the wrong one. Or perhaps the sort that would lead to him pulling her into the shadows of a secluded corner and ripping it off entirely-

"Well you're not the centre of attention now and you're glowing brighter than the moon again. So what was it? Or maybe it was a who? Some London gentleman perhaps? How many Mr Abbots do you-"

"It's none of your damned business Robin so why don't you just-"

"Maria!" Loveday exclaimed, having overheard her swearing from a few feet away and approaching the pair.

"Oh, you're always getting me into trouble!" Maria hissed angrily before her aunt reached them.

Loveday frowned even more when she caught sight of Maria's, once again, heightened colour. She looked concerned, but her tone was firm when she spoke. "Perhaps you should retire early Maria. It's not like you to use such language and you look flushed again."

Maria inhaled sharply, supressing she urge to swear again as a different sort of frustration boiled up within her. Far be it from her, a grown young woman, to decide for herself when she wanted to go to bed. She was fed up of others always dictating her routine to her-

But catching sight of her uncle watching the scene, Maria managed to master herself. "You're right Loveday," She agreed in a tone of forced civility, and looking back at Robin, politely added "Goodnight Robin,"

She turned to leave, missing the flash disappointment and annoyance in Robin's eyes by seconds. Before she could withdraw any further though, he caught her hand. She glanced up in surprise as he bowed his head and pressed a kiss to her knuckles, eyes remaining fixed hers. The usual gleam was still there, but it seemed different somehow, perhaps because of the absence of his usual trademark smirk.

"Sweet dreams Princess," He murmured, his breath ghosting over her skin.

Feeling slightly dazed, Maria withdraw her hand from his and tripped from the room, hurrying upstairs to the safe haven of her tower room.

O

The burn of Robin's lips on her skin had certainly not made for sweet dreams. Although the gesture had gone a long way to soothing some of Maria's frustrations (mainly her embarrassment at being dismissed to bed like a young girl), it had sent a whirling cascade of other emotions through her. The temperature had not dropped much overnight either, making for a very restless night spend tossing a turning as she tried to ignore the cloying heat from both the sticky summer night and her own thoughts.

She was not feeling particularly well rested when the morning finally dawned. Awoken by a knock at her door, Maria sat up, pushing her damp curls from her forehead.

"I see you haven't slept well either," Loveday observed as she stepped though the tiny door into Maria's room, "This awful heat kept me awake all night too,"

Maria couldn't help but look at her aunt slightly resentfully for this comment since Loveday's elegant beauty seemed very much to contradict it.

"I thought you might prefer a lighter breakfast," Loveday carried on, gliding over with a tray bearing a bowl of fruit and glass of orange juice.

"Thank you," Maria said gratefully, sitting upright to receive it. Loveday perched on the side of her bed, watching her niece affectionately as she tucked into the fruit.

"Maria, I want to apologise," She eventually said.

Maria glanced up in surprise. "For what?"

Loveday sighed. "Last night. I acted like the over bearing aunt I swore to myself I would never be. It's just… I'm afraid that I still look at you and think of the girl you were before you went to school," She paused, taking Maria's hand in her own, "But you're not, you're a young woman now. Just because you grew up out of our sight doesn't mean we can pretend you haven't…" Loveday trailed off, looking slightly sad before gathering herself and smiling guiltily, "The last thing I want is to be like that awful headmistress you were always writing to me about!"

Maria returned her smile, laughing. "I don't think anyone could be as bad as her,"

Loveday's smile grew. "Well, even if that's true, I'm still sorry, and wanted to say so. Robin was very angry with me about it last night after you left,"

Maria choked on the sip of orange juice she'd taken. "Robin?"

"Yes, of course," Loveday peered at her with an expression Maria wasn't sure she liked, "Well, he's always looked out for you hasn't he?"

"I-yes, I suppose he has," Maria stammered. But there was no supposing about it. Even when she'd been in London, he'd done just that…

The example that immediately sprung into her mind was when she had first started school; naturally she'd found it very difficult to adjust to at first. But if she, or anyone else, had thought her first term would be the hardest, they had all been wrong. It had been nothing compared to how it felt returning after the short break back at Moonacre over Christmas. A taste of her beloved Moonacre life, and her family, which she had learnt was soon to grow, had left her utterly bereft and miserable that unable to summon the will to write any falsely cheerful letters to Loveday, she had ended up not writing at all, absolutely forbidding herself to write anything that might have worried her aunt given her pregnancy.

After a few weeks, her unhappiness had been noticed by her teachers, and her headmistress had given her permission to leave the school briefly to visit her parents' grave stones, along with a few other girls. The grey colourless cityscape that Maria had passed through had only intensified the yearning within her to such a height that she had hardly been able to bear it. She'd longed for the roar of the sea, the freedom of the forests, the vibrant colours and the magic that infused every corner of her beloved Moonacre Valley...

Leaving a single rose on each of her parent's headstones, Maria hadn't lingered. The cold stones had offered her little comfort or sense of peace and she hadn't expected them to. Instead, her feet had led her without conscious thought to the folly within the cemetery, sparking the memory of the dark and mysterious figure she had glimpsed there for the first time those couple of years ago. As she'd approached, her eyes had spotted a tiny, but very bright, spot of colour amongst the dark green ivy climbing one of the arches. Approaching this for a closer look, she had plucked a single feather from the overgrown leaves, discovering the colour that had drawn her eye had been a bright blue ribbon, very similar to one of her own, tying a tiny scroll of paper to its stem. Scrawled untidily across it had been a single line:

A piece of home for you Princess. Remember, it can't be as bad as our dungeons.

Feeling immeasurably cheerful again, Maria had returned to school and straight away penned a very long letter Loveday. In her reply, Loveday had written how glad she'd been to hear from her and that she'd been so diverted by Maria's description of how admirable and well-designed she had noticed the De Noir dungeons to be during her short imprisonment there (although she felt her headmistress would make a far better Prison Master than the current man), that she had repeated it to Coeur De Noir. He had been equally bemused, and it had even seemed to raise Robin's spirits, despite the trouble he'd been in at the time with their father for disappearing for several days and refusing explain where he'd been.

"My brother has become very handsome, don't you think?" Loveday remarked in a casual voice, jolting Maria back to the present. Her aunt's eyes were alight with the very same gleam of mischief that was so often in Robin's eyes and it struck Maria in that moment how they were exactly the same shape and colour as her brother's.

"Don't tell him that, his head is big enough as it is," She replied, refocussing her attention on her breakfast.

Loveday however didn't miss her deflection of the question, or the blush in her cheeks. "Maria, I know you and Robin have always been close, but if there's anything you feel you can't to talk to him about, I hope you know you can come to me,"

Maria choked on her fruit. "Of course there's nothing- Robin and I- He just...and I- oh he just makes me so-"

Loveday raised her eyebrows at the look of panicked frustration flashing across her niece's face, and was unable to stop herself from laughing.

"Oh Maria! How well I remember what it is to be young!" She leant forward to affectionately kiss her niece's forehead, "I absolutely promise I won't forget it again,"

And leaving Maria blushing furiously, Loveday swept from the room, a knowing smile playing across her lips.

I hope you made it! Phew, the first chapter of my first multi-chapter story. Well mini-series. It's only planned to be three chapters long. The next chapter is almost done (just the last bit to finish although it's proving difficult) but the majority of the last chapter still needs writing. The original plan was to write the whole thing before I posted it, but my commute to work has now changed and is much shorter, which has cut down my time for writing. So its probably going to be a while before I post anything again. This chapter has been finished for a while, so I thought I might as well put it up in light of my change of circumstances. And if I'm honest, I've been working so long on this story, now, on and off, that I could really do with some feedback. Some constructive criticism would be very welcome!

On another note, I wasn't sure if I needed to up the rating or not. I left it for now and it will remain fairly tame since I don't write explicit stuff, but I might put if up eventually. Also I'm an archaeologist, not a historian and I know nothing about Victorian Ladies Schools; hopefully I haven't annoyed anyone with my ignorance by misrepresenting it here!

Thanks to everyone who continues to read, favorite and leave reviews on my stories! Its really gratifying to know people are out there reading and enjoying them. I encourage people to leave reviews (sorry if I keep going on about this!), as these really are so, so important and motivational. I have a couple of stories that haven't had any and that can be pretty disheartening after all the work that goes into them. Obviously I don't think they're perfect but receiving no feedback does make you start to doubt the plot/writing/charaterisation. Please let me know what you did and didn't like so I can either keep it up or improve!

Thanks for reading this one, and until next time (whenever that may be)!