I have debated with myself for over a year whether I should post this or not because I only had a third of it written, and there's still only a third of it written, although this third has been much edited in this time! I may regret posting since I'm breaking my own rules about posting unfinished multi-chaptered stories... so be warned before you read that it's likely to be a long time before this will one will be finished...there's a reason I stick to oneshots usually
Maria hadn't been feeling well all afternoon. She wasn't sure exactly what was wrong with her and since she'd been unable to precisely define her malady, had felt she couldn't excuse herself from the private family dinner she'd been due to attend. Now though, sitting next to her uncle and opposite Loveday in a antechamber off the Great Hall at the De Noir Castle, she wished she had. All she could do however was push her food around her plate and sip at her drink, hoping that they wouldn't leave too late.
Surprisingly, it was the Coeur De Noir who saved her, two courses in. "Miss Merryweather," He asked from his place at the head of the table, finding her quietness most unusual and noting how pale she was beginning to look, "Are you well?"
"I-" Maria was on the point of assuring him that she was, the Merryweather streak of stubbornness in her a mile wide, but she managed to stop herself. What would remaining at the table for another two hours really accomplish? What sort of victory would eventually passing out where she sat be, rather than retiring from the table now?
"No," she admitted, finally conceding defeat, "I'm not. Forgive me, but I must ask to be excused Coeur De Noir,"
As she had anticipated, this announcement was met by surprise and concern as everyone else immediately looked around to her.
"Yes, of course-" Coeur De Noir started to reply, but hr was prevented from continuing any further as the maternal instincts of his daughter overwhelmed her.
"Heavens Maria," Loveday cried, making Maria wince, "You do look pale! Yes, you must go and lie down at once. Father, where-?"
"I'm sorry but we don't have any suitable rooms prepared," He frowned.
"She can use my room," A difference voice spoke up and looking around, Maria found Robin's dark eyes fixed on her.
"Very well," Loveday quickly agreed, standing up. Maria, who wouldn't particularly have cared if the Coeur put her in dungeons again, so long as she could lie down, followed suit. Instantly though, a wave of dizziness overcame her. Forced to grasp the edge of the table to steady herself, she closed her eyes briefly. Oh why by the moon had she agreed to come? Why hadn't she just admitted defeat earlier and-
Her eyes flew back open as, without warning, she was swept off her feet. "Robin!" she gasped, "What are you doing? I do not need carrying!"
"You just said you're not well," He reminded her, already on his way to the door.
"Yes, but there's nothing wrong with my feet!" Maria protested, "So kindly put me down,"
"No,"
"Oh, why must you always be so unreasonable?"
"Why must you always be so stubborn?"
Loveday, hurriedly following after them, shut the heavy oak door behind the three of them with an amused expression on her face. Coeur De Noir and Sir Benjamin, who had both risen to their feet when Maria had, resumed their seats.
"I hope it's nothing serious," The Coeur remarked, a frown creasing his brow as he looked from the door to his son-in-law.
"Well she's still able to argue," Sir Benjamin said wryly, pausing to let the continued bickering of Robin and Maria fade from earshot, "I expect she's just run down. Loveday and Mrs Digweed have insisted she attend every blasted social event the season has had to offer so far. So naturally, Maria's been throwing herself into every other responsibility that she thinks might get her out of them, without much success,"
His father-in-law nodded. "Loveday spoke of taking her to London in the winter-"
"Over my dead body," Sir Benjamin cut across him, simultaneously scowling and reaching for his goblet.
Coeur De Noir raised his eyebrows. "You'll have to let her go to someone eventually Merryweather," He stated, "That's the curse of daughters…"
"Well even if I do, it certainly won't be to some scoundrel from London. And all the men in Silverydew are halfwits, Maria would be absolutely wasted on any of them. She practically runs my household, since Loveday is more concerned with the animals of my estate than its people," Sir Benjamin shook his head, "No, if she is to leave Moonacre Manor, it will be to somewhere, and someone, worthy of her,"
He waved his hand wearily as he took a draught of wine, "Of course, Loveday and Mrs Digweed think I'm just being overprotective. But I know my niece. She'd go mad living a conventional life. She needs a challenge, and nothing less than that will do,"
"Hm, is that so?" The Coeur De Noir answered, looking thoughtful.
Sir Benjamin was only half listening to his father-in-law however. "Hells teeth, I'm entirely fed up with of all of it," He ranted, "Ever since she turned eighteen, I've had nothing but talk and arguments over blasted suitors," He rubbed his forehead with his hand, "There's too many damned women in my house..."
"…And not enough in mine," The Coeur declared.
This remark, and the decisive tone it was uttered in, finally did catch Sir Benjamin's full attention. He looked up to stare his father-in-law, his eyes narrowing suspiciously, although not distrustfully. "What are you plotting Coeur?"
The Coeur De Noir looked back at him with shrewd expression. "Would you consider the De Noir name and house worthy, Merryweather? I'm certain it would be suitably challenging, as you put it,"
Catching on, Sir Benjamin snorted. "Indeed, it would be worthy. But the most challenging thing of all would be that boy of yours. He's as clueless as the rest of them,"
"Be that as it may, you know he'd look after her. You must trust him to some extent, or you'd never let your niece go out into the forest with him so often, since we both know that they do, their terrible cover stories aside…"
"Yes, I admit I do. But that trust is based on the fact that I know that Robin knows that Maria's pet guard dog is actually a giant lion," Sir Benjamin pointed out, "Although I'll also admit that he's more respectful in some ways than some of the rogues I've dealt with already. Even if that is because of Wrolf…"
"Then you'll consider it?" The Coeur asked, leaning forwards in his seat.
"Yes," Sir Benjamin answered consideringly, "I will. But that still doesn't change the fact that your boy is completely oblivious to his own feelings on the matter,"
"Oh that can be easily solved Sir Benjamin," Coeur De Noir answered with a glint in his eye, "He just needs the right motivation," Taking the bottle of brandy that had not long ago been brought to them by one of the De Noir girls, he poured two glasses of brandy offered one to Sir Benjamin, "We'll consider it settled then,"
"Yes," Sir Benjamin replied, looking unexpected pleased, "Nothing more to be done I should think..."
They both raised their glasses and drank, each looking immensely satisfied.
Maria had fallen asleep almost immediately on Robin's bed, sub-consciously comforted by the faint scent of pine, leaves and leather suffusing the blankets Loveday had wrapped her in. She was surprised and somewhat disorientated to awaken in her own room the following morning, learning she'd been so deeply asleep the previous evening that when it had been time to leave, Loveday had been unable to wake her. Robin had carried her again through the castle halls and set her into the Merryweather carriage, and all the while, she hadn't so much as stirred.
While she was happy to be back at Moonacre and in her own bed, Maria still felt less than herself. She was thus immensely relieved to find out that her uncle had cancelled all her social engagements for that day. A somewhat guilty Loveday and Mrs Digweed both pressed her to stay in bed to rest, which she was more than happy to do, obediently drinking the restorative drinks Marmaduke left on her beside.
By the following day, two nights after dinner at the castle, Maria felt completely recovered. As another day spent idle in her room would be as tedious as whatever Loveday and Mrs Digweed were sure to re-plan once they realized that she was well again, she washed and dressed herself to leave her short-lived sanctuary. Passing her uncle in the corridor leading to the breakfast room, he surprised her greatly by stopping and advising her to get out of the house for the day, before Loveday and Mrs Digweed overcame their current guilt and reorganized everything he'd cancelled.
While this was rather an out-of-character suggestion for her uncle (who usually stayed well out of the business of the women of his household), Maria was too glad of his blessing to escape from the Manor for the day to dwell on it much. Instead, she did exactly what he'd suggested, and snagging a book from the library and some fruit from the kitchen, made her escape though a back entrance of the Manor.
She wandered leisurely across the Moonacre estate, munching contentedly on an apple and watching Wrolf meander through the tall grasses as she headed in the direction of Silverydew. Reaching a crossroad, Maria turned off the main track that would lead her into the village and veered instead onto a smaller one that would lead her up to Paradise Hill. Reaching the foot of it not long afterwards, she turned off the path again to instead follow the small stream that wound its way around the base of the hill, and eventually brought her to a grassy meadow dotted with wild flowers. There, in the shade of a willow tree, she settled herself down against its trunk and pulled out her book, enjoying the peace and warmth of the late summer's day.
It wasn't long after noon when Maria's contented solitude was interrupted, and as usual, Robin appeared as if from thin air. Without so much as a hello, he dropped down next to her and yanked over the bag of food Marmaduke had pressed on her as she'd left the kitchen that morning.
"Good morning to you too, and yes, by all means, help yourself," She greeted, without looking up from her book.
"It's not morning anymore, and it's certainly not good," Robin scowled. Unwrapping one of Marmaduke's pasties, he aggressively ripped into it.
This did make Maria look up. "Don't you have any manners?" She demanded, irritated by such a display.
"We're in the middle of nowhere, am I supposed to have brought silverware and a footman?" Robin retorted, rolling his eyes. "You must be feeling better if you're back to lecturing me already,"
Maria was forced to bite back a retort of her own in response to this. He had been nice enough to carry her to the carriage two nights ago, she reminded herself, and from the tension coiled across his broad frame, there was clearly something behind his bad temper. So, instead, she sighed, closing her book. "Are you going to snap at me for the rest of the day, or tell me what's really the matter?"
Robin only snorted dismissively in reply, continuing to violently tear into his pasty. Maria persevered in her patience though, watching him chew his last bite without comment, knowing that in three, two, one-
"It's my father!" He burst out vehemently, balling up the napkin the pasty had been wrapped in his fist, "He's gone and got it into his head that the castle isn't run properly!"
This, Maria thought, was really rather true as personally, she was able to bring to mind a least a dozen things about the management of the castle that she'd improve herself. But she sensed that this wasn't what Robin wanted to hear.
"How do you mean?" She asked, taking the more diplomatic approach instead.
"The other night," Robin ground out, now unscrewing the napkin and starting to rip it into shreds, agitation written all over his face, "When there were no rooms for you. And the lack of domestic comforts, whatever the bloody hell that means," He made a scornful noise, "You'd never have heard him complain about something like that six years ago! Clearly he's going soft!"
"Well, he is getting older," Maria mildly commented, leaning forward to rescue the remaining half of the napkin from his grasp.
Robin shot her an annoyed look. "The point is, he thinks the answer to all these problems he apparently feels are such issues, is a woman's touch. I thought he was talking about himself at first, but apparently getting married is my responsibility!"
"It is Robin, you're his heir," Maria absently mindedly pointed out as she looked down at the napkin, wondering if she could salvage it with some creative embroidery.
"Well not for much longer I'm not." Robin growled, compulsively tearing up strips of grass instead, "If I'm not married by the end of the year, he's says he's going to name someone else,"
"What?" Maria's eyes shot upwards. "Name someone else?" She echoed in shock, this announcement finally catching her by surprise, "But- how- can he do that?"
"Yes," Robin replied shortly.
Maria could only stare at him in disbelief for several more moments, her thoughts whirling as questions reeled in her own mind about this new development. Robin didn't appear to be in a mood to consider anything beyond his own irritation however.
"I don't believe him," He seethed, "He's never so much as mentioned the topic before! And now he'd giving me an ultimatum? Why is it such an issue all of a sudden?"
"Well it can't have come as a complete surprise to you," Maria pointed out, finding it was easier to process her own thoughts by rationalising his, "You've been of age for a few years now,"
"So what?" Robin demanded.
"So, he's not getting any younger, is he? He probably wants to see his legacy secured,"
"Loveday's married with children, his legacy is secured!"
"Loveday is a Merryweather now. And George will be raised as a Merryweather, not a De Noir,"
"Well that's not my fault," Robin interrupted obstinately, "For god's sake, what does he expect me to do? Why can't he just get married instead?"
Maria repressed the urge to sigh and roll her eyes and chose not to reply this time as clearly, there wasn't any point trying to reason with him. Robin, perhaps realizing this and that she was neither going to tell him what he wanted to hear, engage with berating his father or overwhelm him with sympathetic assurances, let out another annoyed huff, and seizing Marmaduke's bag again, redirected his overflowing frustrations to rifling through its contents. Maria, choosing a more constructive attempt to calm her churning thoughts, simply returned to her book.
Three pasties, half a cold pheasant and two strawberry tarts later, Robin appeared to calm down a little. Midway through her chapter and fully absorbed by it, Maria noticed neither the steady emptying of her satchel nor Robin's gaze, which was beginning to linger on her.
"You're a girl," He abruptly announced.
"Well spotted," Maria remarked sarcastically, without looking up.
Unperturbed, Robin continued to eye her with that same appraising gaze, as if truly seeing her for the first time. "You're always talking about how you're worried you'll have to leave Moonacre one day," He said slowly, "And you're of age..."
This observation did not seem as random or uncalculatingly as the first and Maria's eyes narrowed with sudden suspicion. "Robin," she stated, marking her page carefully before closing her book, "I'll warn you now to think very carefully about what you're going to say next, because it better not be some sort of proposal,"
"Well why not?" Robin asked, a grin beginning to spread across his face, "It makes sense. Like you said, I'm the De Noir heir after all, so you can't do much better than me-"
"Oh couldn't I?" Maria snapped, unable to believe what she was hearing., "I'll tell you what Robin, why don't you go down to the village and the next girl you see, ask her instead. It'll make about as much sense and probably be a better match!"
Springing to her feet, she snatched up her book and her now empty food bag. With a last outraged glare at him, Maria spun on her heel and marched away.
On the other side of the meadow, Wrolf, sensing the departure of his mistress, raised his massive head. With a long yawn, he got to his feet, stretched, and with what could perhaps be described as a pitying look at Robin, followed dutifully after his mistress.
I really loved the idea for this which I had so long ago now! Just having the Coeur De Noir and Sir Benjamin conspiring together is so much fun!! But I never had a clear structure for the story beyond the premise, and it's been harder to bring to life satisfactorily, unlike Summer's Heat which I had so clearly conceptualised throughout. This on the other hand has thus been harder to write, which was initially because it was hard to establish a different voice for a different story after moving on from Summer's Heat. And this is supposed to be very different because its something smaller, without the depth of SH.
I've picked it up and put it down a lot without getting much further with it (not helped with how busy life has been!), but I had the itch to pick it up again today after a long time, and although I've not added much too it, in that I have no idea how to fill in the middle third still, I decided I'd post a first chapter because otherwise I've wasted a whole day (that I was supposed to be working no less!!!) and that won't help the issue of getting the story somewhere! I'm actually really hoping and counting on my lovely readers for some ideas, whose continuing comments and support on my previous stories never fails to put the biggest smile on my face. The fact that this tiny little fandom still has folks enjoying it and creating stories, and new folks finding it makes me so happy, and I hope this continues because I know this fandom brings me a lot of happiness :)