Prompt: Robin and Maria having ten children in the book.
Really, what an utter waste of time that had been! Marching through the Monacre Manor from the servants' hall, Maria could feel displeasure roiling through her as she reflecting on the audience she had just had. What a foolish old woman! Or clever, I suppose, depend on how one looks at it…
Sweeping down the hall, she flung open the drawing room door with a distinct lack of grace. "Loveday, I know you rather enjoyed playing the part of a madwoman in the woods for a time but does that really mean you have to invite every other deranged crone -- Oh,"
Maria abruptly stopped, as entering the room and observing what, or rather, who, was in it, realised that Loveday was not on her own, as she had expected to find her.
"Miss Merryweather," The Coeur De Noir greeted from the chair he taken command of. His expression was neutral; Robin's was not, and seated next to his father, was looking at her with his eyebrows raised and an expression of silent laughter on his face.
"Coeur De Noir," Maria replied, attempting to recover her composure, "My apologies…I didn't know you were here,"
"Obviously," Robin snorted, and Maria levelled a glare at him as she took a seat next to Loveday. What were they doing here? The odd visit from Coeur De Noir wasn't completely unheard of now his lost daughter was Lady of Moonacre Manor, but it was still rare. Perhaps he was bored of De Noir drama and wished for a dose Merryweather madness instead. There was certainly never a shortage of it….
"So," The Coeur said, looking from Maria to his daughter as if picking up on this very thought, "I gather from that tirade that you've invited a deranged crone into the house…?"
"A fortune teller, not a derranged crone," Loveday corrected, trying to keep her countenance at the amusing look of embarrassment on Maria's face and the cough of laughter Robin failed to supress. Tirade indeed. Why did everyone have to keep repeated that her rather unfortunate turn of phrase?
"Ah yes, she did her rounds at the castle this morning," Coeur De Noir replied, also looking amused, "In fact she was very insistent on seeing Robin…"
"Of course she wanted to see Robin!" Maria burst out, unable to contain herself. Oh well, it was only the Coeur and Robin and she was hardly going to offend them with such unladylike manners. No, that ship had certainly already sailed, probably around the time she had trespassed into their castle several years ago and shouted abuse at them. "Probably for the reason she wanted to see me: she figured that she'd get the best reward from us if she told us something good!"
"Well clearly she didn't tell you what you wanted to hear," Robin remarked.
"No, she didn't, and that's the exactly the point: she simply told what she told me what she presumed I wanted to hear," Maria exclaimed, tapping her foot restlessly on the floor in supressed agitation.
"Which was?" Loveday prompted.
"A lot of nonsense. Although I suppose at least she left out that I was going to meet some tall, dark, handsome stranger…"
"Well, perhaps you've already met him," Loveday mused with a provocative smile.
Maria only rolled her eyes at her aunt. "Oh, but surely I'd have recognised the man who is apparently going to give me ten children?" she scoffed, her tone suffused with sarcasm.
Robin immediately choked on his tea.
"You see! Thank you Robin," Maria exclaimed, taking this reaction as one of support and paying his spluttering and coughing rather less attention than it deserved, "It was utterly ridiculous. Talk about over doing it!"
The Coeur, who had been listening with great interest, now glanced between his rather red-faced son and the irate Moon Princess, and burst into peals of laughter.
"Oh I don't know, perhaps you will," He chuckled, before turning to look at Robin, "What did she tell you boy? Much the same thing I presume?"
Robin shot a death glare at his father, who unfortunately only even laughed more. Perhaps luckily for Robin, Maria was too caught up in her own irritation to notice their exchange.
"Well, I hope she told you something more entertaining than what I got Robin, even if wasn't any more believable," She declared.
"What she told you Maria isn't completely unbelievable," Loveday pointed out, not made happy by the sarcasm on Maria's face, "Lots of people have had ten children. Indeed, the queen herself has had nine-"
"Oh Loveday, that's exactly the point!" Maria interjected in exasperation, "Where do you think she got the idea from? She likely tells every young woman that because of course they all wish to emulate the Queen!" She shook her head, "It was the most unimaginative and unoriginal nonsense I've ever heard, and that woman has only managed to convince me even more how ridiculous the notions of fate and fortune really are!"
This assertion clearly took the Coeur De Noir aback. "But surely you must believe in fate," He asked.
"No I don't," Maria replied emphatically, "I believe in cause and effect, action and consequence. Fate and destiny are just excuses people use to avoid claiming any responsibility for their decisions,"
"But what about the Moon Pearls, and the Curse?" The Coeur pointed out, looking slightly incredulous now, "It was the destiny of the Moon Princess to break it, and you did,"
"Yes, but I wasn't able to break it simply because I was the Moon Princess. I had to make choices and those choices had consequences. Anyone could have broken the curse before me, its true power was that what we let it have over us; pride was the root of it because no one chose to rise above it. It was never going to simply break itself, was it?"
"I suppose not," Coeur De Noir answered, although he looked much perplexed.
"There's no supposing about it," Maria said firmly, "The point is, I'm not going to let the word of someone telling me what they think I want to hear rule my life,"
"Miss Merryweather," The Coeur declared, his eyes fixing on her in an assessing and amused sort of way, "I very much doubt that the word of anyone, other than yourself, will rule your life,"
"I'm very glad to hear you say it Coeur," Maria replied, reaching for a teacup, "I only wish everyone else were as sensible…"
The Coeur De Noir left shortly afterwards, departing for a trip to London which Maria afterwards realised had been the reason for his visit to his daughter. Robin had simply come along for the cakes, although he sought her out the following day as she picked flowers on the edge of the pinewoods.
"You never miss a chance to put my father in his place don't you?"
"Excuse me?" Maria asked, standing up straight as he head towards her, more than a little put out by this choice of greeting.
"' Fate and destiny are just excuses people use to avoid claiming any responsibility for their decisions,'?" Robin recited, making quotation marks in the air with his fingers.
"Well, while that wasn't directed at the Coeur De Noir, it's true. If our ancestors had put a little less stock in fate and little more effort in self-reflection, the curse could have been broken years ago,"
Robin shook his head. "Well I'm glad they didn't. Or we might never have met. And then my father wouldn't have so much to be pleased about. He was laughing all the way home about it,"
"Laughing?" Maria repeated, frowning a little in confusion as this was not the reaction she's have expected from the Coeur with regards to their ancestors, "What do you mean?"
"The fortune teller," Robin clarified, looking amused himself.
Maria, on the other hand was not, and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "What about her?"
"She told me the same thing," Robin explained, " Precisely the same thing,"
Oh. Oh. Maria immediately blushed. Mostly at the thought of having ten children with him, but then because she realised, she didn't mind this idea. Not all of it, anyway.
"Well that doesn't prove anything," she quickly said, hoping to cover how flustered she suddenly felt, "In fact it makes it less convincing. Its common knowledge that our families are well connected now, that we spend a lot of time together. All she had to do was find that out and then make a simple deductive leap,"
"So that's all there is to it?" Robin repeated, raising his eyebrows and taking a step towards her, "A simple deductive leap?"
"I-I don't know," Maria stammered, highly disconcerted and made suddenly uncertain by his proximity, the unusual gleam in his eyes. "Isn't it?"
"You tell me princess…" Robin breathed, leaning in. Staring at him, Maria felt her breath quite caught by the bubble of tension that had risen up inside her, "…Because if it is true, we really don't have much time to waste do we?"
"For heaven's sake!" She exclaimed, the bubble bursting as she saw the laughter in his eyes and shoving him away by his shoulder. "I told you before, it's not a matter of being true! If you kissed me right now it wouldn't be because what she said was destined but because you let it unconsciously influence your decisions. It has nothing to do with the notion of fate!"
"I'm afraid we'll have to agree to disagree Princess," Robin declared, shaking his head, "Because I believe I've been fated to stand by you since the day you asked for my help,"
"Yes, but the point is I asked and you chose to-" But stopped, mid-head shake and stared at him. " What did you just say?"
"Weren't you listening Princess?" Robin asked, raising his eyebrows and repressing a smirk.
"Of course I was listening-" She broke off again, narrowing her eyes and putting her hands to her hips. "Stop playing with me Robin!"
He smiled, taking her hands from her hips and tugged her forwards a step. "Well Princess, I've wanted to kiss you long before any fortune teller may or may not have put it in my head…" The smile transformed into a smirk, "…And I certainly I don't want you having ten children with anyone else…"
Maria made an angry noise. "I swear, if someone brings that up one more time-"
She found herself quite cut off though as Robin leaned down and kissed her. It was a rather long and rather distracting kiss, and Maria found herself wrapping her arms slowly around his neck and forgetting absolutely any arguments she may have.
"Well?" Robin asked drawing back some moments later, "Is it fate or not?"
Staring at him, with her lips still parted and her breath quite gone, Maria could only shake her head.
"Either," She answered, tugging his head back down, "Both. Whichever makes you kiss me again…"
Grinning, Robin, of course, complied.
I've had this all but finished in my Moonacre folder since 2019, and it was one of my very first half-shot ideas. I wasn't sure how to launch it though, hence the rather repetitive theme of Maria storming along corridors at Moonacre Manor and the rather vague justification for the Coeur visiting...
Regardless, I thought I'd post it as a bit of lighthearted fun. Perhaps could have just been added as a chapter under Moments, but was closer to 2k than 1k, which suprised me! But anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I would love to hear your thoughts!
