In which Robin De Noir mistakes Olive Heliotrope for the Moon Princess, and the two star-crossed enemies must work together to break a curse.
❝ Oh, I can't
Stop you putting roots in my dreamland
My house of stone, your ivy...
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MARIA HAD LOCKED HERSELF AWAY after dinner. Olive stood outside the door of Maria's room in the tower, the portrait of the woman staring at her back, while she waited for an answer to her knock.
"Go away, Olive."
Olive could barely hear the younger girl's somber voice through the thick door of her chamber, but even still, the words procured a coldness that nearly made her shudder.
"Maria, I just want to talk." Olive leaned closer to the door, hopeful.
"Well, I don't. I would like to be left alone."
"But–"
"–Goodnight."
"Please?" Olive asked, half expecting the door to open if she stood there long enough. She fiddled with a ribbon on her dress, waiting. But there was no response, and the door did not open.
Defeated, Olive sighed, and headed down the stairwell to her room. It had gotten late, after all.
As she prepared herself for bed, she found herself thinking about the strange boy. He must be a De Noir, she thought.
Olive pulled the covers over herself, wondering why he had thought she was the Moon Princess in the first place. Perhaps it was because he thought she and Maria were sisters, after all. And that she was the eldest. Or maybe he just thought she seemed like a princess, for whatever reason. She wondered if he'd ever met a real princess before. For some reason, Olive found that knowing what the boy must want from her, made him seem far less threatening. After all, she did not have the pearls. Nor was she the princess. Surely, she could explain, if she ever were to see him again.
And then she thought about Maria, and the pressure she must be feeling, being the true Moon Princess. The fate of the valley had been thrust upon her shoulders in one afternoon. Not one week after laying her father to rest, and becoming an orphan.
How much time did Maria have left? And what was little Maria meant to do to stop the curse, anyways? There was so much to think about..
☾ ⋆*･ﾟ:⋆*･ﾟ
Olive had tossed and turned all night. She spent the hours drifting in and out of half-sleep, finding her mind racing and tracing over shadows on the ceiling.
Just before the break of dawn, Olive finally gave up on falling back asleep. Feeling restless, she climbed out of bed. Her toes curled when her feet reached the cold floor, but she made her way out onto the balcony. The sunrise was just visible beyond the trees on the horizon, and a layer of morning fog hovered over the grounds.
Olive listened to the mourning doves that had begun to sing from the garden. Slowly, the fog drifted across the lawn, ominously.
Something was calling her to the forest.
But she had made a promise to Maria, and she intended to keep it. Olive couldn't wait to see Maria at breakfast, and hoped that she'd be in better spirits that morning.
