Thorns of Roses

Chapter 56 - A Step Forward

As the sun made its way up to the sky, - making everyone forget about the grey hours of yesterday -, the sun rays woke up and were ready to start their day.

Determined to do the best job possible, they rushed through even the narrowest streets and every corner, every hidden place of Paris to send their brightness to every living creature.

Only a few minutes passed, and some of them already reached the center of the capitol, aka the Royal Palace and its huge courtyard. Some rays brightened up the garden with vivid orange and yellow colors, other sun rays darted toward the rooftop of the Palace and its towers, while others penetrated the building through the windows.

One entered a spacious royal suite with a bedchamber containing a gorgeous baldachin bed. A bed that was hiding something under the piles of dark-red blankets.

Feeling the warmth that the sun spread into the room, she sighed and slowly pulled the blanket off of her, revealing her Raven-blue colored locks first which were soon followed by her face.

Still sleepy, her eyes were only slightly opened. She couldn't even focus while glancing at the other side of the bed, - searching for a certain someone.

After asking Félix to sleep next to her last night, she could fall back to sleep in a split second and she didn't have any nightmares after that. Even though she couldn't explain to herself the reason behind that, she had the most peaceful sleep last night she had ever had.

A light blush instantly stained her cheeks as flashbacks of the Prince consoling her appeared before her eyes.

Fully turning her head to the right side, Marinette frowned, her smile vanishing when an empty bed welcomed her. Her head shot up almost immediately when she heard some noises coming from the other side of the room.

"He must be up already." Mari assumed to herself.

Coiling herself into a sitting position, she closed her eyes, wiping the drowsiness out of them, and muttered, "Why are you already awake? It's still early in the morning."

"Early?! It's past 10am, Mari." Alya chuckled as she turned back to the opened wardrobe and pulled out one of the Princess's dresses.

"Oh, it's just you.." Mari mumbled - opening her eyes after recognizing Alya's voice. Even though it wasn't her intention, the tone of her voice harbored more disappointment than she intended to.

"Yes, it's just me." Alya rolled her eyes. "At least try to look like someone delighted to see her best friend," she added with feigned outrage.

"Nah, don't mind her! She's currently madly in love with her husband and can only think about him." Tikki popped up from Alya's shoulder with a macaron in her palms. "They finally shared the bed last night," she whispered against Alya's ears as they both glanced at the Princess with a wide grin plastered on their faces.

"Care to tell me since when you two have been so interested in my love life?!" Mari's cheeks immediately turned red. Crossing her arms in front of her chest, she added, "For your information, we just slept in the same bed. Nothing else happened, okay?"

"Tsk, boring!" Alya and Tikki sighed dejectedly, not so surprised to hear it though.

"Would you stop?!" Mari looked at the two girls with her notorious death glare.

"Oh, no she's grumpy! Better keep our distance from her!" Tikki shrieked and hid behind Alya's shoulder who snickered at the exaggerated reaction of the kwami.

"Ha ha ha, very funny, Tikki." Marinette furrowed her eyebrows grouchily and was about to escape herself from her blanket and get up from the bed when something caught her attention.