The princess in the black clothes

Chapter 1

I was awoken from my slumber by the sound of birds singing and sun shining into my eyes. I immediately regretted not getting out of bed to close my blinds last night. Summer has its perks for sure, but the bright sun waking you up in the morning isn't one of them. This is one of the many reasons autumn has always been my favourite season. After a few minutes of laying in bed aimlessly I knew it was time to get up. My dad was going to come get me for breakfast soon anyway so there's no point in falling back to sleep.

After contemplating my clothing for a bit I decide on wearing my black jeans which I combine with my black shirt, leather jacket and boots. I know this way of dressing is mostly reserved for boys and girls were expected to wear dresses and such, but I've never felt comfortable in those types of clothing. My dad had trouble accepting that at first though he's mostly come around. I think.

I head out of my room and head down for breakfast. As I enter the dining room the smell of freshly baked bread, bacon, eggs and other delicious things our trusty chef had prepared. My dad was already at his usual spot drinking his morning coffee. As I make my way to my seat I catch his attention and I can tell from the slight smile he gives me that he feels slightly relieved I came down for breakfast myself. 'Good morning dad', I great him with as I take my seat. He greats me back, but I'm already pouring myself a cup of coffee so I'm not too focused on his words. As I take a sip of the hot beverage I can already feel more awake.

It's not until my dad calls my name that I realise I've been zoning out. We usually just eat in silence so I can usually space out as much as I want. This times different and I can't help, but wonder why. 'I need to discuss a matter with you that has recently come to my attention', he says immediately intriguing me. 'Well you're aware your uncle has recently passed away leaving his daughter as an orphan. Unfortunately my brother didn't leave much behind in his will so your cousin will have to live with us here in Moonacre'. I sat there processing his words for a few seconds before responding. 'My cousin from the city coming to live here in the countryside?', I asked. 'She'll have to adjust that's for sure, but she's a Merryweather and this is where she belongs'. 'When will she be arriving?', I ask as I start to feel excited at the prospect of meeting new family. 'She'll be arriving tomorrow evening at around 8 and I hear she'll be accompanied by her caretaker'. I can see on his face that he's not too happy about the latter coming with, but we'll just have to see how that plays out.

After me and my father had our breakfast I decide to head outside for a bit to practice my archery. You gotta do something around here to cure the boredom and this way you learn to protect yourself at the same time. With all the stories my dad told me that was a must. I retrieve my bow and arrow from my room and move towards the front door. I bid my dad goodbye and make my way to the stable to prepare my horse, moon, for the ride. After mounting Moon I head out to the forest as that's where I can practise best. My dad forbids me from entering the forest so I've kept my place of practise a secret.

I tie Moon to a tree just outside of the forest and continue on foot. After reaching a familiar clearing I take out one of my arrows and attempt to focus on my target which is a tree 30 ft away. I narrowly missed my target when it hid a smaller tree next to it which annoyed me. I was about to walk towards the tree to retrieve the arrow, but I'm stopped in my tracks when I hear something behind me. I immediately draw another arrow and turn around to find none other than Robin DeNoir behind me. As he sees me pointing an arrow at him he puts his hands up mockingly with a smirk on his face. 'Was it really necessary to almost give me a heart attack Robin?' 'Is it really necessary to still point that arrow at me?', he shot back. 'Touche', I countered and put it down. 'What are you doing here anyway?' 'Well I'm doing some rounds in the forest and just happened to stumble onto my best friend making a fool of herself. Which was very entertaining stuff by the way', he says with a wink. 'Oh shut it Robin', I respond in fake annoyance. He attempt to look hurt by my comment, but I can see right through his facade and just burst out laughing at which he joins in on.

After we've calmed down I can see a familiar look on his face and brace myself for whatever suggestion he's going to make now. 'You know I can always teach you a few techniques if you ever want to actually hit the target sometime?, he says with a smug look on his face. I roll eyes and get ready to dismiss his proposal when I think it over some more. 'Sure that sounds good. When do we start?' I can see him taken aback by my response and take satisfaction in catching him off-guard like that. 'Right now', he replies after snapping back and we immediately get to work.

I trained with Robin for a while before realising it was getting dark and I've been gone for way longer then I planned to. My dad was going to come looking for me soon and he cannot find out I'm regularly visiting the forest or he'll never let me go out my myself again. Me hanging out with Robin is also something I've been keeping quiet because of the rivalry between our two families. We meet up when we can, but its gotten harder to get away with as we get older. Robin getting more responsibility from his father wasn't helping either. We're making it work though. Robin accompanies me to the edge of the forest where we bid each other goodbye with the promise to meet up again in two days.

I make my way back to my house and get Moon back to her stables. I head for the front door and try to sneak in without getting noticed by my dad. Lucky for me he wasn't sitting by the fire place and I could sneak in unnoticed. I head up to my room and was about to clean myself up for dinner when I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to find a plate of food on the floor with a note stating that my father had some arrangements to make before the arriving of my cousin tomorrow and so we could not have dinner together. I ate my dinner and started to feel the fatigue of a long day. I made sure to close the blinds first this time and laid down in my bed. It wasn't long before I fell asleep with my last thoughts being of my cousins arrival and what that would have in store for me.