Blood of Thorns

"Marion, Lady Marion, please wake up!" The voice seemed to come from somewhere nearby, but at the same time, it sounded distant. The loud knocks from outside of her bedroom door pervaded her dreams, blowing away the hazy fog of her dreams, as the annoying sounds slowly brought her back to the waking world. Finally, Marion opened her eyes and the first thing she saw was a pair of red eyes staring at her. The eyes belonged to a black crow staring down at her from atop the headboard of her bed. There were faint blue-purple tinted feathers around the bird's eyes as it tilted its head at her. The bird's yellow beak looked menacing but she knew it wouldn't harm her. It was her Grandmother's familiar after all.

"Lady Marion!" came the voice again, this time it was louder and clearer.

Marion let out a soft groan at hearing the voice of her maid and buried her face into her pillow. She just wasn't quite ready to face the waking world just yet. But she couldn't just lay around in bed either. It wouldn't be long before her maids either bring in her cousin, Merlin or resort to dumping a bucket of water on her and she hated that. Feeling a bit unnerved by the thought of Merlin forcing her out of bed (he sometimes resorts to small minor pranks like magically conjuring up a rodent in her bed) or having the maids dumping water on her, Marion finally kicked her blanket back and sat up. She let out an involuntary shudder at feeling the cool stone floor touching the bottom of her feet.

Her balance was a bit unsettled (but then again, her feet felt heavy like anvils from the feeling of running in her dreams) and she had to grab onto a nearby bedpost to keep herself from falling over. Marion wasn't much of a morning person, but thankfully her Grandmother was a patient woman, well as patient as the Queen of Dark Faeries could be anyways.

The crow on the nearby post let out a little caw and flapped its wings, immediately taking off. The noise of its flapping wings brought Marion to full attention and she finally looked up at the blackbird.

"What on Earth? Corvus?" The Heir said in alarm, "What are you doing in my room?"

A chuckle came from somewhere nearby and Marion's gaze followed the bird as it flew a circle around the room before finally landing on the arm of her favorite lounge chair. Her lips puckered into a frown at seeing a dark-haired youth, a boy older than by a year or two sitting in the cushy chair, one hand stroking the dark feathers of the crow. A smirk grew on his lips.

"Merlin!" She yelped, immediately trying to cover her nightgown from his view. "Why are you in here?"

She tried to keep the anger out of her tone, hoping that her Grandmother's rules on etiquette and manners would help her in this situation. After all, Merlin was told by Maleficent to test her, but Marion didn't know whether him coming into her room while she was asleep was a test or not. It definitely wasn't very good etiquette for a man to slip into a woman's room without knocking first.

Merlin's smirk grew into a laugh and he clapped his hands as he did so. "That look on your face, it was priceless!" He managed to say, but his smile faded at seeing his cousin glaring daggers at him, her own dark hair a wild mess. Having dark hair was a common trait in the Maleficent bloodline, some even said it was a sign of one's dark powers. But sometimes Marion doubted she had any shred of magic in her. Merlin finally heaved a sigh and he sat up, averting his gaze. "Sorry, Marion, but you've been sleeping in a lot lately and Grandmother's ordered me to keep a close eye on you."

Marion had walked behind a dividing screen (one that was placed conveniently next to her bureau) as he said that and she immediately stopped in her tracks, her right resting on the small knob of one of the upper drawers.

"What? But why?" She asked almost shrilly.

Her cousin shrugged, or she would assume so by the tone of his voice as he replied.

"What is Grandmother's reasoning for anything these days?" he asked in response.

Marion almost glared at him through the dividing screen, willing her glare to burn a hole through it and possibly singe him a bit but her magic wasn't powerful enough, or rather her abilities weren't there. She settled on just tossing the thought around in her head, quietly reflecting on her grandmother's actions as of late. Maleficent has been a tad bit more irritable lately, with the guards at least and she was always having a guard or two with both her and Merlin so...

"You don't think Maleficent is expecting something bad to happen, do you?" Merlin voiced what they were both thinking, but hearing him say that made Marion feel even more worried about their maternal grandmother and Queen.

Marion breathed in deeply after giving herself a few minutes to collect her thoughts before shaking her head, trying her best to dismiss any ill feelings. "O-of course not, Grandmother's magic is strong and it protects all who live within her kingdom, and I highly doubt there would be any cause for anyone to feel negative towards Grandmother." She said softly, reaching for a nearby drawer, "I mean we've been at peace with the other kingdoms for a few centuries now."

Merlin nodded, still stroking Crovus's feathers, earning soft caws from the crow. "Perhaps you're right, maybe it's just the pre-Coronation jitters? I mean you are to be crowned the official Heir to the Maleficent title soon."