"She was everything to me and she was willing to give me anything."

It was quiet in the village that morning, not even the birds sang their pleasant songs. No, it was silent and eerie, as though all were afraid all would shatter if the spoke a word.

The streets were empty, the light dim, hidden behind dark, heavy clouds. She felt a chill in the air that sent shivers up her spine. Robyn pulled her shall closer around her, soar fingers clutching at the thin fabric.

Listlessly, she carries herself toward the church, stopping before the burned down building with the gaping hole in the center -- the front of the church, where the fire had started, was nothing more than a few planks and boards.

She blinked at it, ash rising with a puff as she nudges the rubble with her foot. How odd it was to see it so desolate, as though it was abandoned and laid to waste. As if it was attacked in persecution.

There was no simplicity in what she saw, only endless possibilities. What she feared most was the thought that someone might have come and set the church alight with them inside on purpose. She worried in the reasonable sense in the same way that she had for her home after she had convinced herself that she wasn't cursed.

It was a silly fear that she didn't entertain now, not when she wasn't the source. She hadn't been angry then. She wasn't able to start fires with her thoughts and feelings.

There was no such thing as that, she knew.

Robyn kicked the piles of wood again, harder this time, angry now.

There was no doubt in her mind that she knew what people were going to say. The fact that Alec had been there to catch her in his arms was enough for them to spread there lies and poison.

It explained why he was not willing to meet her that morning in their meadow, why she had needed to sit an hour with the knowledge that he wasn't going to come weighing terribly on her mind. She could only hope -- hope up until Jane had quietly come to tell her sounding just as miserable as she felt.

Churches were much easier to rebuild compared to the fractures that might have occurred in such a tentative relationship.

Relaxing her hand that had tensed against her clothing, the wrapping rubbed uncomfortably, she turned, facing away from the church to the general direction of her old house. That was destroyed by something so the same yet likely so different.

She worried over it for a moment before she dismissed it completely and heads toward the Law family home.

After days of seeing him each morning like clockwork, soaking in the grace of him as though she was soaking in the sun, catching the rays of his smile through her fingers and listening to his voice pass through her like a cool breeze. It was not right to go without seeing him even for a day.

Her strides grew longer, more determined. He was not allowed to pull away from her again, not now, not after she had grown so hopeful and they so close.

It was only clear to her that something must have been wrong for him not to come to her. She did not want to go without him again, did not want to start over.

If only he could see what it was like, how it was like, how deeply, that she cared for him, then he would never doubt himself with her again. Alec would know that nothing could turn her away if only he could feel her.

But sins be damned, she was not a witch and such a thing was impossible.

As the house came into view, some of her anger ebbed away at the fence that was nicely fixed and untouched. It was good that the boys had taken her threat quite seriously that they had repaired it despite what has happened the night before.

They weren't allowed to simply get away with it in her eyes, not when they were terrible children that needed to learn their lesson.

She loosens her hold on her shall, taking concise steps forward. The door swings open before she has the chance to knock. Jane steps out in a hurry, pushing her back so that she could close the door behind her.

"I assumed that you would come here."

"When he didn't show I grew worried."

Jane nods. "I feared this."

"Pardon?"

"I don't like you," Jane says abruptly. "I don't like you as I use to as a child and even now I am hesitant to be your friend but you are good for my brother, I must admit, no matter how much I fully wish for him to love anyone other than you."

Jaw tightening, Robyn nods. It was easy to see how she still did not like her. She had suspected as much, had figured that Jane would not be so eager to rebuild the relationship they had in childhood.

It was not as though she was rather innocent in the matter. The relationship between the siblings, the closeness, brought her to fear much as she worried that Jane would be able to convince him against her. It made her skin crawl, made her itch with fear and displeasure as she considered that it would be incredibly easy for Jane to do thanks to her advantageous position.

"What does this have to do with your brother?" Robyn presses.

Jane scowls, breaking their gaze with a jerk of her head. "Because I worry that he is making a mistake."

"How so?" she grounds out.

"Alec has decided that it would be best if he is never to see you again. I believe he is beginning to accept the foolishness that these people say as truth. He took one look at the fire and you running away from the flames and he has been overcome with guilt and grief," Jane explains darkly, glaring at the ground. "I do not want him to do something he will regret. I do not want to let him push you away when you are such a good thing for him. As much as it pains me to admit, he will never find anyone better."

Robyn couldn't breathe, chest burning as she tried to figure out if this was some sort of extravagant joke. She pursed her lips, eyes darting to the side as she could no longer bear to look at the girl. Jane didn't joke, not about her brother. Never about Alec.

"What do you need me to do?" she asks softly.

"You just need to speak to him. Whatever it was that you did before to convince him, do it again."

"But I- I did not really do much before. It was many little things, little things to display to him my affection and the attention that I was willing to pay him. I did not want to let him push me away so I did not give him the chance," Robyn says. "I told him that I was not to let him get away. I pushed my Father into bringing you back to service. I showed him slowly that what he thought was not true and that I was not going to let myself be dismissed because he did not think himself worthy."

"Then do that now. Alec has never smiled so much as when you are with him," she says. "I will not let that happiness leave him now."

Robyn nods. "I would do so without you needing to ask. It is why I am here, truly. To see him regardless."

"Good. Then I will not stop you from going around back. He has been chopping wood since he was meant to go meet you," Jane complains. "I do not even know where he is getting it all from because I have not seen him leave and we did not have so much to start with."

Gathering herself, she squares her shoulders and prepares to talk him into accepting, into doing all that she could to change his mind short of forcing him to be with her.

It might be what she wants to do, might be the only way that she would get him. Robyn might be the best option for him in his sister's eyes, but that didn't make it true. The point had been made, and though she would never doubt herself, Robyn knew that she wasn't the easiest person to be with -- not when such impossible things seemed to follow her wherever she went.

Forcing him to stay with her when he would likely just be blamed for the misdeeds that went on around her wasn't fair and it wasn't right.

But she wasn't just going to let him give up.

"You do not need to push me away either," Robyn tells Jane, glancing at the other girl over her shoulder. "You have just as much a right to happiness as Alec."

She pauses, lips parting in a silent question that quickly shutters in an annoyed scowl. "I do not need you to tell me such things. I know what I deserve."

Shaking her head, she watches Jane storm her way back into the house, shutting the door harder than necessary. She really didn't know how to deal with any sort of kindness shown to her, did she?

Setting that aside for now, Robyn goes around the side taking the thin dirt trail that they had paved from years of waking the same direction over the same grass.

It wasn't difficult to spot him. He was the only one out, the only spot of movement within the vicinity. The sound of the axe slicing through the logs was loud, the action clean and precise.

He had on no shirt, the muscles along his back flex with each lift and swing -- small, soft grunts left him at each point of contact.

Robyn help staring, couldn't' bring herself to look away from him and the sun-kissed skin that was darker than she would have ever given him credit for. She had never taken him to be the sort that shed their shirt during work in the heat.

It was a sight that she could get used to, even if she was ogling him like some lustful fool.

Alec was beautiful, enchanting to look at -- dazzling her in every way.

She clears her throat and shakes those thoughts from her mind. "You didn't come this morning," she says loud enough for him to hear her. "I waited for you."

"I apologize, Robyn, the time slipped away from me."

"Don't lie to me, Alec. Jane told me that you had no intent on coming. Why not?"

"My sister does not know everything."

"She knows you," she argues.

The axe dropped -- no, dropped wasn't the right word. He threw it down, knocking his pile of wood to the side. "If she knew me so well then she would not have allowed you to come!" he shouts, voice gruff.

Robyn jumps, startled. She had never seen him so upset before. Never.

"I did not come for a reason. I did not want to see you, and I had told her as much," Alec continues in a growled mumble, barely loud enough for her to hear. "If she knew me then she would have respected my wishes."

She breathes heavy. "Why didn't you want to see me?"

Alec sighs, rubbing a hand down his face. He finally turns, displaying the dark circles and bloodshot eyes. He looked worn, tired in a way that was deeper than the sweat that traced down the side of his face to his neck from his damp hairline.

"Do you not see that we shall never work together, Robyn? You nearly died yesterday! You nearly perish in a fire and the first thing that people do is blame us!" he cries emotionally. "What if they're all right? What if we've always been the monsters and somehow we started that fire in the church? Perhaps this was the Lord's way of punishing us for entering his home."

Something akin to horror spasms across her face, she is sure, because that is what she felt building within her. True horror at his words and everything that he meant by them down to the sincerity of his belief.

"Don't speak of yourself in such a way! Do you not see how deeply I care for you?" Robyn shouts, startling herself with how loud she was. "How strong my heart has grown for you, and you alone? Can you believe me capable of loving a true monster?"

"Your affections, your feelings, blind you to the truth. You can't possibly see what the village sees. You cannot see the truth that lays just beneath your nose," he snaps. "You can be quite naive when you wish to be, Robyn. You wish for something that is inconceivable and expect things to go your way."

"inconceivable? Wishing for love is inconceivable? Wanting to be with you is inconceivable?" she demands. "Alec, I love you already, regardless of what they believe and even if you were somehow the monster, even if you were the evil one, I would still want to be with you!"

"Do you not hear what you are saying? Do you not see what the problem is? No one shall ever be accepting of what we have, Robyn, they shall never allow you to be lost to me."

"Damn them! I don't care what they think and I don't care for their approval. If they want to condemn a monster then I shall show them a real monster!" she says, eyes stinging with tears. "I am the one to fear, not you or Jane. I am the one that would rather see them burn before me than let them stand in the way of my happiness."

Alec scoffs. "You are not the witch, Robyn."

"And neither are you!" she screams.

Breathing heavy, she forces her gaze to remain locked with his, drawing him out and to her with sheer force if she had to.

His chest heaves, eyes scorching.

With a push, Robyn reaches for him, wrapping her arms around his neck with reckless abandon as she places her lips against his. The impropriety screams allowed in her mind and she allows herself a moment to consider her earlier words -- if anyone was the monster, then it was her leading him along a life of sin.

Alec holds her tight, arms around her middle. She can feel him straight through her, the heat in her stomach growing his each rushed brush of lips, each hurriedly swallowed sound. His tongue stroke agonizing pleasure within her mouth, teeth bumping against hers.

He draws back with a gasp, never moving too far away as his lips graze the side of her jaw, tasting her with each sharp breath.

"We can't do this," he mutters, the words pressed to her skin.

Robyn drags a finger along his bare back, nails digging into a muscle that tightens before she slowly returns to her exploration.

"Runaway with me," she says, the words out her mouth before she had even given them much thought.

"What?" he chokes, head jerking away from her. She tightens her hold on him.

Robyn doesn't regret her words. "Runaway with me, Alec."

"I would have gone anywhere she asked. I would have done anything for her."

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unedited

written: 2020-08-11

posted:2020-08-19