"She could knock the best of men off their feet."

Robyn's words echo between them as Alec continues to gape, lips parted as his breath remains stolen in his throat. She let him take his time, let him think over her words carefully as she continued to draw her fingers over him in any way that she was allowed, in any place that she could reach.

It was a foolish thing, really, saying something like that but not thinking anything through. She didn't regret it and the longer she sat here considering it the more she wished for it to come true.

They had a few problems that they would need to work through as whatever they had was still new and no relationship was perfect enough to get by on so little, to get by on nothing, but this was likely what was the best option that they had. There was no way that he was going to be accepted here, Alec had made that clear, and even if they came to view how wrong they were, he wasn't going to allow himself to belong.

To be frank, Robyn wouldn't wish to live on here either, not with the people who had treated her so terribly, not where her childhood was ruined.

If they could leave, if they left, then things would be so much better that as no one would have a clue who they were. They would be free to be whoever they want, say that they were anyone they want.

Thye could even claim to be someone different each new place that they went! It would be so freeing, so perfect, that they could be whoever they wanted whenever they so much as wished it. Alec wouldn't need to fear, Jane, who could join them, could learn not to be so angry all the time.

Robyn began to form her hasty words into a quick plan, enjoying it more and more as she went. They could change their names! It was all so terribly exciting.

Best of all, they could be happy, Alec would be happy.

And that was all she truly needed in life to be happy.

"You can't be serious, Robyn," he says, shifting so quickly that her cheeks were cupped in his hands. "Tell me that you're just trying to be funny."

"I'm not. I want you to run away with me, Alec. We can get away from this place, start again somewhere new or nowhere at all. It is the people here, is it not, that makes it so difficult to see yourself in all of your magnificence. Together, we can go and be free again," she says, pressing forward so that her forehead was against his.

His eyes fall shut as he quickly shakes his head. "I- we couldn't just leave, Robyn. There are things here that can't be--"

"Jane can come with us. We can all go together and never need to return."

"Do you not hear how ridiculous you sound right now, Robyn?" he breathes but there's no harshness or anger to his voice. "I tell you we can no longer be together and you ask me to run away with you. You would be damned, your reputation ruined."

"My reputation means nothing to me. I would rather be nothing, be no one than have my status be the reason that we cannot be together," she snaps.

"You would give up your life? Your chance at a well-to-do husband and children?"

"I would give up anything to be with you and so long as you want to be with me, then I would do anything to make that possible," Robyn stressed. "Alec, the only thing I've come to truly care for in my life is you."

He shakes his head, pushing her away. Robyn stumbles.

"I can't go with you, Robyn."

Tears burn in her eyes. "You can't or you don't want to?" she questions with a sniffle.

"Robyn..."

"No, Alec, I- I am willing to do anything to be with you and you stand before me not even willing to try," she cries. "I will leave regardless. I will not stay in this village with or without you because if you turn me away now I will never be able to walk these streets again. I will go to the meadow the day after tomorrow at sunset. If you aren't there I will leave in the dark."

Robyn backs away, hastily rubbing tears from her eyes.

"I hope that you will join me, Alec. I hope that you will come."

Turning away, she squares her shoulders and prepares to leave, steadying her trebling breath and the ache that burnt in her chest.

"I hope I will see you before sunrise tomorrow at the very least," she whispers loud enough for him to hear.

As she leaves, Robyn can see Jane peeking out the front door with a tiny, hopeful smile on her lips. She shakes her head, a sob building in her chest that she hurriedly tries to burry down, refusing to let it out.

"It didn't work," Jane calls softly, her disappointment clear. Robyn shakes her head.

"I told him that I would leave, that we could run away, but he did not care. I intend to leave still," Robyn says, just loud enough. "We cannot be together in this village and I cannot be around him in this village without him at my side. Either way, I must leave. I hope that you will both come with me."

"Both of us," Jane says in surprise.

"Yes, both. I want to get away with you both and I pray that you will come."

Jane remains silent. She doesn't appear as though she is entirely convinced. "When do you leave?" she asks. "If I cannot change his mind then I will force him to say his farewell."

She swallows. "The day after tomorrow. I will be in our meadow at sunset and leave at nightfall. I hope that you choose to come with me, both of you. We could have unparalleled happiness away from this place."

"You could have happiness here as well," she remarks.

"No, I cannot. You might see all that my father wishes to display to the world as happiness but I am quite unhappy in my home, in this village. I cannot stand being here if this is to continue and I cannot hope that you will stay here any longer as well. It is not good for you here," Robyn says. "Our village is not all that there is to life, Jane. There are so many possibilities, so many options and things to consider away from here, away from this damnable, cursed land. We could find that joy that exists elsewhere."

Jane sighs. "You are giving him a time of departure to try and ensure that he goes with you."

"I did no such thing. If he thinks me incapable of caring for myself then that is his prerogative."

"You are sneaky as I always believe you to be. It is a wonder that people do not call for your head."

She giggles despite herself. "And why would they ever do that."

"Because if there is evil in this village, it is you, Robyn."

Jane reenters her home, shutting the door after her parting words leaving a grin on Robyn's face, cheeks spread wide in content.

Yes, calling herself the true evil here seemed quite fitting\ for she did spend much of her time plotting and conniving, she blackmailed, she sought out the sins of others so that she might manipulate them -- she enjoys manipulating them, pushing the boundaries of her own sins.

She wasn't a good person, had never been a good person, she believed. She had never enjoyed listening to the rules her mother set, always going behind the woman's back to break them when she wasn't paying her any mind and even then, Robyn loved to blame the other kids for her petty crimes.

Calling herself a good person, playing the part, was just as much fun as everything else, working herself into this ideal woman that she ought to be proud of brought her a certain degree of glee as she settled into the person she was now -- growing herself into this spectacular thing that made her the envy of other girls, the picturesque image of what to be.

The dark-haired woman, the temptress, had only made her worse -- or perhaps better -- by showing her the ease of which one can claim what they want.

And as she believed the Lord to be merciful, she believed herself only to regret the things that deserved her guilt. Robyn had not done something so truly terrible to warrant such emotions.

Running away was not something so terrible that she would regret. Neither was the idea that she might be rushing Alec into a decision.

If he truly did not arrive, if he truly called her bluff, she would likely just stay and wait for him to be ready.

Or, Robyn would simply go visit Mary, wait with her dear friend and hope that he comes to visit her soon.

"Robyn! Where have you been?"

The girl jumps, looking about her with a gasp once she realizes that she had made her way back to the burnt church, cheeks wet and chilled from the cold.

Her brother's cheeks were pink, beath panting and eyes wide as he jogged to her still in his sleeping shirt and hair tussled.

"Brother, why are you out so early?"

"It is not so early as you think, in fact, it is much later than when you should normally have returned."

"Is it?" she asks, glancing around the still-empty street. "I did not notice."

"Where have you been?" he asks, stopping at her side to gaze upon the church with her.

She licks her lips before answering. "I went to the Law house. I wanted to thank Alec for caring for me last night in my moment of distress and then I stopped to have a pleasant conversation with Jane."

"I ought to have searched there first, then," he remarks bitterly. "I would have had more success that way.

"Success in locating me? You are not one that is usually worried about my whereabouts."

"Aye, but you have been spending too much time with those witch twins. I grew worried when I saw that you were gone so easily."

She schools her features before he could see her angry scowl. "Oh? I was under the impression that I did not spend enough time with them. Who else shall I teach my witchcraft to?"

He grabs her arm, shaking her so that she looked upon his snarl. "It is not funny to joke like that."

She sneers. "You know what they do to witches, Rodick. It is not a joke or a simple insult when you say as much. Should it get too much then terrible things will happen and you shall bear the price of that. Can you handle such guilt?"

"There will be no guilt in my heart should they get what they deserve."

Growling, Robyn steps into his face, baring her teeth at him in a vicious grin. "There shall be no guilt in my heart should anything foul come upon you should anything happen to them, Rodick. I shall have no pity for you."

"You would take there side? The side of evil?"

"I shall take there side because they are nothing but pure and innocent of the crimes that you so heedlessly accuse them of," she says, voice dropping. "Do you not care for me? For my feelings enough to keep your opinions to yourself? My love for him is fathomless yet you are prepared to risk it all for your dislike of them? What have they ever done against you?"

"They needn't do anything to me," Rodick argues stubbornly. "It is what they are that is enoug to turn me against them."

Robyn shakes her head. "Then I shall have no affections for you when you are all alone with no one willing to stand at your side. You will never discourage me from love, brother, never that."

Rodick scoffs. "You do not love him. You do not even know him."

"I love him true and true," Robyn says shortly. "And if you must know, Father approves."

She yanks her arm free, turning swiftly on her heel to take large strides away from him.

"Father what?" he demands.

"Father approves. He encourages my pursuit of the lad. It is you alone that has issues with it," Robyn says. "It is clear to me, Rodick, that our kinship will never be as it once was. I beg that you no longer try and rule my life as though you are my Father and not an estranged brother."

"Estranged? We have what is best between siblings. There is nothing wrong with our siblingship."

"There is everything wrong with it," Robyn snaps. "And I have no desire to repair it. Now leave me alone. Go parent some other meek little girl that will actually listen to you."

She leaves him there gaping at her in a mixture of surprise and fury. Oh, her brother will never learn, that much was clear to her, but she hardly needed him.

And if she were honest, it felt nice to speak her mind to him, to tell him that she no longer cared for his interference.

Robyn additionally loved the dumbstruck, idiotic look on her face as she left him to stand in the ruins.

"I never did pity the ones that met her ire. They often did deserve it, anyone who crossed her path deserved it."

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unedited

written: 2020-08-13

posted: 2020-08-22