In all the time I had spent in the twins' living room, the fireplace never held a single ember. I never questioned it.

"Lydia. Our mother's name was Lydia."

"She worked with herbs, a healer by today's terms. She was skilled at what she did, and she served in a capacity alongside the village's medicinal, err…doctor. When he was unsuccessful, she would step in. While many were grateful for her services, there were always those that whispered in the shadows."

Jane noted the brief look of confusion on my face. She raised an eyebrow, already knowing her answer to my unasked question, "because even the history being made today has never fully accepted an exceptionally talented woman. A talent that is the reason my brother is alive today."

I took a deep breath, trying to calm the nerves that were already building. I could keep it together as she kept on, "I told you Alec was unusually susceptible to illness when we were alive." I nodded, indicating that I remembered. "I did not emphasize the extent of his affliction."

"Ever since we were children, there were times when he would have these sorts of attacks. He would seize up, collapse, and convulse in such a way that posed more danger to himself. My mother told me to keep him safe if it ever happened without her to hold him down if I could. But she feared it would happen while he worked with our father, a blacksmith. My father convinced her he would be fine; to our luck, he was.

"His fits were always particularly frightening, especially to those who rarely witnessed or had only heard of the occurrences. And one day, a group of men brought him to our home and said he had collapsed in the market. They were certain he was on the brink of death – and so was I."

I bit my lip, the words sending my heart into a tailspin. Jane eyed me before returning to the story.

We prepared for the worst, grieving him with the many condolences from the townspeople as if he were already gone. My mother stayed at his bedside the entire time, never eating or sleeping." Jane grimaced. "On the third night, I heard her whispering to him, but it was not any language I knew. It was almost as if she were chanting, murmuring.

"Around that time, I was visited by a girl I mislabeled as a friend. She was only infatuated with my brother, of course. I knew she saw being my friend as an opportunity to become closer to him." Jane smirked at whatever expression she saw on my face, aching for something light-hearted to escape the moment briefly. "No need to be jealous, Saffiya. She got what she deserved a long time ago."

"I'm not–" But I realized it was her way of breaking from the stress of the story, so I let her smirk.

"In my grief, I made the foolish error of sharing what I had overheard, my concern over my mother's behaviour." Jane tightened her grip on the couch cushion, the soft fabric barely reacting. If it were wood, it would have splintered. "I made her promise…"

"I would never tell anyone, I swear it." Olive squeezed her friend's hand in comfort. "Perhaps she was singing to him?"

Jane shook her head. "Never once has my mother sung us a lullaby."

Olive lowered her voice, glancing around as the town walked among them, oblivious to the taboo subject being discussed by the young girls. "Are you suggesting witchcraft?"

"No! Keep your voice down." Jane sent daggers to her friend, and Olive flinched at the unexpectedly sharp attack. Jane hissed, "how could you suggest such a thing?"

"Then what are you afraid of?"

Jane shook her head, brushing off her skirt as she stood. "Nevermind. You are much too simple to comprehend the intricacies of a whisper." The bitter words stung, and Olive jumped up as well.

"I was only trying to help!"

"Quite unsuccessfully." Scoffing, Olive shoved past the other girl.

"At least my mum isn't a witch."

"Alec awoke after three days, with more energy and light than he'd had before. No one else thought much of it at first. Of course, we received happy thoughts, and Alec had more attention than he wished. Everything returned to normal until our sixteenth year. Alec's affliction, or lack thereof since this incident, slowly became the topic of the town.

"Olive and I were no longer friends, the opposite, actually. I had not told Alec why, but he stayed by me as Olive turned the other children against me with rumours and lies – nothing about our mother. I assumed she knew it would affect Alec too much, and she still held her ridiculous crush.

"The village was celebrating – something pointless, I have forgotten by now." She waved off the memory block. "Olive and the other girls spent the night giggling, dancing, and flirting with the older boys. Not that there were many of us back then. It was still a small village, which is why whispers spread so fast…" She took a heavy breath, grasping at her chest as if she were human.

I moved closer, squeezing her hand until she returned the grip. "Take your time."

Jane's eyes fell closed, and she took another breath. "We were celebrating…"

~•~ Olive ~•~

A pyre in the center of the square brought light to the nearing night, assisted by the torches spread throughout the village. A light remnant of the recent snowfall covered the ground, but it was kicked up as couples danced around the fire, oblivious of everything else. Cheers and laughter echoed throughout the crowd. At tables, older men told tales of their hunting adventures and bragged about what they could, whether it be false escapades or boasting of their children. It was unusual to have so many of us within a few years of the marrying age, so competition between families rose with every day.

Willingly oblivious to this, we younger girls joined the dancing groups in a circle. It was a night of celebration, and so our group had expanded to include Jane, something I knew the other girls missed. Jane used to be a joyful friend, a good friend, and in light of the festival, we returned to such a notion. We were giddy with the exhilaration around us, giggling as we glanced hopefully at the most eligible boys across the way.

As the son of a blacksmith, Alec stood among them. The firelight reflected off the deep ebony of his hair, sparking in his eyes as he glanced over at our group. Right at me.

Beside me, Jessa grabbed my arm and whispered poorly into my ear, "he is absolutely smitten."

I turned eagerly, hopeful to confirm her words. "You believe so?" Jane was laughing with Beatrice, unaware of Jessa and I's discussion, and while I would previously have checked with her for advice, I grabbed a beaker from a passing fellow and downed it instead. I winked at the girls, whose jaws had dropped with shock and amusement. "Wish me luck."

As I left the group, I heard one of them ask, "what on earth is she doing?"

Similar to the group I had just left, the boys only grew more unprepared the closer I came.

Gabriel smirked, stepping up, "come to see me, beautiful?"

"Not a chance." One of the older boys smacked him upside the head, laughing at his rejection.

I swallowed, clearing my throat. "Alec." Though he had been watching me only moments ago, his confusion almost had me second guessing myself. "Dance with me?"

His eyes quickly ran up and down my form, then flickered behind me. His face soured. "No."

"No?" I repeated, dumbfounded. I threw my arms across my chest, demanding, "why?"

He ignored the gallery surrounding us, whose commentary had begun to draw attention from the nearby table. "Thank you for the offer, but I would rather dance with a fish than with a girl like you, Olive." My eyes tightened and I could feel the tears building up behind them.

"How dare you!" I reached for the nearest cup, stealing yet another person's drink tonight, and attempted to pour it over the wretched boy.

His hand caught my wrist, forcing the cup to clatter to the ground. "Perhaps I would have considered you," he began, coming closer to make his words more private. "If your treatment of my sister was not so revealing of your callous heart." I tore my arm away from him and spun on my heel, forgetting that I would have to face anyone who had grown aware of the incident.

However, this became a passing thought as I locked tearful eyes with the one person that had ruined everything. And she was laughing.

I did not think, nor did I pause, only turned and attempted to return home with as much dignity as I could muster.

My father was a lonely man after my mother's death, particularly during festivities, and so he was already at the kitchen table when I arrived. And something horrible overcame my mind.

"Olive? It is early–"

"Jane's mother has magic. She is a witch."

His face became dark and gaunt, and I instantly regretted my decision.

"Are you positive?"

"Jane saw her whispering something over Alec last winter. He awoke the next day." My father pushed away from the table and left our home. It didn't take much.

He gathered the town's council quietly, but everyone had begun to notice by the time each man had taken their leave. Many ignored it, enjoying ignorance.

I scanned the crowd. The girls had broken up the group and were now dancing with appropriate partners. Jessa was dancing with Alec, all the liberty with a familiar sensuality of the music that took over couples with a false innocence.

Jane was staring after the council members, ignoring Gabriel's attempts to get her to dance again. She seemed to feel my eyes on her, and I returned the same smirk she sent me.

Her twin must have sensed the change in his sister, shoving Gabriel to Jessa (neither of whom seemed displeased). He took his sister's arm, trying to understand until he followed her stare and my grin fell. Alec's entire body shifted, and he began to approach me. A rush of fear flew through me, and I stumbled, falling into a pillar. Jane pulled him back, whispering furiously. I watched his face fall. With another glare at me, he tugged his sister away toward their home.

Whatever his plan, it would be too late.

Whispers spread to every home in the village as council members returned to tell their wives what had been uncovered. My father informed me Lydia would be tried for witchcraft and treated accordingly. I was to testify.

They came for Lydia only hours later, far sooner than I had imagined. The twins were absent from the trial, but her husband went mad at my words. It took several men to restrain him, but he broke free, nearly reaching me before the innkeeper knocked him in the head until he collapsed. They took him to the jail, but my eyes never left the wooden stick dropped carelessly before me. Stained with blood.

I never returned home, even after they had returned the witch to her jailer and families had returned to sleep. To be well-rested for the next day's events. I wandered through the path between homes, only stopping when a rush of black flashed past the opposite end of the street. My heart beat in my chest, louder and louder, but I chalked it up to lack of sleep and continued around the village with empty thoughts.

It was not long after that Alec found me.

"Take it back." He kept his voice low, well aware that those sleeping in the houses surrounding us would easily wake if he spoke at the volume he wished. My voice was caught in my throat and he gripped my forearms tighter, the ire melting into his demands, "retract your lies. My mother is not a witch."

With pity evident, I shook my head. "It is too late. They have made their decision."

He growled, releasing me. "Change their minds." I leaned towards him, but he pulled away.

"They'll come after you too. She saved your life with dark magic. They will consider you tainted." He froze, the thought not having occurred to him in his state of mind.

I took advantage, moving a step forward, taking his hand, and bringing it to my chest. He let me. "Run away with me." His eyes had turned glassy, and though he was not looking at me, I tried to sway him. I had been holding on to the words since the hour he said it, "if you considered me once, you could do so again." Alec's disastrous eyes fell on me, and his hand moved from mine to the fabric at the curve of my neck. My stomach rolled with excitement. My chance had finally arrived.

"Run away with you?"

I nodded frantically, "they will kill you. My father will kill you. But if we leave…your sister will be safe." I cherished the way he searched my face, almost willingly, vulnerably. Truly considering my request, seeing the rationality of my words. "We could be happy together, you and I."

Alec's eyes darkened, "is that what you desire, Olive?"

"More than anything." His thumb ran across my shoulder, and I shivered, "Alec–"

Harshly, he tore the fabric away from my clavicle, his hand moving to tighten around my throat as he slammed my back into the wall. I cried out in pain, but he placed his other hand over my mouth and continued, "is this what you want, Olive? To leave your home behind for me. To be a wife, to pleasure your husband and bear his children?" His breath fanned my face, and I nodded. "Answer me."

"Ye..yes." I loved him, wanted him more than anything. I would prove it to him. Slowly, I moved my shaking hand to his chest, lowering it down his abdomen. My lip trembled as his eyes narrowed, something I had wished for so long. My fingers tripped down past the tie at his waist.

He stopped me.

"I will never be yours." He shoved me away from the wall, leaving me weak against it.

Fury, embarrassment, and shame burned in me, and I cared not for the quiet around us. "She's set to burn with the sunrise." His head snapped to the end of the path between houses, where the sun was already rising. "I love you."

He did not spare a glance, racing away from me.

The villagers did not burn her in the town square, choosing the top of the hill just outside of the town's walls. Jane stumbled after them, the few villagers in attendance avoiding her as she tripped and slid in the muddied grass. Her pleas did little to soften the minds of the town. Pity had lost its battle to fear long ago, and it stood little chance against the hatred of those around her.

They were still building the pyre when they tied her mother to the stake, stripped her down to the barest layer, covered in the dirt of the jail they had kept her in.

Jane was helpless, held back as the innkeeper raised the first torch in the air like a trophy, and the villagers jeered even louder. Lydia, the beautiful mother of the boy I loved, raised her head to the sky and waited.

A shout erupted from the crowd, followed by cries of surprise. The innkeeper had been tackled to the ground, the torch falling away from the pyre and extinguished by the snow. Alec's twin screamed his name, pleading as he was dragged off the man and thrown to the ground. The bloodied man stood and kicked his stomach, smirking at the grunt of pain that left the boy, and did it again. And again, before another villager pulled him back to the task at hand, leaving Alec at his sister's feet.

She dropped to the ground, throwing her arms around him as they stared up at the nasty sneers from the town's leaders. Their actions, unfortunately, prompted another question.

"And your children? Have you corrupted their souls as well?"

Disgust disgraced the gentle features of Lydia's face and she spat at the man's feet. "I have been poisoning the boy since he was a babe. I tested my remedies on him - remedies that saved lives in this town. Including that of your wife, Reverend. If he were corrupted, how are you to know she, too, would not be one with the devil?"

The Reverend panicked, recovering with only half the wit to process how her words saved the lives of her children by presenting the potential threat to his wife. "That is enough. The witch has confessed. Light the pyre!"

I heard Jane's scream from the bottom of the hill, tripping through the same wet earth that she, too had stumbled through in our race to the top.

It was her brother that pulled her back this time. Their mother refused to acknowledge her children, terrified that doing so would bring them the same fate.

A large crowd gathered, guided by the screams and perplexed by the earlier schedule. Not that anyone questioned it. Even after the witch had been silenced and the villagers began to depart. The twins stayed. Wrapped in each other's arms and ignoring those that had only watched.

"They're only children."

"Once they realize what she was, they will be grateful."

"It is better this way," the Reverend dared to say, placing a hand on Alec's shoulder. When the boy did not pull away, he continued, "you will begin new lives from now on with the peace of god's blessing. No one shall hold the sins of the mother against the children."

After a moment, Alec raised his head and nodded respectfully to the man. "We are in your debt, Reverend."

But they could not forget, and they would never forgive.

~•~•~•~

A/N: I have a midterm in 8 hours, so I wrote 3,000 words today

Honestly, I was surprised by how much I liked writing this chapter, but it is not edited because I have not even started studying. Therefore, might need some validation on this one, so let me know if anything stuck out to you so I can make notes.

If you read the update and the warning in the last chapter, obviously you will know this chapter did not contain anything I would expect to trigger someone if they have made it this far in the story. The next chapter might, and if it does not, I will erase this and the previous message.

Did y'all get the title? Origin, like origin story? I'm a nerd without sleep, don't judge me too hard ?ￂﾠ

Cheers,

Ro