Trials and Tribulations

The British took me back to Wilmington and tossed me into a cell. A four by four, fully stone, damp, cold cell. I'd been allowed to change into a dress and was given a lawyer by Gray who sent word to my family of my capture. A week passed before anyone came to see me besides the lawyer.

"Faith." Kaeden said, gripping the bars of my cell.

"Hey." I pressed my lips together, standing from the blanket on the ground.

"What happened to not getting caught?" He chuckled, reaching out to brush his thumb over my cheek.

"Not funny." I smiled and leaned into his touch. "I won't survive this, you know."

"Dinna fash. Lord Gray and Jamie and a few others are working on that. Isaac came and found us as well. They're all concocting a plan to get ye out of this." He assured me.

"No, let the trial happen. I can't run again." I shook my head. "Wait, here." I dug through my corset, pulling out the letter from Mister Adams. "Give this to Isaac. It's for Hercules."

"Hercules?" Kaeden cocked his head to the side before taking the letter from me. He buried it in his pocket for safe keeping.

"Just do as I ask please. It's a chance that I'm not found guilty." I nodded, running my own hand over his face. "Dina?"

"She's good. She's with yer mother and Anna." His eyes washed over me again, inspecting every piece of me for damage. "Ye dinna ken the power ye hold over men, Faith. Yer beauty, yer fire, yer soul. Use that."

"Time to go." The guard just at the door barked. Kaeden kissed me gently. Next to visit was Lord Gray. He wore a smile like always.

"My favorite trouble maker. Just like your father I see." He smirked, resting his shoulder against the bars.

"Give me the truth. The one that Kaeden wouldn't give me." I smiled light heartedly.

"It's not good. They have a witness apparently." Gray shrugged. "One of the slaves."

"Sounds about right. It's the butler, right?"

"Yes."

"Just do me a favor?" I asked, only to receive a nod from Gray. "Don't let Kaeden watch? Don't let Dina be there... And don't let me die without a friendly face to see?"

"I will do that for you." He nodded. His hand slipped through the bars and to my shoulder. "Remember what I taught you when we played chess. The queen is the most powerful piece on the board. Just because a she doesn't have any moves left doesn't mean the fight is over." He winked.

I was fucked. He didn't say it. But I was fucked.

No one else came after Gray, besides the lawyer. He advised me to say basically nothing. To say nothing of the raping, of the beating, the kidnapping. I was to say zero in my defense. Unfortunately for him, I wouldn't take his advice.

The trial began later that same day. I looked like the perfection of the British women. From the puffy skirts, to the neatly placed hair, my appearance was that of a high collar woman with stature in this world.

For hours, my lawyer and the judges went back and forth. Numerous people were called on as witnesses for my side or the Crown. It looked fine for the most part, until that pesky man took the stand, the one that replaced Tate. He looked at me with such distain. I sat atop the stand, watching as he recalled the events of the night.

He was lying. Every word from his mouth was a lie.

"She killed him before my eyes. First she choked him, and then she stabbed him. It was an atrocity to see. She even dragged his body from his office to his bed where she tried to cover her handiwork. She's the devil in disguise." The man wept like it was his own father I'd killed.

"Thank you, sir. Please return to your seat." One of the judges commanded.

The next few witnesses told stories of me being a witch, the devil, whatever story they could concoct to ensure I would swing. They told of my ruthless tendencies, rude demeanor, cutthroat attitude. They'd even somehow found a sailor from one of my ships who told stories of me being a thief and a liar.

But I refused to let their words break me. I'd been to hell and back. I knew what it was like to fall and get back up hundreds of times. Rock bottom knew me like a friend knows another. I was not afraid of breaking or of them. I'm sure I was the devil, fighting for years to gain just the smallest morsel of forgiveness, or salvation. The atrocities I'd committed here and at sea since I was sixteen. Murtagh and Kaeden had made me believe I was worth salvation. I guess they were so wrong.

The only person I feared such words from was Kaeden. If he saw me how I saw myself, then I would give up on life. I'd be broken then.

"Would you like to speak in your defense, Misses Campbell?" One of the judges asked, leaning forwards in his seat.

"I was sold to Iverson. I was a free woman, living with my parents and husband on Fraser's Ridge. I was captured and sold, an illegal act. Hugh Iverson sought to punish me for the role he believed I had in the escape of one of his slaves." Each attendee listened intently to my words, like I was a siren, singing an enchanting song. The men lingered over every word, awed by my voice, by the view of beauty before them.

"I was pregnant when I was sold but that didn't matter to Hugh Iverson. He beat me, raped me, tortured me for two months." My face remained stone cold sober.

"Are you admitting to the murder?" Another judge asked, perking an eyebrow. My response, either way, wouldn't have done any good, so I turned it around on them.

A queen with no more moves on the board to play like John said. So I would flip the board off its table. I would play the court like my fiddle.

"Imagine I was your sister, daughter, wife, a woman you love..." I said, looking at each judge before falling silent.

There's one thing a woman should always remember. Every man has a woman in their life. If one is able to pluck that string in the heart, make them think of their female in the story you tell, you control them at the flick of a wrist. It's what John reminded me of. No matter how strong a person presents themselves, there's always a weakness in a man who loves someone else.

Court dismissed for the judges to deliberate over my fate. I knew what it was. My throat would be in that rope. No matter how much my audience believed me, the law was the law. It would take an act of God for me to be freed.

"Faith," The Captain beckoned me out of the cell, "I'm sorry." He whispered, escorting me to the stand outside.

"I don't regret it." I mumbled in response. "He can't do anything else to an innocent woman."

"Your sins do not reflect on your character. You are a warrior created from the ashes of odds that were meant to burn you to nothing. Do not die thinking this is justice for justice was not served today." The Captain said. I recognized him now. He was more than just a British captain from Wilmington. He was one of the young men on the boat I worked on. Id given him bread once when we were down to dwindling rations after a treacherous storm.

A crowd had gathered, most of them were yelling. Not for my death, but in protest of the judges' decisions. They threw things are the soldiers, screaming for justice, not my death.

In the crowd was my family and John Gray. Kaeden stood in the crowd, staring in disbelief. I knew when I asked Gray to keep him away, it wouldn't work. He'd fight tooth and nail to be there. To be my friendly face in the crowd.

The blanks creaked with each step. Everything became silent to me as I stared at Kaeden, unrelenting my line of sight no matter where I was directed. The Captain slipped the noose over my neck.

Again, I wasn't afraid to die. I was afraid to leave my child without a mother. At least she had my parents and a father. He would be her rock, her protection, her love in the darkness as he had been for me.

Kaeden's beautiful eyes were filled with tears in the distance of the crowd. He really was the love of my life. Where I'd be a devil, he was my angel. He calmed my chaos, breathed cold wind over my scorching heat. There was so much I wished to tell him. So much I hadn't had the opportunity to say that I regretted not saying.

What would I say to him? Falling in love with you wasn't a slow burn. It was woven into me the moment we met in France. I had never felt so much peace and rest until I was in your arms. You were the angel that kept my demons at bay.  Thank you for loving me when I tasted like nothing but brokenness and heartache. Thank you for making me whole again. It was your smile that made me want you since the moment we met. It was your laughter that made me want to hear it the rest of my life. My love for you was the only thing I was ever sure of. You will be ok without me. You will be sad at the reminders of me, but Dina will be your new light. She will be the reason you carry on.

"Faith Elisabeth Fraser Campbell has been found guilty of murder. She will be hung by the neck until death." One man read on my left. The crowd continued its protest, even after the floor below me gave way.

The rope tightened around my neck, suffocating me slowly. The words I love you left my blueing lips. My eyes never wavered from Kaeden. His face was stoic. He wouldn't let his pain be the picture in my final moments. Kaeden's lips twisted into a smile and an I love you even when his eyes filled with tears and anguish.

It was over. I was dead for my crimes.

Death was cold, calm, a brief glimpse of solitude. The scream inside me, the one I'd heard constantly from when I was young, she was silent finally. Death was my rest. All the pain, the heartache, everything was gone. The hard parts of life evaporated and left me alone in death's cold embrace. And I was ok with that... Peace. Finally, peace.

A/N: This is not the final chapter :) but this book is almost over