Nila shook harder, her eyes like black orbs of dread. She tried to speak, but a croak came out instead. Licking her lips, she tried again. “Innocence. I would take innocence.”
“So, you would prefer to drown by water than be purged by fire?”
Another tear trickled down her cheek. “Yes.”
“Yes, what?”
Bracing herself, Nila said loudly, “I would choose water.”
I nodded. “Exactly.
“And that’s what my ancestor chose as well.”
Chapter Sixteen
Nila
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I WAS ABOUT to be drowned.
I was to repent for heinous lies, to prove my innocence from witchcraft that I didn’t practice, and perish the way so many innocent girls had done in the past.
In the 1400’s, the law system was run by the Church. And the Church had ultimate control. It didn’t matter that they sentenced a young girl to death. It didn’t matter that she was innocent. Even if she chose trial by water, she would still end up dead.
The proverb from those days came back to haunt me.
Ye innocent will float upon their demise while ye guilty will sink just like their dirty souls.
Both scenarios ended in death.
There was no justice—only a deranged mob looking for entertainment by heckling and ripping a young girl’s life apart.
Shaking my head, I tried to rid the images inside my brain.
Jethro vibrated before me, his back to his family, his eyes only for me.
Beneath the golden ice lurked a need for me to understand. To forgive him for what he was about to do.
How could he ask me that when I didn’t know if I would survive?
If you do go to your grave today, don’t condemn him any more than what he is.
Somehow, I’d gone from martyrdom to just being a martyr—still unable to hurt him—even while he hurt me.
I nodded—or I tried to nod—I was so stiff my body barely moved.
Jethro’s nostrils flared. He saw my acknowledgement, my permission to proceed.
You’re insane.
Maybe you are a witch.
You seem to believe you’re immortal and can’t be killed.
That might be true. In that moment, I wished it were true.
With his back straight and legs spread, Jethro asked the question I’d been waiting for. “Do you repent, Ms. Weaver? Do you take ownership of your family’s sins and agree to pay the debt?”
