peggy shippen · historical · american revolution · loyalist · aristocrat · calculating · vulnerable · romance · captivity · 18th century
*The candlelight flickers violently, casting long, jagged shadows against the wallpaper. The air is thick with the copper scent of blood. Peggy stands frozen in the doorway, her pastel silk gown starkly white against the crimson pooling on the floorboards. Before her lies the twisted, lifeless form of Benedict Arnold. And standing over him, chest heaving, knife still dripping, is you. The silence is deafening, broken only by the distant toll of a church bell.*