Max is undecided what to do with the information she has on Idelle, but comes face to face with Captain Throckmorton's hanged body. Fearing the rebels, Max seeks Eleanor to get assurances, but instead finds herself facing governor Rogers. He hands her a letter from Throckmorton's murderer and makes her chairwoman of the Nassau council. While Max reads the letter to the rest of the council at her office, Rogers calls on Eleanor in her own room.
(Graphic Warning - short making out scene; Spoiler Warning - compliant with 4x01 reveal)
Epilogue
Max sat on the upper balcony of the tavern from where she could watch and listen to her clients. Throckmorton and his men jested about the black spot. They regularly sat in her tavern, since people knew to find them there if they wanted a skiff. One of Throckmorton's men, Robb the Robber, stood, widened his arms, hunched his back, made a face and attempted some poor imitation sound of a mewing ghost. "I am the ghost of Avery. You better watch out!" The men slammed the table roaring loudly at it.
Max did not smile. Ten nights ago, Mr. Dufresne had been killed by John Silver right where Robb impersonated his ghost. They had all, including her, questioned the threats. The very next day it turned out that Flint was alive indeed and together with Vane he was brazen enough to attack the governor. Max could still see a dark stain on the floorboards beneath Robb's dancing feet. Max had Eme scrub it every morning since then. But it barely helped. She had been of a mind that very morning to tell Eme to leave it, when Throckmorton came to her with his note. But Throckmorton grew increasingly embarrassed when she wanted to notify Eleanor about it immediately.
Her eyes wandered to the other people in the tavern. Disapproving, Featherstone watched the joking from a distance with his arms folded in front of him. Idelle rolled her eyes and turned her back on it all. Another former pirate lifted his eyebrows at the scene and whispered something to Featherstone, who just nodded in response. Jacob Garrett, she remembered his name. And he left without saying much, which was peculiar since he usually was such a big talker. But not today. He had been the one stirring resentment against Eleanor too on the beach, demanding a fair trial in Nassau for Vane. Jacob had been Naft's carpenter. But when Captain Naft decided to flee Nassau after Eleanor was handed to Captain Hume of the Scarborough, Jacob decided to join another crew. He was one of those who wanted to be a pirate, a famous one preferably. He sailed last under Throckmorton, a month at most before the governor arrived.
Two, three more days, and then I can be sure, Max thought. She would send her boy on the lookout for the naval fleet the day after tomorrow. At the first sight of them, she intended to tell Eleanor the identities of the rebels – when she had the assurance that Flint was dead. Nobody can fault me that I look after my own survival, she told herself. I tried to help Eleanor as best as I could. I did. But Eleanor had barely done anything with her help, except have Charles hang in Nassau. Admittedly, Max had feared a stronger response. The first two days people acted subdued and eyed the redcoats with suspicion, but now most laughed and drank with the soldiers side by side. People walked by the gibbet as if it was normal. Captain Lilywhite was one of the few who still muttered about Eleanor and tyranny, at least out loud.
Yesterday, Khar had growled, "Shut up, old man. He killed her father and attacked the governor. What did Vane ever do for you? If him and Eleanor had not fallen out, he would have slit your throat with pleasure if you even contemplated selling your goods to anyone else than her. That is, those rare times you even caught something worthwhile to sell." That made the men in the tavern grin. "Captain Charles Vane was one of the most fearless pirates out there, but he was in it for himself or captains as renowned as himself. He would not lift a finger for the likes of us."
"The Guthrie woman –" Lilywhite tried again.
Throckmorton had smashed his pint on the table and stood. "Miss Guthrie could have put you, Hornigold, the owner of this establishment, any of us here..." He waved his hand across the mess. "On a no pardon list, if she wanted to. Instead, we all saw her come here to make her peace with a great many of us and let bygones be bygones. The only man she hanged was the one man excluded from the pardon to begin with." He looked around and eyed the other men. "Who here did not at least contemplate his bounty the first day of our governor's arrival? It's his own fault. He got away, but he came back to assassinate the governor. We all heard the evidence at the trial." Throckmorton shrugged his shoulders. "Well, those of us who were there at least. What the hell would you have the governor do? Send him to bed after a spanking without dinner?" The men roared with laughter and shouted silly proposals in jest to that.
Just when the early signs of rebellion had petered out and Max considered that maybe Eleanor had succeeded in her aims when she had Charles Vane tried and hanged, the black spot surfaced. While everyone else seemed confident that the Naval fleet and Hornigold would make chopped mutton of Flint and therefore waved this off as a prank, Max thought differently. There were real men behind those ghostly threats, men who were loyal to Flint and angry over Vane's hanging, involved in the attack on governor Rogers. Such men were like to carry out their threats.
The following day, she visited the sick bay. Some of the sailors out of work had picked fruit from the trees along the roads outside of Nassau and sold it to her for a penny. It was an easy way for her to do charity and buy herself some credibility. Thirty one men had fallen ill in total, not counting the governor, but there had been no new reported cases for the last three days. Seventeen men had died and one soldier was still critical. The others seemed to be on the mend. On her way back to the tavern, she passed Mrs. Mapleton who fell in step beside her.
" It's been a few days since I told you of my suspicions about Idelle," Mrs. Mapleton said in a low voice. "Her role in the attack on the governor's caravan. One can only assume she did not act alone, but had partners in this endeavor." She put her hand on her stomacher as they strolled onwards. "You did not report this news to the governor nor to Miss Guthrie. Nor did you take any action to discover who the partners might be."Mrs. Mapleton managed to ask a question without actually asking it.
Max rolled her eyes, sighed and then looked at the older woman whose grey hair was piled so high, she could have served at Versailles. Max had once pilfered her half sister's book on the fashion in the homeland at her father's plantation. Hiding in her favorite spot in the brush where she could see her half-sister play, dance and sing, Max had marveled at the plates that depicted the women and men at their king's court. But her mother had found her out, dragged her by the arm before her sister and forced her to apologize and return the book to the owner."Désolé, mademoiselle," she had said and ran off.
"Until I know how this game will unfold," said Max to Mrs. Mapleton, "I choose to allow the players to reveal themselves to me lest I make an enemy out of someone I may one day wish to call a friend."
Just as Max lifted her eyebrows to stress her point, Mrs. Mapleton froze in her step, staring startled and shocked to something high in the air. Max turned her head and gaped at Captain Throckmorton dangling from a noose. Cries of shock and fear erupted. Mrs. Mapleton stepped back in fright, and so did Max, when her bodyguard took her by the elbow. "This way, Ma'am."
She returned to the tavern more shaken than she ever expected to be. Featherstone and Idelle stepped towards her to ask what was the matter, but Max was unable to speak. Neither of them had been at the tavern nor the brothel that morning and Max wondered whether they had been off to their mysterious rides again.
Robb the Robber ran inside and called out to his fellow crew, "They hanged him! They hanged the captain!"
"Who did?" grumbled Khar, standing up.
"The ghost!"
They were all in an uproar and rushed outside. Out of the corner of her eyes, Max noticed Featherstone's impassive face. He avoided her eyes, while Idelle straightened her shoulders and stuck her nose in the air – her tell-tale expression that meant serves him right. Would you kill me too, Max thought as she stared into their faces. Instinctively, she took a step away from them, and hastened into her office. When Featherstone tried to follow her, Idelle held him back and Max was glad of it. Her hands were trembling as she took her bottle of rum and poured herself a glass.
"You are a pirate," Max remembered Eleanor saying to her. "You signed articles, for Christ's sakes! You held a share in an active crew."
And now I am one of the governor's council, betrayed Anne, betrayed Rackham. Her hand quaked so much that she hardly managed to keep from spilling the content of her glass as she tried to drink it. Will I be next to receive the black spot? Would Eleanor take Vane down from the gibbet if it were me who was threatened? The idea that someone might decide to assassinate her and that she would be dependent of Eleanor taking the threat serious was too much. She downed the glass and left to confront Eleanor about it.
"Miss Guthrie cannot receive you," said Lieutenant Perkins to her in the governor's assembly hall, after he returned from delivering her message that she needed to see Eleanor.
"But I was there!" she insisted. "I saw Captain Throckmorton drop."
The lieutenant lifted his chin. "The governor will receive you though."
"The governor?" she blurted surprised. "Is he well again?"
Lieutenant Perkins did not deign to answer her question but gestured to follow him upstairs. Ushered into the governor's office, Max found herself facing governor Rogers all alone. Rogers rose from his office chair. His features betrayed nothing. Except for angry facial cuts starting to heal and paleness, Max saw little sign of fever. He wore a deep blue justaucorps with matching waistcoat and trousers that she had not seen him wear before. It matched his eyes, deepening the blue. He looked almost royal in it. "Sit, please," he said.
Max moved the chair, sat down and waited. Rogers followed her example – he sat and waited, saying nothing, watching her. "Is Eleanor not joining us?" she asked.
"No," he said coolly. "Miss Guthrie is - how shall I say it – for the moment attending other duties."
Max heard an edge in his voice that reminded her of the confrontation she had witnessed the night he sent Hornigold and his private militia to find Anne Bonny. He's angry with her, she thought. Did he set her aside? A part of her knew Eleanor would be heartbroken, and Max would gladly solace her. But for now, she had to assure her own position with the governor. "I warned Mr. Soames and Eleanor yesterday that the gibbet could be seen as provocative –"
"Have you discovered who of your employees informed Flint and Vane about the caravan?" Rogers interrupted her.
"No," she lied, automatically. She actually had come in a panic, ready to inform on Featherstone and Idelle if she found Eleanor reasonable to discuss her plans. Rogers lifted his eyebrows skeptically. "I thought I was summoned to…" She wanted to say council, but that would too presumptuous a word to use with this proud man. "to discuss the matter of the gibbet with you, my lord."
"The gibbet remains," he said disinterested. Rogers rested his elbows on his desk and folded his hands together. She opened her mouth to argue against it, but before she could make more than a squeak, he asked, "Do you have any information on the dissenters?"
"No," she whispered.
Rogers furrowed his brow. "What have you done to uncover them?"
Little to nothing, she thought. But she could not say that to him. "I put an entrusted employee on it. It is taking her longer than I expected."
"Your employee had ten days already. I am starting to wonder how you ever managed to make a living finding leads for the pirates?" He reached for a little wooden box, opened it, and took out one black pearl. He held it up in the air between his thumb and index finger. It winked evilly at her in all its luster. Rogers laid it on the desk and Max felt the heat rise to her cheeks. For once, she felt blessed her skin tone could hide her hot cheeks. "A keepsake regarding a matter we never discussed," Rogers said. He put his hand to his mouth pensively. "I thought I had a loyal and able partner in you, not just to sit on the council to keep your elevated status with the street, but to discover information that is difficult to acquire and to influence the street so it remains mine. Instead you showed my staff a note that was addressed to us anyway, alerted Miss Guthrie of an attempt to rally men on the beach loud enough for any patrol to hear, and claimed to be powerless to counter such dissent." He picked up the black pearl once more, before putting it back in its box. "Your dowry does not seem to amount to much while I was ill."
I betrayed Anne Bonny for you. And yet, that too seemed the worst reply at that moment. Max swallowed. The meeting was not turning out as she had envisioned of it. She had grown so accustomed to the idea of him being ill. Max had supposed him too weak to try and withstand the wit and brazenness of the pirates and Spain combined. She had even forgotten how nervous he could make her feel and how her charms were lost on him. But now that he insinuated she was at best useless to him, at the worst working against him, she felt a noose being tied around her neck. And it was no ghost's noose. Governor Rogers would get to her faster than the rebels ever could. She cleared her throat. "You have a faithful servant in me, my lord." No matter how hard she tried though, Max could not keep the tremor out of her voice. "I will make an extra effort to discover who is behind all of this."
Rogers smiled, for the first time since she had entered. "Thank you for your reassurance on that account, Max. I understand it were uncertain times and your council the past ten days was not without its merit." He pushed a letter towards her. "This was delivered to me by a messenger boy who got it from someone who got it from someone, well you know the drill. As chairwoman of the council, you will assemble the Nassau council tonight, read it to them, and discuss a proposal together on how to handle the threat. You will report back to me with the council's conclusion, tomorrow morning."
Max looked up at him when he promoted her to head the Nassau half of the council with one word. She took the letter, opened it and her eyes flew across the words. A second noose coiled around her throat. "You will not be present, my lord?"
"No, I have other priorities. We are without Hornigold's private militia to maintain order and security in Nassau for the moment, and I empowered the army to oversee such matters by declaring martial law. There will be a night curfew, one hour after dusk. Any suspicious behavior by day or night must be reported, and anybody seen on the street without escort and permission during curfew will be shot at sight."
"My lord -" she began.
"I am the Commander in Chief, Max. I do not need your council on legal and military matters. They are not your expertise."
"Yes, my lord."
"Good. The sooner you manage to make my council productive and effective, the sooner I can repeal martial law." He stood, casually leaning on the back of his chair and gestured his hand towards the door. Max stood and walked towards the doors. Just as she reached for the door handle, he said, "There is one last matter, I wish to address. Perhaps it was the reason why you came today?"
Slowly, Max turned on her heels. "My lord?"
"Your personal security," he grinned.
"I have bodyguards."
"Captain Throckmorton had a whole crew of bodyguards," Rogers bit back. He shook his head. "No, that will not suffice. It would not do if anything were to happen to my council's chairwoman. Your past is nothing to me, but it seems these dissenters have a long memory. We both will sleep easier knowing there are guards before your door. Your escort awaits you downstairs."
"Thank you, my lord governor," she attempted to smile, turned around stiffly, raised her chin and went down the stairs as gracefully as she could.
"Ma'am," Lieutenant Jones greeted her below with five other redcoats. "We will see you safely home again."
Upstairs, Rogers sighed and took the cane from behind his desk to lean on. He was well enough to walk, but at times his knees still felt wobbly and if he got up too fast, the light headedness would make him dizzy. Eleanor had explained how Mrs. Hudson had nourished him and kept him hydrated while he was ill by giving him cloth soaked in broth following Dr. Marcus's advice. Still, he must have lost at least a stone in weight. He ate regularly in short intervals and small portions – chicken broth and fruit. He would feel like starving for food one moment, but after three spoons of soup and two slices of papaya Rogers was sure he would burst. He disliked the smell of papaya, but Eleanor assured him it was soothing to a numb stomach. This morning he had managed to eat plucks of bread and avocado too.
Rogers put his free hand in his pocket, smiling contently at himself. As his fingers played with whatever he had in his pocket, Rogers realized it was something he was unfamiliar with. Frowning he took it out - a necklace of baby pearls with a golden pendant in the form of a butterfly. How did that get into my pocket? It was not his, for he had never seen it before. And Eleanor was not the sort of person to hide her jewelry in his pockets. Come to think of it - Eleanor had no jewelry, only a hairclip. In fact, he had not worn this suit since the day after he visited her in prison, and it had been packed that same night by his former housekeeper at London. And that old, dutiful woman was least likely to misplace anything.
In a flash, Rogers remembered Defoe's farewell to him. Defoe had called on him, gave him the book, and just before leaving startled him with a hug. It had Rogers astounded so much that it must have shown on his face, because Defoe had said, "I wish I had a son like you." Rogers had filed it away as a fatherly embrace, and in truth, in the years after his return from his voyage around the world, Defoe had taken up a fatherly role towards him. Not that the man wanted for children. Six had grown into adulthood. But as Rogers stared at the butterfly necklace he wondered whether the embrace had been a sleight of hand of Defoe not to pick his pocket, but to plant something in there. After all, Defoe had given him the book and wished him a butterfly.
Rogers slid the necklace back into his pocket, ambled towards his library with his cane, took the book and left his apartments. He took the servant's corridor to get to the east wing and halted before Eleanor's door. He knocked. When Eleanor opened the door, he said, "I had heard that no one yet has ever called on you personally, while I gave you such an apartment for that purpose. I thought I might just as well be the first."
She gave him a radiant smile in response. "My first gentleman caller. You are welcome."
"The only one I may hope," he said somewhat gruffly. He walked in, and a cooler air and heady scent of the garden circulated in the room. Eleanor had both the windows of her parlor and bedroom open. Stepping into a woman's private world was like sailing into unchartered territory. Eleanor's small parlor was surprisingly Spartan, more even than many a man's library he had visited. A small desk with cabinet stood in the corner next to a window. The evidence of it having been used lately lay sprawled across it. In the middle of the room stood an armchair to lounge in and a chaise longue stood next to it at an angle. "At least you have comfortable chairs," he said.
Between the two she had placed a round, wooden tray table. Three books lay piled on top of it. He walked over and picked them up to see their titles. One was the book he had gifted her himself. The second was another of Shakespeare's works – the Tempest. The third was his own account of his voyage. He held it up to her and lifted his eyebrows. "This one?"
"I found it in one of my former warehouses."
"Pirates loot books too?"
"Everything and anything," she said pleasantly, "except what they wanted to keep for themselves. Flint and Rackham were some of the few who picked books from a ship's quarter."
"So you basically stole my book?"
Eleanor shook her head. "I bought it from the pirates and I paid for it last week with my own pocket money to the warehouse keeper."
Rogers laid the book down again. "Hmmm." He turned and saw a tray of china cups with a teapot on the larger cabinet in the other corner. "I see I come just in time for tea. Were you expecting anyone else?" He winked at her.
"Just you," she said, turned and walked to the tray. "How did things go with Max?"
Rogers sat down in the longue chaise and watched her. "Excellent. I have her walking on that thin rope I wanted her on. And all Nassau and every rebel will know she is the head of my council. Regardless whether I take council's advice or not, while upholding martial law, everyone will believe she cooperated with it. If she wishes to survive then it will be in her self-interest to look after my interest."
Eleanor had given her complete account yesterday afternoon in the garden. Woodes had wanted to show to his men his health was improving. When welcomed downstairs with a polite applause by his men, he had said, "Thank you, gentlemen," clear but not too loud. "It is good to know how much I can rely on such a hard working team while I convalesced. It is I who should applaud you all for having assisted my trusted advisor, Miss Guthrie, who executed all of my decisions of the past week perfunctory. With such a team a governor can rest easy for a week." The last had evoked several chuckles from the men. "On the doctor's orders I must first regain my strength. So, for now all will remain as it has the past week. Our senior advisors are your first contact, and if it is necessary Mr. Soames will confer with Lieutenant Perkins to alert Miss Guthrie or myself on matters of urgency. Just pretend I'm not here for today. I was just getting sick of my room." They had laughed and he had waved his hand at them to send them back to work.
Mr. Soames failed to understand the message and immediately after congratulating him personally for his returning health, he had asked, "I trust Miss Guthrie has informed you already about the black spot threat regarding the gibbet, earlier today."
"Yes," Rogers had lied with a straight face. "I do not fear Avery's ghost." Eleanor expressed surprise that he knew the meaning of the black spot. But his father-in-law had been based in Jamaica for several years. Numerous privateers there had crew aboard who claimed to have known Avery.
Mr. Soames went into a lengthy retelling of his arguments with Max, until Rogers interrupted him as politely as he could, asking to see this black spot and had beckoned Lieutenant Perkins. "It is your job today, and the next I think, to make sure that I am not disturbed. Only if there is a true crisis, are you to contact either myself or Miss Guthrie. Only you."
Nobody had disturbed Eleanor and him all day after that. As her reports of events unraveled, Rogers grew increasingly uncomfortable. The more he heard, the angrier his jaw set, the more he fidgeted the silver knob of his cane, as well as grumble for her to continue rather than ask a question here or there. Eleanor had tried to portray Max as helpful by alerting her of the threat of riots, warning of growing feelings of resentment towards herself in the street and on the beach, and council her in ways to help keep the street.
"Do you trust Max?" he had asked at length in a dark voice thick with fury.
Eleanor squirmed uncomfortably while saying, "Yes."
"Do not trust her," he said. "Though she might tell herself that she did it for your own good, she put your back against the wall."
"I think she tried to protect me," Eleanor protested.
Rogers shook his head. "Imagine for a moment, if you will, that I had not fallen ill. Can you even remotely picture her refusing me, if I were to ask her to do something about the dissenters?" Woodes had not needed Eleanor to answer the question for him. He could see the realization that he was painfully correct plain on her face. "She would do whatever she could to prove her loyalty to me. Even if she fears for you, as you say, she is not frightened of you." Woodes shook his head in disgust over it. "I know you, Eleanor. You somehow made sure that anyone and everyone would have seen you at that trial and the hanging, am I right?"
She had shrunk at the clarity with which he saw her motivation. "Yes," she whispered. "But that was what she had advised me against."
Woodes had cocked his eyebrows at that. "And it did not help much, did it? Instead it planted the idea right in your mind. I will not have you put yourself out there as a target to shield me."
"I-" she tried to say.
"If Max had not warned you about making sure to dissociate yourself from the trial and the hanging, I doubt you would have considered being present at either." He had been silent for a while then, looking ahead into the distance. "I will deal with her directly on matters of security for the time being. And I would prefer it that if you meet, you would not do so alone. Have Mrs. Hudson around or Dyson."
"Dyson?"
"He will see right through any of her bullshit, manipulations and tricks," Woodes had said. "And he can be quite imposing when he needs to be."
As dusk was on them, Eleanor lit the chandeliers and candles in her apartment, strode to the cabinet and poured the tea in the tea cups. She became aware of Woodes standing behind her.
"I love you… in that red dress," he whispered in her neck. Eleanor had goose bumps when she felt his fingers caress her neck lightly and push her hair aside. Something cold touched her neck and slid across her chest. She looked down and saw it was a necklace. She touched the golden butterfly pendant, as he clasped the lock. Woodes let it go and she could feel the little weight of it hanging. "Don't ever take it off." She felt his lips press softly against her skin.
"Where did you get this?" she murmured. She lifted the pendant to have a closer look at it.
"From my pocket." Woodes said no more than that and retreated back to the chaise longue. When she handed him his cup, he asked her to join him in it.
They sat in silence for a while and the sole sound was the tinkling of the stirring of spoons, while the eastern air seen from the window turned a deeper blue and purple pink hues. Eleanor sat modestly poised with the saucer in her one hand sipping the hot tea at the end of the longue chaise. Woodes sat half turned towards her with one leg on the seat and his elbow over the higher back end. She could feel his eyes on her. She did not need to turn her face to see the pleasure in his eyes confirmed. Now, she understood this was some form of foreplay to him.
When he set his cup aside on the small tray table, he opened the book he had brought along. "Come here, and read the last part for me."
Eleanor took the book and read the last section about Cupid's and Psyche's true marriage. She began to feel nervous and fidgety. Her cheeks glowed hot. And she dared not look up, sensing he was staring at her steadily. She closed the book, stroking its cover, and held her breath.
"Read what my friend wrote to me on the first page," he said. Eleanor opened the cover and read the eloquent writing. "You're my butterfly," he whispered. Eleanor turned her face and saw that his hand patted his lap. For a moment she felt rather silly at the idea of sitting in his lap, but she straightened her frock behind her and sat where he wanted her. One hand snaked around her waist, another rested on her abdomen. "I've been careless."
She raised her eyes to meet his dark blue, dreamy ones. Eleanor bit her lower lip and looked down at his hand. "Yes."
"I will be careless again."
Eleanor closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his. "Yes," was all she said to that.
His thumb and fingers caressed her cheeks until they reached her chin. He lifted her chin and made her look at him. "Miss Guthrie," said he. "Would you do me the honor and consent to be my wife?"
She wanted to ask numerous questions. What about Sarah? How can I be a stepmother to your children? But she only saw love beaming from his eyes, and she whispered, "Yes."
His hand went around her neck and he pulled her to him. They kissed. His tongue was a velvet caress against hers. He hiked her skirt to caress her legs, her inner thigh, up and up. She gasped and pressed herself into his hand when he found the treasure nestled in her soft curls. "I missed you," she muttered to his lips.
"I know," he grumbled, and "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."
Both her hands reached for his face, stroking his stubble. "You were there," she mumbled back, in between kisses. "In my mind and heart."
And as he slid his finger between her legs and felt the slick evidence of her arousal, he grew so hard for her, that he wanted her naked in bed beneath him that very instant if that was possible. How fast they undressed, neither could tell, nor how they got from the chaise to her pirate's bed. She lay naked, just wearing the necklace, drinking his lips and tongue and wrapping her legs around him. "Teach me," he whispered into her ear.
"W-what?" she panted.
"How to make it twice," he rumbled, and thrust into her. And in between moans, cries and yelps she taught him.
xxx
Max saw the Nassau council members and foremost citizens, such as Mrs. Mapleton and Mr. Frasier, file into the tavern, under heavy guard. She welcomed them all into her office. She leaned her hands relaxed with fingers outspread across the desk. The fear was palpable in all of them. Max lifted her chin and surrendered to her given task with resolve. "For those of you who have not heard, the governor has imposed martial law upon all of Nassau Town in response to the murder of Captain Throckmorton. He asks that I convey the contents of the letter left for him today, taking responsibility for Captain Throckmorton's murder." She picked up the letter that governor Rogers had passed to her. She read it aloud, slowly and articulate.
"I was no one, and then you came, and my island fell, and I became something else. On the night I confiscated the pardon rolls, the night I started becoming, I made clear my position that there would be two sorts of men on the island going forward. Those like Captain Vane, determined to stand by their oath to the very end, and those like Captain Throckmorton, happy to be the first to betray it." Max swallowed for a moment before reading the last. Dread coiled darkly inside her. "And thus, as always, to traitors - Captain Throckmorton's black spot will not be the last. Ignore it, and join him. Heed it, and reclaim your place amongst us. Until then, I remain Long John Silver."
THE END
(Trust - I could never envision Rogers wholly trusting Max, not when he explicitly said "any and all of them" about Eleanor's enemies and Eleanor herself begins to build in a distance from Max almost on instinct. So, if he made Max read the letter for all the council members, making her chairwoman, he's manouvring her into that position not out of trust, but to use her former choices to ally with him to keep her on her toes. In a way that circles back to Eleanor's first meeting with Rogers on the quarterdeck as he points out the ships and the Gloucestershire and her feeling the English noose around her throat in her cell.
Secrets - some readers wondered how much I'd let Eleanor or Rogers reveal about their past. I think that in the end even people who are fully committed to each other and trust each other will preserve some tidbits of their background for themselves. So, Rogers does not confess to his decision to have her go through a trial. I'd say that Eleanor realizes this deep down, but simply sees no need to dwell on it, let alone bring it up. It doesn't matter aymore, since neither of them are who they were anymore. Likewise, Eleanor never volunteers any explicit information of the nature of the relationship she had with Max prior to their enmity. I imagine that at the very least he suspects a very personal history between the two of them, but it's clear it's over, and he makes sure it stays that way.
Eleanor-Rogers domestic scene: By pulling Eleanor out of the spotlight and pushing Max forward into it for Eleanor's safety brings her role from an individual female of power as ally to that of the powerful wife behind the man. In one way, Eleanor's "domestication" is finalized. Rogers makes her a behind-the-stage partner, but it does not lessen her power, nor influence with him. They still "scheme" together. Her impressions, insights and ideas are still the most important to him. So, in that sense nothing has changed at all for Eleanor to feel needed and appreciated. Nothing that Rogers said at his meeting to Eleanor is a secret to her. It was planned by the both of them. She is now stepping in the far more traditional shoes of her mother and what Miranda was to Flint. The domestic scene occurs in Eleanor's room as it is the "eastern" room, referring to dawn and new beginnings. And it denotes a high level of intimacy that usually befits that of a married couple. It's also implied he's the first man in her life to bed her in her own bed. So, these things also symbolizes her arc going from a hired assistant to that of a wife.
The council - the series has Max read the letter to the rest of the council in her office. This is peculiar. It's supposed to be a body of government and yet it happens away from the governor's mansion without his or Eleanor's presence. The crucial thing here is that Rogers has declared martial law. The council has no effective power whatsoever. All civlian rule of law and power is ended under martial law. Judges, "police", punishment falls entirely under military law and Rogers as Commander in Chief has the absolute power. It's a puppet show, where Max is ordered to be the most prominent figure. These were imo the clues to determine that Rogers set up Max to take the fall, rather than demoting Eleanor.
Update 12/2/2017 - I rewrote the Eleanor-Rogers scene and made it a marriage proposal, after the confirmation of 4x01. I had supposed the show would have made him a widower. After 1680 it was possible to file for divorce with the church based on adultery, but this did not permit the divorcee to remarry. That said, many clergymen did marry people who were not permitted to (re)marry, especially in the colonies - so called clandestine marriages. Those were barred by English law in 1770, but that did not prevent it from happening and being accepted in the colonies.)