“Aye,” Ace said. “But I need to stop somewhere first. Do you still have my compass?”

Zander patted his pocket, indicating that he did. Ace smiled and spurred her horse into motion, and Zander followed her. The Sanz estate loomed in the background as they rode, the grand structure illuminated by fire on both sides that slowly spread inward, threatening to devour the remaining legacy of Ignacio Sanz.

They rode in the dark for a short time before they turned off the main road and followed a path east. After a few minutes, the sharp angles of a wrought-iron fence emerged in the darkness. Beyond it lay the ruins of a burnt building.

Ace approached the barrier slowly, then dismounted. Zander followed suit. He stood next to Ace as she looked up at a tall, arched iron gate. An ornate letter “V” decorated the top.

“This was your home,” Zander said.

Ace nodded. “Aye, it was, once.” She stepped forward and pushed on the gate. It swung open, creaking loudly.

“He never let me return here,” she said as she stepped beyond the gate and onto her family’s property.

Zander followed her wordlessly up the path to the ruins of her previous life. The roof and exterior walls were gone, either burned or removed after the fire. Most of the debris had been cleared away. Large stones around the base of the home remained, as did the foundation and much of the interior skeleton. There was a stillness in the air that reminded Zander of a graveyard.

Ace stopped at the threshold and turned to look at Zander.

“I need a few minutes alone,” she said.

Zander nodded and took a step back. She walked on, disappearing into the crumbling structure.

Zander waited anxiously for Ace to return, twisting and twirling his daggers in his hands for a long time in silence. He scanned the landscape in the direction of Ignacio’s estate, expecting to see men on horses dotting the horizon any moment.

After a while, a sound to his left drew his attention. The snap of a branch. He held his breath, listening. Another sound, like a footstep on gravel. Then another.

Zander crouched low and carefully made his way around the side of the house toward the sound. Turning a corner, he saw a man dart inside the ruins. A hood obscured his face. Zander’s heart jumped from his chest into his throat. Ace was inside, exposed, vulnerable. He ran, leaping over the remains of a wall in pursuit of the stranger.

Ace’s voice slowly became audible as he navigated the once-grand home in the dark. She was talking quietly, steadily, as if she were having a conversation with a loved one. Likely, she was. He steadied his breathing, not knowing where the man went, and not wanting to alert him to his presence. He focused on Ace’s voice, following the sound to the center of the house.

He found her kneeling, a large stone wall at her back. Her head hung, her curls falling on either side of her face like a curtain.

“I promise,” she was saying, but she stopped short. Her shoulders went rigid, hearing the crunch of footsteps behind her at the same time Zander did. She shot up, unsheathing her sword and whipping around just as a figure rushed at her, his own sword held aloft. As the blades clashed, the hood fell back from the man’s face, revealing the snarling features of none other than Ignacio Sanz himself.

“You stupid fucking woman!” he screamed. His face was coated with soot, and dozens of shallow scratches marred his skin.

Ignacio pushed hard against Ace’s blade with his own. Ace’s foot caught on a stone, and she fell backward, landing on her elbows as she held her cutlass aloft.

Zander crossed the room quickly, quietly.

“I swear to God, Aracely, I will tie you to this pile of rubble and burn it again with you inside!”

Zander loosed one of his daggers just as Ignacio raised his sword above his head, his features twisted in fury.

“Tell me now!” he roared. “WHERE IS I—aaaghh!” He dropped the sword, looking in horror at his hand. The handle of Zander’s knife stuck out of it, the tip jutting from Ignacio’s palm.

Ace took the opportunity to kick at his knees, knocking him to the ground. Ignacio lunged forward, grabbing Ace by the hair with his uninjured hand and attempting to slam her head into the ground.

But Zander was already there, leveling a swift kick to the side of his head. He grabbed the back of Ignacio’s shirt, pulling him away from Ace roughly. He reached forward and gripped the handle of his dagger, ripping it out of Ignacio’s bloodied hand. Ignacio screamed, then went silent as Zander placed the blade against his throat. His other hand tangled in the hair atop his head, holding him still as he knelt, panting.

“Don’t fucking move,” Zander growled, shifting the blade for emphasis. “Unless she tells you to.”

As he spoke, Ace rose from the ground like a wrathful spirit. Her cutlass dragged along the ground as she moved.

Zander kept his hand tangled in Ignacio’s hair, holding his lover’s husband’s traitorous, murderous head in place as the villain cradled his bleeding hand. He removed his dagger from Ignacio’s throat and stepped aside, holding his head aloft like a gift.

“My lady,” he said.

Ignacio looked at Ace with the contempt of a man about to die.

“You should have just told me where it is,” Ignacio bit out. His breath came in short bursts.

Ace walked slowly forward. “My family’s legacy is not yours to claim,” she said. “I have made a promise, here on this hallowed ground. A promise to take what is mine. My life. My inheritance. My vengeance.”

Ace raised her cutlass, pointing it menacingly at Ignacio’s stunned face.

“Go to hell, Ignacio,” she said.

Zander let go. Ace reared back her arm, whipping her cutlass out in front of her and slicing Ignacio’s throat with a loud cry. He fell to the ground, and the world was suddenly very still.

Ace stood there for a long while, staring at his lifeless body. Finally, she looked up at Zander and gave him a wry smile.

“My lady?” she said.

Zander chuckled. “It sounded quite dashing in my head.”

Ace’s smile widened. “It was dashing,” she said.

She looked down again at the lifeless body at her feet and her smile vanished. They stood silently again as Ace’s eyes swam with emotion. “When we were on the boat, he told me how he did it,” she said finally. “How he killed my parents, I mean.” She looked up at him, and Zander waited quietly for her to continue. “He gave them a gift the last time I saw them. A bottle of wine. It was poisoned. One of Sanz’s men watched as they opened it, drank, and eventually fell asleep. Then, in the wake of the lightning storm, he set the loggia ablaze.”

“I’m so sorry, Ace,” Zander whispered.

Ace took a deep breath. Tears ran down her face. “Aye, me too. But at least now I know for sure.” After a few moments of silence, she said, “May I have my compass?”

“Of course.” Zander fished the wooden compass from his pocket and gave it to Ace.

She gestured for him to follow her, and they walked outside to the back of the house. A group of pillars that used to be arches and a small empty pond marked the area as the loggia, where Chandace and Nicolas died.

The light of the moon pooled over Ace’s features as she looked out at the vineyards, the only part of the property that appeared to still be maintained. She turned the compass over in her hands and twisted the bottom. The base of the wood came off, revealing a small inner compartment containing a folded piece of parchment. She pulled it out, spreading it open in front of her to reveal a map.

Zander took a few steps forward to get a closer look at the parchment. The outline of a building—the building that lay burnt at their backs—took up one side. The other side was dotted with small landmarks Zander couldn’t identify. A trail of dashes led to one of the landmarks—a large X—with the number 34 scrawled beside it.

“Is this…” Zander began.

“A treasure map,” Ace finished. She placed her compass atop the map, pointed her body North, and walked. “This way,” she said, carefully measuring her steps. “34 paces.”

34 paces later, Ace stood at the edge of the vineyard a few yards away from a large Beech tree. Upon arriving, she folded her map, returned it to the compass, and sank to her knees. Zander joined her, using his knife to cut up the soil so she could dig it away with the handle of her cutlass. When the soil turned soft and moist, they used their hands to shovel it away, eventually revealing a small wooden chest. They cleared away the dirt surrounding it, allowing Ace to wedge her fingers against the sides of the chest and lift it out with a grunt.

She squatted in front of the chest, a shy expression on her face.