“Ha! I might have known it! Well, I can pay the cur! What is the price?”
“Not money, Diego, beloved! The price is that I wed him.”
Señor Zorro sucked in his breath sharply and bent quickly over her.
“You wed with him?” he said. “Wed with a snake like Captain Ramón?”
“Only to save you, Diego! Ah, do not think that I am untrue! He but asks my word—the word of a Pulido! And the wedding is not to take place until he returns with the troopers, the pirates are slain, and you are free.”
“Señorita—”
“There will be torture and death for you, else,” she was quick to add. “And I will remain true, Diego. I shall but promise to wed him, understand. And after the ceremony, before he can claim me as his bride, I—I shall die!”
“And do you think that I would accept such a sacrifice?” Señor Zorro asked. “Could I live and see you the bride of another man? And could I live knowing that you had taken your own life for me? No, señorita!”
“If I do not, they will torture and slay you!”
“Then let them torture and slay!” he said. “You cannot do this thing! You—a daughter of the Pulido blood! Think of the blood in your veins!”