Ana howls, throwing her arms around my neck and knocking me back against the mattress.

But that isn’t all the letter contains. I tap Ana’s shoulder, gently extracting myself from her enthusiastic embrace.

“I haven’t even told you the best part.”

Ana rears back, lips stretched into a wide, pure grin. “How could it possibly get better than that? All of this is yours. Or, it will be, you know, when…”

She grimaces, realizing what she’s nearly just said. But she isn’t wrong. When my father dies, this will all be mine. All of it. Every inch.

And none of it matters to me. I don’t need gold or jewels or all the oranges in the New World.

All I need is right before me.

“There’s another clause in the will.”

Ana cants her head to the side. It is such an endearing gesture that I cannot help but smile. “Oh?”

“Yes.” I pick up the parchment and trace the curling lines of my father’s handwriting. “Right here. Near the end.” I look up at her. I want to see her face when I say what I am about to.

“I will never have to marry. All of my father’s property will pass to me regardless. I do not need a husband and a title to own it all. I am my own woman.”

Ana goes still. The only motion she makes is the rise and fall of her chest as she breathes in and out, seemingly very deliberately. Her voice comes in a hushed whisper as the import of that clause sinks in. “Then…”

“Then,” I say, feeling a curious heat prick at the corners of my eyes. “We are free.”

With a startled little laugh, Ana bends her head to press her forehead to mine. I close my eyes, basking in the scent of her. Leather and sword oil and oranges.

“Is this it?” Ana asks, still with that awestruck tone to her voice. I open my eyes to look at her, really look at her. She is so beautiful I could weep, but I do not. I have cried enough for a dozen lifetimes. The sun kisses the side of her face as a soft smile graces those lips I know so well. “Is this the end? It’s all over?”

“No.” I reach out to take her hand because to do anything else in this moment is unthinkable, unbearable, untenable. Her fingers wrap around mine without the slightest hint of hesitation. This is where I belong. This is where we belong. The Valiant Ladies of Potosí. Together against the world. I raise her hand to my lips and brush a kiss against the ridge of her knuckles. All the while, I hold her gaze with mine. I want to remember this moment for as long as I live. “This is only the beginning.”

AUTHOR’S NOTE