Alejandro jumped from his chair when he heard the front door of the hacienda slam open. He rushed into the foyer, expecting to see invaders in his home, and for a brief moment he did not recognize the wild-eyed figure rushing towards him. "Victoria?"

She clutched at his arms as she stumbled. "Diego? Where is he?"

He noticed a warm wetness on his arms, and looked down. His shirt was covered in splotches of blood, shaped in tiny palm prints. "You're bleeding!"

"I need to see, Diego," she repeated, grasping his arms tighter.

"She's been saying that since we left the tavern." The handsome man who acted as Victoria's manager stood in the doorway.

Alejandro started guiding her into the library. "What happened?" he demanded.

"I don't know," Raul said, stepping forward to help. Alejandro wanted to smack the hands away, but he resisted the urge. He needed Victoria calm, and if Raul could help, he would take it. No matter what the gossip mongers would say. "A strange lady came into the tavern, Victoria said she needed to talk to her alone, and when I came back out from the kitchen, Victoria was by herself, just standing and staring at the door."

"What happened to her hands?"

Raul looked at him over Victoria's head as they helped her into a seat. "She was holding her fists so tightly that her fingernails were digging into her skin."

"Who was this woman?"

Raul shrugged. "I do not know."

"I need you to—"

"Don Alejandro, I heard—" Camila stood there and immediately noticed the blood. "I will get bandages and water!"

Alejandro gently stroked the loose hair of his daughter-in-law. "Victoria, what happened?"

She looked at him through tears. "I need Diego," she repeated.

"I don't know where he is," he admitted, promising himself that he would punch his son the next time he saw him.

"I need to see him."

"Victoria—"

She wasn't looking at him anymore. Her eyes were focused on the fireplace. "You can go to bed," she said. "I'll wait here for him."

"Here? In the library?"

She stared at him with eyes that were vacant. "Yes, I'll wait here in the library while you go to bed."

Camila returned with the bandages and started to clean Victoria's hands. Alejandro turned to look at Raul. "You can go now."

Raul's eyes never left Victoria. "I would prefer—"

"It doesn't matter what you prefer. She is married to my son."

He snorted softly. "A man unworthy of her."

As much as he loved his son, as much as it pained him, he silently agreed with Raul. "She's a de la Vega. We will take care of her."

Raul closed his eyes and nodded. "Of course. If you need me, I'll be at the tavern," he said, bending his head in farewell.

Camila was helping Victoria drink something. Alejandro was relived to notice that there was some color coming back to Victoria's cheeks. Camila looked up at him and he could see his own worries reflected on her face. "Drink, Victoria," he heard Camila whispering when his daughter-in-law started to push the glass away. Victoria finished the glass without further protest.

"What happened to your hands?" the servant asked as she started to carefully clean the wounds.

"My hands?" Victoria asked, as if confused by the question. She looked down. "My hands. I hurt them," she said, stunned.

"Raul said you dug into your palms with your fingernails," he explained.

"Of course," she whispered. Sitting up straight, she tried to pull her hands away from Camila's ministration. "I need to see Diego."

"Victoria—"

"I'm fine," she said. "You both can go to bed."

Camila ignored her and continued to clean the blood from Victoria's hands. Alejandro sighed and wished his son were here to see the damage he had inflected on his family. "I'm not going to bed, Victoria. I will wait up for him with you, if you must wait for him."

Victoria's eyes traveled again to the fireplace. "No, I'm fine." She started tilting sideways in the chair, and Alejandro sprang forward to catch her. "I feel so tired."

"It is all right," Camila said, obviously trying to smooth away his and Victoria's fears. "My mother put an herb in your drink to help you sleep."

Victoria shook her head, and Alejandro whispered his appreciation. "I can't sleep. I must see Diego!"

"You'll see him in the morning," he said as Victoria's eyes closed, and she fell into a deep sleep.

Z Z Z

"It's about time you came home to your wife," a voice said behind him.

Zorro spun around to find a woman sitting inside his cavern. "Who are you?"

The small urchin stood and bowed. "I'm the lady who is going to kill you."

She drew her sword and Diego was impressed by the craftsmanship of the blade and handle. "Very nice, Señorita, but I'm not that easy to kill," he replied as he withdrew his own sword. He saw a flash of appreciation in her eyes when she saw his blade.

He wished he wasn't so tired. He had spent hours looking for a way to release the bent up energy in him. Tornado endured being pushed to his limits in an effort to help his master outrace his guilt, but even Tornado was not that fast. The sword felt incredibly heavy in his hands. He was so tired.

A quick salute and she stepped forward. To Diego's horror, a familiar desire coursed through his body. Was he damned to want women whom he despised? He missed losing himself in his wife's body, missed the way he felt safe and warm and loved in her arms.

A flash of awareness in her eyes warned him that he was not the only one feeling the desire. She grinned. "Of course, you are one. If you were not, you would not be a threat."

His brain tried to process her words but failed. "Threat?"

"Yes," she said, taking another step forward. "You are a threat."

"To the alcalde?"

She giggled, and Diego found the sound enchanting. "I don't care about petty politics, Señor de la Vega." Her laughter bounced off the walls when he flinched at the name. Of course she knew who he was; she had found her way into the cave. "What the alcalde does is of no importance to me."

"So why are you here?" he said as they carefully circled each other in the tight quarters.

"I told you. I'm here to kill you. To eliminate the threat."

He shook his head. "I'm not a threat to anyone who cares about justice."

"Justice." Her smile was sad. "I used to believe in justice. Now, I just hope the world survives."

Remembering Victoria's warning, Zorro took a step back. "You think I'm a threat to the world?"

"I'm not insane, de la Vega, so you can wipe that thought from your brain." Definitely insane, Zorro thought. She shook her head. "I'm sane. And I know more than you could ever believe."

"Try me."

"Sorry. I've studied you, more than I needed to. I didn't realize the philandering husband of the kind lady was the pueblo's hero until tonight."

"I'm not a philandering husband." His denial was weak even to his own ears.

"Not what I heard. Not that I paid much attention. I do not care for rumors. They hurt too much, even when they are true."

"I am not having sex with Tasia!" he shouted.

The lady shrugged. "Not yet, anyway. But then she always liked playing with her food."

Zorro was certain his ears were playing tricks on him. "Her food?"

The lady's tongue slid over her teeth as she chuckled. "Just a figure of speech," she said. "I do have to warn you though. The second she kisses you, you're a goner. Of course, there will not be any more chances for her to take you."

Zorro's arm trembled as he remembered the feel of her lips on his, her tongue twirling with his. "She's already kissed me," he confessed. It felt good to confess. He had been unable to admit the darkness in his soul to even the good padre.

The tip of her blade was at his throat. He felt a trickle of blood creep down his chest. He had failed to even see her move. "You have kissed her?"

"She kissed me," he said, and then felt worse for putting the blame on her. Who initiated the kiss didn't matter. What mattered was that he had responded in kind.

The lady's eyes never left his. "She kissed you? And what happened?"

She had a blade to his throat and she was worried about a kiss? He was so tired. Too tired to think. Or to fight. "Why don't you just kill me—"

"You resisted her. How?" she demanded.

He stared at his captor. "I thought about Victoria."

The blade left his throat. Slowly. "You thought of your wife and were able to push her away? I do not believe it."

He rubbed his throat, but not where the blade had been. His memory, usually a blessing, was providing the memory of Tasia's lips there. He tried to rub it away. "Yes."

Her hand replaced his. They both gasped when their skin met. "She kissed you here, and you still pushed her away."

He had no response to that question. Licking her lips, she pulled her hand away. "I think I misjudged you. Perhaps your wife is correct. You are a good man. And a very strong man."

Guilt had him shaking his head. "No," he managed to say.

"You have nothing to feel guilty about, Diego. It's just desire."

He lowered his own sword and took another step back. "It is a betrayal of my vows. And of my love for her."

The lady saluted him again before putting her sword back into its sheath. "Actually, your resistance is a testament to your love for her."

He stared at the mad woman and wondered what he should do about her. If he knocked her unconscious and took her to the doctor, would he be endangering his secret? If he allowed her to roam free, was he endangering her or someone else? She was fast with the blade.

"She's your greatest strength."

"I know." Her strength had always kept him going strong when he had exhausted his own.

"Go to her. Make sure she knows that you adore her. And then maybe we can win," she said.

Zorro leaned against the table. "Win?"

"The upcoming battle."

"Battle?" His brain struggled to follow, a feeling that Diego wasn't used to feeling. "Soldiers are coming?"

She smiled. "Sort of."

"Mexico?"

"No," she replied with a grin that was driving him loco. "I told you. I'm not interested in petty politics."

Zorro was too tired to argue that a major war between Spain and Mexico would not, by any definition, be petty politics. "You are interested in seeing the world survive."

"Exactly," she said. "And I think I might be able to do it now-with your help."

He blinked. It was the only response he would give.

"Go, get some rest. You're going to need it."

"Before I help you save the world."

"Yeah." She walked towards Tornado. "I'll see you tomorrow night. Then we will talk."

Z Z Z

Alejandro awoke with a start. His son was standing in front of the fireplace looking as surprised to see Alejandro as Alejandro felt seeing him. The soft glow starting to ease its way through the windows told him that it was almost dawn. That realization made him feel ill. There was only one reason why a married man would be sneaking into his own home at dawn.

He shot out of the chair. His fist throbbed when it connected with Diego's chin. His son stumbled back but remained upright. But the ill feeling in his stomach only increased. He had never struck his son before. Never.

"Father?"

"Fix it, Diego."

Diego used the back of his hand to wipe the trickle of blood from his lip. "Fix—"

Whatever anger that had been there left Diego's eyes. "Father," he said, taking a step forward. "You've been hurt."

Alejandro looked down and was startled to see the blood still on his clothes. He had meant change the shirt, but after he left Victoria neatly tucked into her bed, he had been too exhausted to think. The need to talk to his son had been the only thought he had allowed in his head. "It's not my blood."

"Not your-Victoria," he whispered. Alejandro was startled by the terror he saw in those eyes. For all of the times, he had called his son 'coward,' he realized that he had never seen him truly frightened by anything.

"She's all right, Diego."

"She was hurt. At the tavern?" Diego started to pace in front of him. "I should have been there to escort her home."

"Raul brought her home." Alejandro thought his punch had less impact on his son. He saw the pain race its way through his son's body.

"What happened?" Diego asked, his voice still shaken.

"I don't know. She came home terrified, demanding to speak to you."

Diego turned away from him, hiding his reaction. In the soft light of an approaching dawn, Alejandro could see his son clearer than he ever had. Diego was always hiding from him. A painful realization he would face later, much later, when he had regained the strength to face it.

"Raul said she spoke to a lady at the tavern."

A soft gasp warned Alejandro that his son knew more of what happened tonight than he did. "A lady?"

"Raul said when he came out of the kitchen, Victoria was standing, looking at the door, her fists clenched so tightly that her fingernails tore through the palm of her hand."

"That's where the blood came from?"

"Yes," he said, wishing he could find some way of comforting the trembling man in front of him. At the same time, he wanted to shake him for being a fool. "Camila heard the noise and dressed her palms. She gave Victoria something to make her sleep."

"Good."

"I had to tell her that you weren't home." The anger in his voice even made him wince.

Diego turned. "Father, I—"

"Don't." He'd rather be condemned a coward than hear his son confirm his worst suspicions. "I don't want to know where you were tonight."

The two de la Vega men stared at one another. Finally, Diego broke away his gaze and nodded. "I'm glad you were here to comfort her."

"You should have been." Alejandro sighed and rubbed his hand over his aching eyes. "You will be with her when she awakes." Diego would be there, even if Alejandro had to tie him to the chair.

"Of course," his son agreed. Diego looked down at the floor. "It's the second time she's been injured since we were married."

Alejandro sighed and sank down onto the edge of the chair. "Yes, it is."

"I didn't protect her then either."

Alejandro almost let the subject die a natural death, but he had done that months ago. And his son's marriage had yet to recover from whatever strain those days had put on it. Maybe if Alejandro had been willing to discuss the subject, just maybe his son could have had the marriage he wanted for him.

"Diego, I know that you are jealous of Zorro—"

"I hate him."

He took a step back at the furious words that erupted from his son's mouth. "Diego, he has helped a lot of people."

"Everyone but me."

He didn't know this man. Pain hit him with that thought. His son was a stranger. "That's a selfish comment, Diego."

"Yes, it is," Diego agreed with no hints of remorse in his voice. "But it is the truth."

"I know that you were angry that Victoria was hurt protecting him—"

"She should have stayed out of the way."

Alejandro stared at Diego. "Her injury was minor. He would have died."

"Then he should have died."

Diego took a deep shuddering breath while Alejandro struggled to gather his thoughts. He had known that Diego's marriage had suffered from Victoria's sacrifice that day, but he had not realized the depth of Diego's feelings.

"How?"

Alejandro didn't understand the question his son spit at him. "How? What—"

"How did you keep going after mother died?"

Alejandro remembered the days after Elena's death. Most of the days were hazy, but he could remember Diego. Holding him. Assuring him while he felt every word he uttered was a lie. "I just did, Diego."

"If she died, Father, I don't think I could."

Blinking back tears, Alejandro struggled to understand the young man before him. Until this moment, he thought his son's feelings for Victoria were those of a friend. He thought the marriage one of convenience more than love.

"I need to go see her," Diego said with a clipped voice. Turning, he walked from the room and left a tired old man alone with his thoughts.

Z Z Z

Every muscle, every bone, every sinew screamed for sleep, but Diego's mind was too confused to allow for an easy rest. He sat down on the bed beside his injured wife and carefully took one of her injured hands into his own. Fatigue settled onto his shoulders in a way unknown to him until now. He kept hurting her. Kept putting her in danger.

He could feel her looking at him before he saw it. His eyes left her hands and traveled to her exhausted face. Tears were flowing. "I'm so sorry, Diego. You were right not to trust me."

Diego remembered the punch his father threw earlier, and it had surprised him slightly less than her words. "Not trust you?"

She sniffed. "I betrayed you."

"Betrayed me." Raul.

"The woman I warned you about. She came to the tavern." Her breathing was growing more ragged as she spoke. Diego stroked her arm, trying to calm her. "When we were talking, she realized that you were Zorro."

He expected to feel betrayed, but instead he felt a hint of amusement. "She's loco."

"She wants to kill you."

"I know," he murmured, remembering the feel of her blade against his throat. "She thinks I'm a threat to the safety of the world."

Victoria sat up, pushing against her injured hands. "You met her."

The lie rolled to his tongue. Lie and protect her from worry. Habit. But today he needed her. Needed her thoughts. Needed her shoulder to lean against. "She was in the cave when I came home."

Victoria looked physically ill. "She found you."

"Victoria, I doubt you—"

"I gave it away. I let your secret slip somehow."

He thought of the woman and her words. "Maybe. Maybe not."

His wife stared at him. "Maybe not?"

"She's loco. Maybe you did say something that gave it away, but since she believes I'm going to destroy the world, there is a good chance she made a lucky guess."

Victoria laughed. "A lucky guess? How many officials, how many bandits, have tried to guess your identity?"

The sound of her laughter lifted some of the fatigue from his shoulders. She really was his strength. And his weakness. "They were all sane."

Running a bandaged hand through her mussed hair, Victoria winced and said, "That doesn't make sense."

"If you went and told Mendoza—" She flinched at the words. "That I was Zorro, what would he do?"

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself. "He would arrest you. Hand you to the alcalde."

Diego found the strength to smile. "Really?"

"No," she realized. "He would laugh at me."

"And call it loco."

Her hand touched the base of his throat. "How—"

"She's fast."

Victoria's lips trembled. "She got her blade to your throat?"

Again, the lie jumped to his tongue. Again, his need overrode it. Tomorrow, when he had rested, he would condemn himself for worrying her. "She was very fast."

Her fingers moved to his cut lip. "She struck you?"

"No," he admitted. "Father did."

Her eyes widened. "Father did this?"

"I deserve it. For worrying you," he said.

She spoke not a word in his defense. Instead, she said words that made him feel like the world could somehow become right again. "Will you hold me?"

Nodding, he gathered her in his arms and lay down on their bed. As the sun rose, he felt his wife relax in his arms. He felt himself following her. For today, sleep was again an act of rest instead of an act of reluctant surrender.

Z Z Z

"Who is he?"

Innocenzio rubbed his hands against her arms. Tasia allowed herself to enjoy the sensation for a brief moment before pulling away. "Reyes. The man who gave me life."

"Your father?" Innocenzio studied the portrait in front of them. Tasia knew he had never liked how she carefully she treated the painting, or how she hung it in such a prominent place in her bedroom.

She laughed, knowing that Reyes would find it amusing, too. "My father was a drunken fool who liked hitting my mother and me. I killed him. The townspeople—" Tasia deliberately forced her jaw to relax and her fingers to uncurl. It infuriated her that those fools could still bother her all these years later. "They had no sympathy for me. My mother despised me, and I'm not sure she was wrong to do so."

"You saved her from being beaten."

Tasia nodded, remembering the sound of flesh slapping flesh. "I remember one time he beat her so severely that she could not stand straight for a month."

"What happened?"

Tasia shuddered when she remembered the emaciated corpse that answered the door the following year. "When I returned home, she was dying of starvation."

Innocenzio was silent for several minutes. "You killed her."

"It was kinder," she said, still tasting the fury. "Our patron used her as a warning on the evils of killing strong healthy males."

"They didn't realize you had killed him?"

Tasia shook her head at his question. "Oh, they knew. Even my mother called me names as they dragged me down the street. The landowner was not there to pass judgment so they locked me in a cellar. When the executioner came to enjoy my body before he helped hang it, I used a rock to knock him unconscious."

She closed her eyes, allowing the memories to overflow her in a way she had refused for centuries. The terror, the smell of the dirt, the feel of his hands tearing at her clothes, digging into her skin, rushed through her mind. "I ran straight into Reyes, who was there to visit the landowner. He had heard about my plight from the servants. I think he thought I would be an easy meal. Instead, when he found me, he said, 'You were meant to rule the world, my dear.'"

Innocenzio snorted. "He had a way with words."

She wrapper her arms around him, pressing herself into his side and resting her head on his shoulder. Together they stared at the portrait. "Actually, women usually ran from him, even with all his money. He could charm a horse into running away from him in terror. But then women mattered little to him. All he really cared about was power. And he knew I was the key."

"The key?"

"I'm destined to rule the world, Innocenzio," she whispered into his ear.

He spun around, causing her to almost lose her footing. "What?"

"A prophecy, given centuries ago, almost guarantees it."

"Almost?"

She took a step forward and laid a careful hand on Reyes's painted cheek. "One threat could stop me."

"What?"

"A who, actually," she replied. "Zorro."

"Diego de la Vega."

"Yes."

Innocenzio inhaled sharply. "Then we need to kill him."

"No," she answered. "No, I need him by my side, Innocenzio."

"He's a threat."

She turned and looked at him. "Or my greatest weapon. The prophecy is slightly vague on that issue."

"He would never help someone as evil as you conquer the world, Tasia."

She laughed. "He wants me, Innocenzio. That gives me control. I can sense the power in him. Once I turn him, I will be able to control him and that power."

"Don't underestimate him," Innocenzio said, grasping her shoulders. "He's dangerous. Even when I was a human, I could see the power in him. His mind is as much a weapon as is his blade."

"Oh, I don't underestimate his strength, but I do know a hungry man when I see him. Besides, I have more than my body to tempt him." Innocenzio raised an eyebrow. "Knowledge. The man loves to learn."

Innocenzio's eyes told her he was lost in memories. "Yes, he does love his books." His focused back on her. "But don't underestimate his love for his father. Or the deaf boy. Or Victoria."

"Victoria?" She laughed. "I don't think I have to worry about her. Have I not kept you up to date on all the gossip? Apparently they both found that wanting was so much more fun than having."

Z Z Z