Page 22 of The Duke's Treasure
“That,” she said, pointing to the wall, and he walked over to where she pointed, bending when he saw something glinting in the sunlight that was beginning to pour through the overhang. The clouds must be clearing.
His heart began to beat harder when he picked it up.
“I believe it’s a doubloon.”
“What is it doinghere?”
He stared at her intently. “How did you know about this cave?”
“When my husband was courting me, he brought me here once while we were out for a ride.”
“So he knew of it.”
“Yes,” she said drawing out the word.
“How far back do these caves go?”
“I’m not entirely sure,” she said. “I’ve only been here that one time. I’m surprised I even found it again.”
He started back, walking deeper into the cave, eager to find what could be within. He could hear her following, and he paused, holding out his arm.
“We should have brought a lantern,” he said with a frown.
“There are holes in the rock above for a ways,” she said, pointing overhead. “I’m sure they will stop when we move farther back but should help us see for now.”
He nodded, stepping in front of her. “Follow me.”
“But—”
“Mariana,” he said, reaching his arm behind him and clasping her hand, squeezing it tightly. “Please, follow along behind me so that I can keep you safe.”
“Very well,” she said with a sigh of resignation that made him smile.
When they turned a corner, the cave became darker, and then Edward came to a stop so suddenly that Mariana ran into him. He turned around instinctively to catch her, but he couldn’t completely tear his eyes from what was spread out in front of him.
“Is that…” Mariana asked, her voice trailing off as she looked around them wide eyes.
For the cave opened up into one large room, which was full of about eight chests. Edward walked over to one of them, knowing what he was going to find as he lifted the lid. Gold doubloons, so many that a few spilled over the edge. He looked up, meeting Mariana’s eyes, but it seemed she had lost her voice as she stared around her, walking over and opening another lid, finding more coins within.
“It was true,” she said wondrously.
He nodded.
“But that means my husband… he stole all of this?”
“From what I know… yes,” he said, hesitating, but Mariana didn’t seem particularly upset. Just surprised.
“What do we do with it now?” she asked, looking at him, and he sat down on one of the chests and tugged her toward him, seating her on his lap. He liked how she seemed to belong there.
“Now, it’s up to you. I promised you that if you helped me, you could decide what we should do with it.”
“When we made that agreement, I didn’t think we would actually find anything,” she admitted. “I was only trying to see how sincere you were.”
He laughed. “As I imagined. But still, I honor my agreements. You have a few choices. You could keep it.”
“No.” She shook her head, her nose scrunching. “It’s stolen. I would not feel right about that.”
“Or you could give it back to the Spanish King. Although then you would have to admit that you had it and you or your husband could be labelled a traitor.”
