SPOILERS!!!
To date this is my favourite novel in this series. I really enjoy the mixture of historic events and the romantic plot.
When Gabriel goes to Doña María the next day to beg forgiveness on behalf of Amaranta, Doña María says that she and the countess, who is the head of the family, intend to send the law and bring Ines back. Then Asunción asks her mother permission to go and see Ines, and the girl is so passionate in her speech that her mother lets her.
When Asuncion and Ines talk, the former begs her to get back home, but Ines says that she can't. Asuncion says that she regrets what she did, but she feels she can't be a nun because in the silence of prayer her obsession with Lord Gray will be bigger. What she needs is to embrace the world, and Ines needs to be there to help her forget Lord Gray. Ines says that they need to part ways because she needs to be with her real family.
The next day Gabriel and the others discover that Asuncion is gone from home, so Gabriel goes to Doña María. They are all heartbroken, and some of his male friends are there. Then Asunción appears, with ragged clothes, pale and haggard, and she explains that it is true that she went with Lord Gray willingly, and once in his house she suffered terribly, especially when some women from the tavern appeared and beat her up. Lord Gray also treated her badly, and when he wanted her to go to Malta, she refused and Lord Gray grew angry. It was Don Diego and Don Paco who got her out of there.
Doña María listens to her daughter, but she says that she is dead to her. The men decide to go, and Don Pedro says that he will take revenge on Lord Gray as he previously challenged him to a duel. When Gabriel goes, he finds Don Diego, who tells her that the governor knows that he was the one who helped Ines sneak out of the house, and since the government does not want to have problems with the English government, he will be blamed for what happened to Asunción as well.
Gabriel finds his way to the place where Lord Gray is waiting for Don Pedro. There are other men, and Gabriel sees how one wears some kind of armour, pretending to be Lord Gray. There is a fight, and the man pretends to fall, and Don Pedro leaves, feeling vindicated.
When Gabriel and Lord Gray are left alone, Gabriel is furious about what he did to Asunción, and challenges him. Gabriel hits Lord Gray lethally, and as he is leaving, he sees a shape. It is Doña María, who praises for what he has done for the honour of her daughter even though for her Asunción is dead. Then she tells him that Ines is back in her house, but Leiva has told her that he loves Ines, and after what has happened, she has no desire to get her married to her son. So Doña María tells him that she will protect him, and she and Ines can run away. So Gabriel goes to pick up Ines, feeling guilty and sad for what he has done to Lord Gray. And that is how the novel ends. I am curious to know what will happen next.
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