When de Grado died, Cortés told the pretty eighteen-year-old daughter of Moctezuma that because she was a wealthy, highly desirable widow, he was going to move her into his own household “for her own protection.” He was already in the habit of telling the Spanish world that Moctezuma, on his deathbed (struck down by rocks thrown by his own people, according to Cortés), had tearfully asked Cortés to protect his daughters.35 It was only a bit more fantastical to pose before Isabel herself as her protector.
