The Adventures of Grace Quinlan and Lord William Hayden in the Lost City of the Incas

De: Paula Freda

Narrado por: Virtual Voice

A Novella. Romance and Adventure in the Lost City of the Incas... A love story, a mystery, an impossible dream, and a daring plan to capture one man's heart. A tale of lovers that have traveled through time itself to find each other. Excerpt: The circle of armed guards parted, allowing Hayden an unobstructed view. His throat constricted and he opened his mouth in a silent gasp. Face pressed against a wood post, Grace was tied to it by her head, arms and waist. The shirt on her back was shredded and bloody. "Bastards!" Hayden cried. At the same time he noticed she was barely conscious, and unable to turn her head because of the bindings. His name echoed through the square and he turned in the direction of Talbot’s voice. Holding a partially coiled whip, the Inca advanced toward him. Rage filled Lord Hayden as he noticed the blood on the leather tong, Grace’s blood. The guards seized him before he could lunge at Talbot, and held him immobile. Talbot regarded Lord Hayden quizzically for a moment, then without preamble, he threw the whip at his rival’s feet and motioned the guards to release him. The oddity of the Inca’s action caused Lord Hayden to think twice before following his first impulse to pick up the whip and flay the Inca to a lifeless pulp for the suffering he had caused Grace. "Pick it up, Lord Hayden," Talbot said. "You want to kill me, don’t you? This is your chance. A duel between us. The winner gets all, including Grace." Talbot unsheathed a long narrow knife. Lord Hayden’s rage, his anger and his determination in the face of obstacles decided him. He picked up the whip. The next events happened so quickly that he had only time to absorb their meaning and utter a broken rasp. The binding holding Grace’s head to the post was cut. Water was thrown in her face. She moaned and turned her head weakly and looked at Lord Hayden. Droplets of water hung on her face scratched and bruised. Lord Hayden watched them slide down her cheeks and mix with blood, tears and mud. It was evident she had put up quite a struggle. Her gaze was not totally focused, but he could read cognition in it as it settled on the whip he was holding, and then moved back to his face. It lingered there a moment, filling with hurt beyond reparation as it silently asked, how he could have hurt her so. Starting toward her, Lord Hayden opened his mouth to deny vehemently the accusation. The same guard who had cut the cord that had bound Grace’s head to the post, lifted his spear and with its butt struck her, knocking her unconscious. Talbot howled an order and a soldier tore the whip from Lord Hayden’s hand. The Inca’s laughter crackled and permeated the square. The circle of soldiers restraining Lord Hayden parted. Talbot advanced. "And now, Eros," he said, slithering hatred in his voice, "Psyche’s love is taken from you, as you stole it from me two millenniums ago." He paused to savor his victory, and then he ordered the guards, "Take him away!"...Hayden’s gaze was black with venom as the guards hauled him off. They did not return him to the hut, but instead dragged him up the temple stairs, then thrust him into his chamber. A few minutes later, two guards carried Grace in, slumped and unconscious between them....For the first time Lord Hayden visualized the fine line between his love for the past and his love for Grace. Until now he had thought both passions equal, not realizing that true love might demand self-sacrifice of the very art for which he lived. Hayden knelt beside the bed and gently removed what was left of Grace’s blouse, wincing as he saw the bloodied welts crisscrossing her back. There would be scars. He checked the bruise on the side of her head that had rendered her unconscious. It matched his. He left her side a moment to retrieve the medicine kit from his backpack. For now, he would tend to her exterior wounds. Those would mend with the proper care. The wound inflicted on her heart would be much harder to heal....