Love Lost in Time, Excerpt by Cathie Dunn

A reluctant daughter. A dutiful wife. A mystery of the ages.

Languedoc, France, 2018

Historian Madeleine Winters would rather research her next project than rehash the strained relationship she had with her late mother. However, to claim her inheritance, she reluctantly agrees to stay the one year required in her late mother’s French home and begins renovations. But when she’s haunted by a female voice inside the house and tremors emanating from beneath her kitchen floorboards, she’s shocked to discover ancient human bones.

The Mediterranean coast, AD 777

Seventeen-year-old Nanthild is wise enough to know her place. Hiding her Pagan wisdom and dutifully accepting her political marriage, she’s surprised when she falls for her Christian husband, the Count of Carcassonne. But she struggles to keep her forbidden religious beliefs and her healing skills secret while her spouse goes off to fight in a terrible, bloody war.

As Maddie settles into her rustic village life, she becomes obsessed with unraveling the mysterious history buried in her new home. And when Nanthild is caught in the snare of an envious man, she’s terrified she’ll never embrace her beloved again.

Can two women torn apart by centuries help each other finally find peace?

Excerpt, Chapter 14

15^th August, AD 778

The pass at Roncevaux, western Pyrenaei

“What? The king is leaving us to these heathens?” A young Frankish lord huddling down beside him stared at the trees, his eyes wide with horror. A gash on his temple was oozing blood.

“It would seem so. Look!”

Bellon watched in astonishment as the Vascones merged back into the forest, heading south, towards where his group had come from.

“What is happening? Where are they going?”

Around him, men gathered, always scanning the trees, but the attackers had left.

The eerie silence was broken moments later when scores of cries rose at once.

Bellon’s head shot up, and he stared at the deserted path behind them. “The rear guard!”

“God save them. The heathens are regrouping.”

“Milo!” He nodded grimly. King Charles had tasked Milo, together with several Frankish lords, to maintain the safety of the baggage train.

The clashing of metal mingled with the increasingly urgent cries.

“We must help them. The bastards will be after the spoils.” He took a step but a Visigoth warrior from his group stopped him.

“Wait! We have to tell the vanguard. We are but a few and can’t face the Vascones alone.”

Bellon hesitated, knowing the warrior was right. “Then send a man to let them know.”

A messenger was dispatched to the vanguard whilst Bellon and the other survivors headed along the track, towards the growing noise. When they turned a corner, they halted.

He had not expected the sight that greeted him.

“Christ have mercy!” The Frankish soldier crossed himself.

“They’re like ants,” the Visigoth whispered hoarsely. “All over them.”

“We need more men.”

Desperate to join the melée and find Hilda’s father, Bellon blinked back tears as he watched the carnage before him. Rarely was he stunned into silence, but even when the Franks had burned Pamplona before their return, the king had allowed a level of mercy.

Those wild heathens showed none.

“Retreat!” A voice called out behind them. “By the order of King Charles, retreat!”

“No!” Bellon pushed away. “You should go back,” he told the soldiers around him. “I’m going down there.”

“And be slaughtered like the rest of them?”

“I…must!” He drew his sword and stalked down the path soon strewn with bodies, horses and donkeys. He could not make out Milo, or any other men he knew, as most of the men were already lying on the blood-soaked ground. The heathens hacked into anyone moving without flinching.

“Bellon, you have a wife; you have duties…” He barely acknowledged the voice as one of his own entourage. “It is too late.”

Tears brimmed in his eyes as he hesitated. Ahead of him lay the rearguard of Charles’ army, dying and massacred by a frenzied horde, and all the treasures they had collected in Iberia.

A howl went up. The Vascones had spotted his little group. Some let go of their victims and began to rush up the hill. Instinct told Bellon to run, loyalty to Milo to fight.

“Bellon!” He recognised the voice calling from behind him to belong to one of Charles’ closest advisers. “We must go. Retreat now or die!”

Three Vascones, their cries piercing the air, were coming closer, brandishing swings and swords, and others followed, sensing fresh blood.

“Milo…”

“He’s likely dead, Bellon. We can return later, once the heathens have gone.”

“I cannot—”

A horse approached him from behind, and the adviser pulled at his shoulder. “Come! This is an order from the king!”

He shrugged off the hand and turned to the lord. “Take my surviving men safely back to Carcassonne!”

Then he held up his shield and strode towards the approaching Vascones.

Universal Buy Link: https://books2read.com/u/mq7DM9

https://mybook.to/LoveLostTime

This book is available on #KindleUnlimited

Meet Cathie Dunn

Cathie is an Amazon-bestselling author of historical fiction, dual-timeline, mystery, and romance. She loves to infuse her stories with a strong sense of place and time, combined with a dark secret or mystery – and a touch of romance. Often, you can find her deep down the rabbit hole of historical research…

In addition, she is also a historical fiction book promoter with The Coffee Pot Book Club, a novel-writing tutor, and a keen reviewer on her blog, Ruins & Reading.

After having lived in Scotland for almost two decades, Cathie is now enjoying the sunshine in the south of France with her husband, and her rescued pets, Ellie Dog & Charlie Cat.

She is a member of the Historical Novel Society, the Richard III Society, the Alliance of Independent Authors, and the Romantic Novelists’ Association.