Promises Of The Runes
He travelled through time to capture her heart.
The amulet was still in the palm of his hand. Was it some sort of conduit to the past? The image of the anguished woman in his vision was seared into his mind. Perhaps it could help him find her?
var Thoresson is desperate for adventure. As an archaeologist specialising in Viking times, he wants nothing more than to travel back to the ninth century as his loved ones have done, to learn everything he can about the era which fascinates him. And whilst his adopted family have always made him feel loved, the chance to meet a true ancestor, the warrior Thorald, is a temptation he cannot resist.
But while Ivar is preparing to go, he uncovers an amulet which shows him a vision of an arresting woman with red-gold hair. Clearly in distress, she is pleading for help. Convinced of the power of the charm and its message, Ivar’s journey takes on a new purpose. He steps back in time determined to follow his destiny – and find the woman who has called to his heart.
(This is the Prologue to PROMISES OF THE RUNES)
The dream was always the same – they were coming for her. She could hear them, sense them, smell them, their excitement an almost tangible current in the air. Like hunting dogs scenting prey, their shouts were high-pitched and increasing in volume. The heavy footsteps drew closer, making the ground shudder. And when they caught her, she’d never be able to escape again . . .
As she waited to be discovered, her heart was racing, her chest heaving. The fear inside coalesced into a hard knot in her stomach and paralysed her limbs. A scream was building in her throat, but she swallowed it down. Even if she hadn’t been tangled up in the blanket she’d hidden under, she would have been unable to move.
She was a prisoner of her own terror.
But then someone lay down behind her; a human shield against those who would harm her. She was acutely aware of every part of him pressed against her, one muscular arm coming round to encircle her waist. It should have petrified her more, but it had the opposite effect. Although she couldn’t see this stranger’s face, she began to relax, sinking into his embrace.
‘Shh, don’t fret,’ he murmured.
His voice soothed her, the low timbre vibrating through her, spreading a calm and sensation of safety she hadn’t experienced in years. She let him pull her tighter towards him, and when he whispered, ‘Trust me,’ she did.
If only he’d never let her go . . .
Christina Courtenay writes historical romance, time slip and time travel stories, and lives in Herefordshire (near the Welsh border) in the UK. Although born in England, she has a Swedish mother and was brought up in Sweden – hence her abiding interest in the Vikings. Christina is a former chairman of the UK’s Romantic Novelists’ Association and has won several awards, including the RoNA for Best Historical Romantic Novel twice with Highland Storms (2012) and The Gilded Fan (2014) and the RNA Fantasy Romantic Novel of the year 2021 with Echoes of the Runes. Promises of the Runes (time travel romance published by Headline Review 13th April 2023) is her latest novel. Christina is a keen amateur genealogist and loves history and archaeology (the armchair variety).
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