CHAPTER TEN

Elizabeth divulged to Lord Hayden the scene between her and Talbot. "Now do you understand the danger we are in if we stay here a moment longer?"

"He’s truly insane," Hayden muttered. "But at least now we know he doesn’t intend harming you. It’s me he wants to see dead eventually. All right, we’ll find a way to leave, but I want another look at the Ark, and learn the location of a few of those relics Talbot mentioned. I’m safe as long as he thinks I’m willing to work with him. There’s no cause to panic. We have plenty of time."

Elizabeth stared wide-eyed at Hayden. "After what I’ve just told you, you still don’t see the necessity of getting away at least within the next few hours?" The blank look he gave her made her rasp in desperation, "What’s he done to you. I don’t know you anymore. It’s as if he is exercising some power over you."

"And he has you all upset, believing his wild stories," Lord Hayden solaced. "Come on, now, you can’t be that stupid."

"Stupid!" Elizabeth yelped. "Oh, you... you idiot!"

Lord Hayden was at a loss to understand Grace’s near hysterics. It was not at all like her. The Grace in Palermo, in Egypt, and in the 31st century was impulsive and eager and unafraid, always ready to explore the mysteries of the past. The woman facing him, about ready to pelt him, was scared and angry. Talbot was no saint, and he was obviously a little more than crazy, but leads to hundreds of relics they might otherwise spend their lives searching for and never find justified the risk of remaining here a while longer. How Talbot had learned about Grace’s suspicions that she was Psyche baffled him. Over-active imaginations aside, the two real problems facing them were Talbot wanting Grace as his own and their archaeological know-how. Hayden laughed. Talbot had no chance of scoring on either goal. Of course, he, Hayden, had no intention of joining forces with Talbot, a mad antiquarian who thought himself a couple of thousand years old. Granted the Lost City existed and Talbot might well be the descendent of a whole line of Incas. There probably had been a Ramatas in Talbot’s ancestry who had been betrothed to a Psyche and was spurned in favor of another, but that was as far as he was willing to believe. He had confronted madmen before. This particular madman possessed knowledge of the whereabouts of many precious artifacts. One didn’t just up and go when such an opportunity presented itself. And danger and risk were nothing new to him.

"Get some rest, Grace. In the morning you’ll see things clearer."

Talbot has blinded him, Elizabeth thought, biting down on her lower lip, as Lord Hayden moved to a dark corner of the chamber and began to undress. There was only one thing left to do. She must attempt an escape. Lord Hayden would follow her, if only to prevent her from coming to harm. He loved her enough for that, she felt certain, to keep her from risking her life without his protection. Moving to the opposite corner of the room, equally dark, she undressed as she formulated her plan.

She did not know the depth of Talbot’s fiendishness or the extremes to which he’d go to retrieve the love he believed he had lost to Eros.