The Nympth's Labyrinth
Shape-shifting nymph, Ariadne Papadakis, is tasked with keeping the truth of the group’s existence and their ancient mysteries far out of reach of the American archeologist, Beau Morris and his troublemaking son, Kaden. When forgotten and forbidden passions are awakened, Ariadne is forced make a choice—fall in line and continue to be overrun and pushed down by the sisterhood, or follow her heart and put Beau and Kaden’s lives in danger.
Can she have the man she loves or will the pressure and secrets of her past keep her from her heart’s desire?
Their quest to find each other across a treacherous wilderness will test the limits of courage and endurance, guided only by their dreams--and by the belief in the true love they share.
Chapter One
Present Day
Present Day
Shoveling dirt in a dark, forbidding hole was
the last place Ariadne Papadakis wanted to be. She used the trowel in her hand
as a weapon to scrape the clay away. A drop of sweat trickled down the ancient
black tattooed snake on her arm, past her elbow, over the serpent’s weaving
body, and stopped at the base of her wrist as if it was afraid to enter her
palm where the head of the snake was poised for attack.
The city of Gournai sat at the base of a Cretan
hill, a blister of light in the callous night. Ariadne could remember when the
town had been nothing but a few villas and a market, perfectly rural—a great
location for a secret. Now it bustled with modern life and somewhere within the
public maze, sat an archeologist who wanted to expose the Labyrinth she and her
sisterhood of nymphs had kept hidden for so long.
How had Beau Morris found their secret…a secret
that had been hidden for thousands of years? She couldn’t know for sure, but
now she had been ordered to deal with the consequences of his action.
Earlier that day, while Ariadne had been working
at the museum in Heraklion, a braying couple from Alabama had been amongst the
handful of visitors. They had laughed at the bare breasts of the statue of
Epione, the snake goddess. They had snickered and made jokes of the serpents
that graced her arms and her ample breasts. They never paused to consider what
the woman had once meant to so many and still meant to Ariadne’s sisters and
all nymphs. They had just laughed and gawked at the oddity before them. Stupid
Americans.
Did no one revere what is sacred anymore? Had
culture changed that much?
Ariadne pushed the thoughts from her mind. There
were some things about the modern world that she just didn’t understand, and
Dr. Morris’ ardent desire to destroy the nymph culture by exposing the secrets
of the Labyrinth was at the top of her list.
Couldn’t he just leave some things alone?
If he found the Labyrinth, the artifacts would
sit in the museum, and like the statue of Epione, be pointed at and mocked—or
they would be misused. The sacred Labyrinth needed to stay exactly as it was,
hidden from science, from prying eyes, mocking laughs, and greedy hands.
She jabbed the trowel into the hard earth.
The trowel-marked square walls around her seemed
to move in a little closer as Ariadne worked. She swallowed back her fear as
she looked up at the night sky. When she was done, she could get out of this
place and never come back.
Her gaze fell to the exposed light gray column
at her right. For a moment she stared at the moonlit carved stone, it reminded
her of the thousands of years that had passed since she had been born. Each
year brought a new challenge, a new set of problems. She ran her finger against
the arid dirt and brought her fingers to her nose to smell the burnt sage, the
citric aroma of oranges, and a hint of olive.
To have an archaeologist sticking his nose where
it didn’t belong was an invasion tantamount to war. Subterfuge was the game and
nymphs had thousands of years of practice.
Danica Winters is a best-selling author who is known for writing award-winning books that grip readers with their ability to drive emotion through suspense and often a touch of magic. When she’s not working, she can be found in the wilds of Montana testing her patience while she tries to understand the allure of various crafts (quilting, pottery and painting are not her thing). She always believes the cup is neither half-full nor half-empty, but it better be filled with wine.
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6 comments:
thanks for the wonderful giveaway!
parisfan_ca@yahoo.com
Thanks for participating in the awesome giveaway! I love shifter books and this is definitely a new spin for me. I can't wait to see how I like it thanks for sharing with us!
This book sounds fantastic. Can't wait to read it. Great excerpt and trailer. Thanks for the giveaway.
Sounds like a great read.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
thanks or doing a great giveaway :)
Love Greek myth in my romance reads.
bituin76 at hotmail dot com
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