The Hostage

Harems, eunuchs, torture, battles, love, and lust all converge in Reid’s experience as a hostage in the Balkans. After the fall of Rome, tribes ruled by local warlords are the norm and Reid’s father was a local king. The young prince is dispatched to a neighboring potentate to be retained as a token of his father’s submission to the warlord’s might. Reid soon realizes his attraction to the ruler’s older son, Enzo, a handsome and strong but gentle nobleman; but is repelled by the younger Galtero, a brutish youth enamored of the rough and tumble of a warrior. Galtero mercilessly teases Reid, encouraging other males in the entourage to also verbally harass the young hostage. After several years in which all three turn into young men, Galtero’s proposal for a sexual encounter with Reid is rebuffed, the resulting enmity turns out to be perilous for Reid. Enzo’s betrothal to Reid’s sister provided the opportunity for a coup d’état in which Reid’s family is captured, along with Enzo and his parents, by Galtero’s henchmen. Reid’s rescue and discovery of true love end this medieval tale.