Medieval 02 - Forbidden

problem. Then I will put my seal on the annulment and let the devil take what he will.”
    “Just seven days?”
    “Yes.”
    “Done.” Erik came to his feet in a lithe surge, sword in hand.
    Simon leaped forward with a quickness that wasas surprising as Erik’s had been. Smiling slightly, Erik sheathed his sword and turned to Dominic.
    “You have my oath,” Erik said. “Amber will verify it.”
    “It isn’t necessary,” Dominic said.
    “It will assure the Learned that my oath is freely given, and as such, should be honored by all Learned.”
    Dominic lifted a black eyebrow. Silently he decided that the next time Meg chose to lecture him on the subject of the Learned, he would listen more attentively.
    “Sister,” Erik said, holding out his hand.
    “Go,” Cassandra said softly to Amber. “Take the gift the Glendruid Wolf saw fit to give.”
    Amber walked forward on unsteady legs. Instead of taking Erik’s hand, she threw her arms around him and held him as though he were an anchor in a storm. Erik held her in return, feeling her tears hot against his neck.
    “I love you, brother,” Amber said.
    “As I love you, sister, I will be good to my oath.”
    “Yes,” Amber said, shaken by what she felt pouring into her from Erik. “I feel it raging in you. You want this very badly.”
    Slowly she released him. Even when they were no longer touching, she stood very close to her newly discovered brother.
    Yet it was Duncan whose every move Amber’s eyes followed. She wanted to go to him, to hold him, to assure herself in an elemental way that he truly was alive.
    But Duncan hadn’t looked at her since he had spared Erik’s life.
    Simon sheathed the sword he had drawn the instant Dominic had sheathed his own. Duncan slung the hammer over his shoulder in rest position. Dominic went to Meg and smiled down at her reassuringly.
    Cassandra watched it all with a ruthless smile.
    “Odd, isn’t it, Glendruid Wolf?” she asked.
    “That Erik’s life was spared?” Dominic asked.
    “Nay. That all of you accept the word of a girl who is being deeply wronged.”
    Dominic shrugged. “I have only to look at Amber to know that she wouldn’t betray Duncan.”
    “Aye,” Cassandra said in a low voice. “You know what the proud warrior refuses to acknowledge. Amber loves Duncan.”
    “She helped to betray him.”
    “Without that ‘betrayal,’ Duncan would be hanged and we would be at war. Bleak death rather than rich life.”
    “Yes.”
    “Then tell me,” Cassandra said, “in what way did Amber truly betray her dark warrior?”
    “Ask Duncan,” Dominic said quietly. “He is the one whose back is turned to her. He is the one who wishes for both wife and leman.”
    “Duncan,” Cassandra said.
    There was that in her voice which could not be denied.
    Abruptly Duncan turned to face the Learned woman.
    “Let Amber go,” Cassandra said simply.
    “Never. She is mine .”
    Cassandra’s breath came out in an aching sigh. When she spoke again, her voice was soft. And it carried through the hall like the sound of a sword being drawn from a steel sheath.
    “Amber said exactly the same thing to me,” Cassandra murmured, “and in exactly the same way, when I suggested taking you back to Stone Ring before you recovered your senses.”
    A tremor ripped through Duncan. It was so small that only someone looking for it would have seen it.
    Cassandra was looking for it with a falcon’s predatory eyes.
    “Tell me,” Cassandra said distinctly. “Will dishonoring Amber salve your honor…or only wound it more?”
    Duncan said nothing.
    “Let her go,” Cassandra said.
    “I will not.”
    Cassandra smiled with a savagery that made Dominic’s hand itch to hold a sword once more.
    “Will not?” she repeated mockingly. “Nay. You cannot let Amber go.”
    Duncan neither moved nor spoke.
    “Once I thought I would destroy you when you finished flaying Amber’s soul from her body,” Cassandra said. “Now I know I will not.”
    “Mercy from the Learned witch?” Duncan asked, his voice as mocking as hers.
    “Mercy?”
    Cassandra laughed. It was worse than her smile.
    “Nay, dark warrior. I would rather you survive and learn too late what you have done.”
    Duncan became still.
    “Then,” Cassandra said, “I will watch your soul die in the same way you are killing Amber’s…one cruel breath at a time.”

21
    A MBER lay awake in the luxurious bed that had been hers since she had married Duncan. Each time