Medieval 02 - Forbidden

believe.”
    “Why?”
    “Amber is…extraordinary. No man could look at her without wanting her.”
    “I can,” Erik said bluntly. “I no more desire Amber carnally than I would a sister.”
    Duncan gave the other man a startled look.
    “We were raised together,” Erik explained.
    “Then why do you object to my touching her? Do you have a marriage in mind for her? Does she feel a calling to the nunnery?”
    Erik shook his head.
    “Let me be certain I understand,” Duncan said carefully. “You have no desire for Amber yourself.”
    “None.”
    “You have no marriage planned for her.”
    “None,” Erik said.
    “Yet you forbid me to touch her.”
    “Yes.”
    “It is because I have no memory of who—or what—I was before I woke up in Amber’s cottage?” Duncan asked.
    “It is because Amber is what she is. Forbidden.”
    With that, Erik spurred his horse forward, joining his knights. He didn’t speak to Duncan again until they had finally reached and passed through the hamlets and stubble fields that radiated outward from Sea Home.
    When the group of riders was within the first ring of palisades that defended Sea Home, Erik turned his horse and waved for Amber and Duncan to join him on a hillock overlooking the lower earthworks. From that vantage point, it was obvious that the defenses of Sea Home Manor were being reshaped into those of a true keep. Many men labored in the wet day, dragging stones on sledges, hauling logs, ramming earth between stone walls.
    A second log-and-earth palisade was being raised just beyond the base of a rocky knoll that over-looked the fen and the salty sweep of the firth. On top of the knoll, the manor itself was nearly invisible behind the newly erected stone walls of what would become the keep itself. Gatehouse and turrets, parapets and inner bailey, moat and drawbridge could all be seen either in outline or in finished form.
    Beyond the defensive rings, little was visible but dense mist, darkly gleaming saltwater channels, and rain-beaten grass. Though hidden by cloud, the vast presence of the ocean could be tasted in the air. The bay that Sea Home defended was wide and shallow, ringed with mud flats at low tide and salt marsh at high tide. Fresh water welledup throughout the marsh and small streams trickled in from the green and rumpled countryside.
    “How do you like it?” Erik asked Amber as she and Duncan came alongside.
    “The work has gone so fast,” Amber said. “I can barely believe it. Last time I was at Sea Home, there was little more than a palisade to protect the manor house.”
    The import of the frenzied building hadn’t escaped Duncan. Sea Home was being fortified as quickly as men could drag log, stone, and baskets of earth into place.
    “After the defenses are finished, I’m going to rebuild the house entirely of cut stone,” Erik said. “Then I will replace the outer palisades with stone walls and put yet another log-and-earth palisade beyond the inner and outer baileys.”
    “It will be quite grand,” Amber said.
    “Sea Home deserves no less. When I marry, this will be my primary residence.”
    “Has Lord Robert chosen a suitable wife for you?” Amber asked.
    Duncan’s eyes narrowed as he searched for any hint of jealousy in Amber’s voice. Erik might not be drawn to Amber as a man is to a desirable woman, but Duncan found it hard to believe that Amber wasn’t attracted to the handsome lord.
    Yet no matter how carefully Duncan searched, there was nothing in her voice and expression but simple affection.
    “No,” Erik said. “It’s difficult to find a girl who fulfills the needs of both Scots and English kings.”
    The buried anger in Erik’s voice was noted by Duncan. It was an anger that appeared whenever the proud young thane was brought up against the reality of the power of Henry, King of England.
    “What will become of Stone Ring Keep after you marry?” Amber asked. “I can’t imagine it without you.”
    “You will be safe enough with Cassandra and my seneschal in residence,” Erik said.
    “Ah, then you’ve finally chosen a seneschal?”
    “No. I’ve found no one I can trust with a plum as rich as Stone Ring Keep. Until I do, or until I marry…” Erik shrugged.
    “I’ll miss you.”
    Amber’s words were so soft that Erik almost didn’t hear them.
    Duncan did hear. The new evidence of affection between Erik and Amber irritated Duncan.
    “I’ll still live part of each year at Stone Ring and