Medieval 02 - Forbidden

told you once that I had a penchant for witches,” Duncan said. “Especially beautiful ones. You’re touching me now. Have I told you true?”
    Amber’s breath caught as she looked into the smoldering hazel of Duncan’s eyes.
    “You believe what you are telling me,” she whispered.
    Duncan’s smile made Amber’s heart turn over with joy. He saw the change in her expression andbent down to her without realizing what he was doing.
    “Erik is right,” Duncan said. “ You burn .”
    Erik came to his feet in a surge that scattered hounds left and right.
    “It’s a pity you don’t remember your past,” Erik said distinctly. “It will make life a foretaste of hell for Amber.”
    “For Amber?” Duncan said. “How so?”
    “Do you think she will enjoy being your leman rather than your wife?”
    “She isn’t my leman.”
    “God’s blood,” Erik exploded, “do you think I’m as big a fool as you?”
    “Erik, don’t,” Amber said urgently.
    “Don’t what? Tell the truth? Your dark warrior won’t marry you until he remembers his past, and he can’t keep his hands off you longer than it takes to swallow. You’ll be his whore before the first snow falls!”
    Abruptly Duncan dropped his hands to his side.
    Erik saw and laughed harshly.
    “That’s fine for now,” he said in a scathing voice. “But the next time she offers herself, can you promise you won’t take what she is so willing to give?”
    Duncan opened his mouth to promise, but knew before the first word was spoken that he would be forsworn. Amber was a fire in his flesh, in his blood, in his very bones.
    “If take Amber’s maidenhead ,” Duncan said tightly, “I will marry her.”
    “With or without your memory?” Erik demanded.
    “Aye.”
    Erik sat back in his chair and smiled in the manner of a wolf that has just harried its prey into a trap.
    “I will hold you to your vow,” Erik said softly.
    Amber let out a long breath and relaxed for thefirst time since she had seen the feral blaze of Erik’s eyes.
    Then Erik fixed his gaze on Amber and she wondered if perhaps she hadn’t relaxed too soon.
    “This Glendruid witch…” Erik said musingly.
    Breath held, Amber waited. She had wondered when Erik would connect Glendruid with Dominic le Sabre.
    And what he would do when he did.
    “Do we have one like her among the Learned of the Disputed Lands?” Erik asked.
    With an effort, Amber managed not to show her relief.
    “Like her?” she asked. “In what way?”
    “Red hair. Green eyes. A woman whose gift would tell her to send Duncan out with an amber talisman around his neck.”
    “I know of no one like that.”
    “Nor does Cassandra,” Erik said.
    “Then no such woman lives among the Learned of the Disputed Lands.”
    Thoughtfully Erik tested the edge of the silver dagger with his thumb. The runes inscribed on the blade rippled with each motion as though alive, restless.
    “Cassandra’s prophecy at your birth is well known in the Disputed Lands,” Erik said.
    “Yes,” Amber said.
    Duncan looked at her in silent question.
    She didn’t glance away from Erik. For the moment, she was focused entirely on the golden knight who had pulled his Learning about him like a cloak of fire, giving him a power that transcended even his position as Lord Robert’s heir.
    “Your affinity for amber is also well known,” Erik said.
    Amber nodded.
    “Glendruid’s gift is that their women see into a man’s soul,” he continued.
    As Erik spoke, he looked at Duncan as though for confirmation.
    “Aye,” said Duncan. “They are known for that very thing.”
    “Indeed,” Erik murmured. “Where did you learn this?”
    “’Tis well known.”
    “Where you came from, perhaps. But not here.”
    Erik’s dark gold glance flicked back to Amber.
    “So tell me,” he said softly, “who among the Learned of the Disputed Lands has Glendruid’s gift of seeing into a man’s soul?”
    “I do, in a small way.”
    “Yes, but you didn’t give Duncan that amber talisman to wear, did you?”
    “No,” Amber said softly.
    “A Glendruid witch did,” Erik said, looking to Duncan again.
    Duncan nodded his head.
    Erik flipped the dagger casually, sending the silver blade end over end into the air, then catching the haft with a deft movement before sending the dagger into the air again.
    Amber barely concealed a shiver. Like the sun after a winter ice storm, Erik burned.
    Coldly.
    “Where did you find this Glendruid witch you spoke