Page 175 of Forbidden

And his word had been given to Dominic le Sabre.

Amber knew it now.

Too late.

If Duncan lets himself love me, he cannot permit our marriage to be set aside. He must turn his back on honor and on Dominic le Sabre.

Duncan of Maxwell, the Forsworn.

If he turns his back on honor, he will hate himself.

And me.

20

TWELVEdays later, Cassandra entered the luxurious room that served as Amber’s prison.

Amber looked up from the manuscript she had been trying to decipher. Trying, and failing. Her mind was on one thing and one thing only.

Duncan.

“Ariane is here,” Cassandra said bluntly. “Duncan requires your presence in the solar.”

For a moment Amber became as still as death. Then she let out a long, soundless breath and looked around the luxurious bedchamber with eyes that saw only a thousand shades of darkness.

“Simon brought a Norman priest along with the Norman heiress,” Cassandra continued. “There is no doubt that your marriage will be set aside.”

Amber said nothing.

“What will you do?” Cassandra asked.

“What I must.”

“Do you still hope that Duncan will allow himself to love you?”

“No.”

But the flare of emotion in Amber’s eyes saidyes.

“Does he still come to you in the darkest part of the night, when he can bear his own hunger no longer?” Cassandra asked.

“Yes.”

“And when the hunger is spent?”

“Then comes anger at himself and at me and at the lies and vows that have trapped both of us. Then he doesn’t touch me again. It hurts too much.”

“At least he has that much tenderness for you.”

Amber’s smile was worse than any cry of pain would have been.

“Yes,” she whispered. “Though he doesn’t know it, my pain hurts him, too.”

“You still hope he will someday come to love you?”

Long lashes swept down, concealing Amber’s eyes.

“Each time we touch,” she whispered, “there is more torment beneath the passion, more darkness. Surely where so much emotion is, there is also a chance…”