Page 206 of Forbidden

“What do you mean?” Duncan demanded.

“The sacred places accept or reject us,” Cassandra said. “Ghost Glen has accepted no one but Amber within my lifetime.”

“But I went there!” Duncan said.

“Aye,” Erik said. “With Amber.”

Duncan’s hand closed around the pendant. Pain radiated through his hand, his arm, his body. He welcomed the pain.

It told him that Amber was still alive.

“I will be there again,” Duncan vowed. “With Amber.”

“Cassandra and I will come with you,” Erik said.

“So will Simon,” Dominic said. “He went to ready the horses. He is bringing Whitefoot, too. Amber will need a mount.”

No one said what each feared, that Amber was lost to them.

“It will be a grueling ride,” Erik said. “Ghost Glen may not reveal itself to him. Or to us.”

“No matter how bewitched the rest of you become, Simon will see only what is real. That is his gift.”

“It sounds more like a curse,” Erik muttered.

A hound howled like a wolf just beyond the keep. A peregrine keened, calling for the hunt to begin.

“Do what you can for Duncan,” Dominic said to Erik. “I value him as much as you value your sister.”

“You have my vow on that, Wolf.”

“I will hold the keep for whoever returns,” Dominic said. “You have my vow.”

“THEpendant,” Erik said. “How is it affecting you?”

“It tells me Amber is still alive.”

Erik asked no more. The pale line of Duncan’s lips beneath his dark mustache said all that was needed. He had been haunted by what Amber had once said to him, in the golden time before his memory returned.

Precious Amber. What would I do without you?

You would fare better than I would without you. You are the heart in my body.

The memory was even more painful than the searing pendant.

“Take it away from your skin,” Erik said.

“Nay. Pain is all we have between us now. If I deny it, I deny her. I’ll not do that again. Ever.”

Simon looked from Duncan to Erik, and from there to Cassandra. No one spoke for many miles, until Cassandra reined in sharply.

“There is something odd ahead of us,” she said.

Erik gazed at the land ahead and nodded slowly. “Aye.”

Without a pause, Duncan urged his horse forward. His eyes were fixed on the ridge that looked rocky and impassable from this vantage point, but had proved to be much easier when Amber had chosen the way.

Just below the crest of the ridge, Duncan’s horse balked. He urged his battle stallion forward, but still the horse refused.