Page 78 of Forbidden

Silence was Duncan’s only response.

“Do you deny this?” Erik challenged.

Duncan closed his eyes. “No.”

Erik looked at Amber. “I needn’t ask you about your feelings. You look like a gem lit from within You burn.”

“Is that such a terrible thing?” she asked painfully. “Should I be ashamed that I have finally found what every other woman takes for granted?”

“Lust,” Erik said bluntly.

“Nay! The profound pleasure of touching someone and not feeling pain.”

Shocked, Duncan looked at Amber. He started to ask what she meant, but she was talking again, her words urgent, driven by the tension that vibrated through her.

“Passion is part of it,” Amber said. “But only part. There is peace as well. There is laughter. There is…joy.”

“There is also prophecy,” Erik shot back. “Do you remember it?”

“Better than you. I remember that prophecy said hemightclaim rather than hewill.”

“What are you talking about?” Duncan demanded.

“A woman’s heart and body and soul,” Erik said. “And the catastrophe that will—”

“Might,” amber interrupted fiercely.

“—come if she is foolish enough to give all three to a man with no name,” Erik finished coldly.

“You make no sense,” Duncan said.

Erik’s smile was as savage as the yellow of his eyes.

“Have you remembered anything more of your past?” he asked Duncan bluntly.

“Nothing useful.”

“Are you the best judge of that? You who have neither memory nor name?”

Duncan’s mouth thinned and he said nothing at all.

“God’s teeth,” Erik hissed.

For a time there was a taut silence.

“What have you remembered, useful or not?” Erik asked Duncan.

“You heard before I fought Simon.”

“Tell me again.”

“Green eyes,” Duncan said curtly. “A smile. The scent of spices and herbs. Hair the red of flames. A kiss and a wish for God to be with me.”

Erik glanced quickly at Amber, who was still standing close to Duncan.

Touching him.

“Ah, yes,” Erik said. “The Glendruid witch who cursed you.”