Page 148 of Forbidden

“No, though I wouldn’t weep if I had,” Simon said. “The hell-witch deserves worse than a few broken bones for what she did to Duncan.”

“I saw it, lady,” Sven said to Meg. “He barely touched the girl, yet she screamed like a soul feeling the fires of hell for the first time.”

Meg tilted her head in the manner of someone listening to a distant sound.

“It fits,” she said finally.

Meg flicked a corner of the blanket back. Amber’s wrists were tied neatly together in front of her.

“’Tis said that anyone’s touch is painful to her,” Sven added.

“Aye,” Meg said.

Her fingers stopped short of Amber’s wrists. There were no obvious marks of bruising, no sign of swelling. Nor was there any other injury visible on her body.

Yet Amber lay senseless, her skin cold to the touch, her heartbeat too rapid, her breathing too light.

After pulling Amber’s mantle and the blanket more closely around her, Meg stood and went to check on Duncan again. When she would have knelt beside him, Dominic’s hand shot out. He pulled her aside, putting her behind his broad back.

Now Meg was well beyond Duncan’s reach, even if he were free to seize her.

“Leave Duncan be,” Dominic said. “He is like a stranger. He knows us not.”

“He knew me,” Meg said.

“Did he?” Simon muttered. “Or was he simply surprised to hear a woman’s voice?”

“Ask him,” Dominic said curtly. “He is only pretending to sleep now.”

As Dominic spoke, he watched the knight who had sworn fealty to him…the knight who now watched Dominic with the eyes of a man half mad with hatred.

“What have you done to Amber?” Duncan snarled.

“Naught but pull her from her horse,” Dominic said.

“Youtouchedher?”

Dominic shrugged. “I? No. Simon did. Most gently, if you think on the circumstances.”

“Let me see her!”

“No,” Dominic said distinctly. “I think you have seen far too much of your leman.”

“She is my wife!”

A stillness came over Dominic. “Is she? Since when?”

“Twelve days.”

Muscles bunched and strained visibly as Duncan fought his bonds.

With outward calm Dominic waited until Duncan was panting, sweating, and convinced that he was well and truly bound.

“I must be with Amber,” Duncan said urgently. “She is not like others. A stranger’s touch can be a sword cutting her. Whether you meant to or not, you have sorely hurt her. Let me go to her.”

Dominic sensed Meg’s movement behind him. He countered it, keeping her from Duncan’s view.

The half step Dominic took put him into full sunlight. He swept off his battle helm and looked down at Duncan. The clear, bright light heightened the contrast between Dominic’s black hair and his crystalline gray eyes.