Page 179 of Forbidden

“I have a right to know the truth of our betrothal,” Duncan said.

Ariane made a cutting gesture with one hand.

“You have diminished my honor and the honor of the one you call your ‘weapon,’” she said tersely.

Duncan’s open hand slammed down on the arm of the chair.

“I have been betrayed by those I trusted,” he said in a clipped voice. “This is my way of being certain it doesn’t happen again.”

“Betrayed,” Ariane repeated tonelessly.

“Aye.”

“We have that in common.” She shrugged. “But is it enough for marriage?”

“We have no choice but to marry.”

Duncan leaned forward, his eyes hard as stones.

“Will you be a faithful wife,” he asked coldly, “loyal to your husband rather than to your Norman father?”

Ariane studied Duncan’s fierce expression for a long moment before she turned to Amber.

And held out her hand.

“Yes,” Ariane said.

“Yes,” Amber echoed.

“Will that change if I take Amber as my leman, living in my keep and sharing my bed whenever I wish it?”

Amber’s Learned discipline shattered. Even as Ariane’s relief and hope soared, Amber’s emotions all but overwhelmed the truth of what she was learning by touch.

“Not at all,” Ariane said clearly. “I would welcome it.”

Duncan looked surprised.

“I will do my duty,” Ariane said in her cool voice, “but I am repelled by the prospect of the marriage bed.”

“Does your heart belong to another?” Duncan asked.

“I have no heart.”

Dark brown eyebrows lifted, but Duncan said only, “Amber?”

Silence was Amber’s answer. She was too busy trying to control her own seething emotions to speak.

Leman.

Whore.

Day after day, darkness condensing, destroying…

Everything.

“Well, witch?” Duncan asked.

Amber forced air into her rigid body.