Page 22 of Forbidden

“Like lightning striking?”

“It could be,” she said.

Erik’s eyes narrowed into amber slits.

“What’s wrong?” he asked after a moment. “You’ve never been so uncertain before.”

“You’ve never brought me a man found senseless within Stone Ring before,” she retorted.

“Is that a complaint?”

Amber sighed. “I’m sorry. I’ve slept little since you brought him. It was very difficult to call him from the darkness.”

“Yes. I can see that in the shadows beneath your eyes.”

She smiled wanly.

“Amber? Is he friend or foe?”

The blunt question was the very one that she had feared.

“Friend,” she whispered. Then honesty and affection compelled her to add, “Until he regains his memory. Then he will be whatever he was before you brought him to me. Friend or enemy or free lance bound to no lord.”

“Is that the best you can do in assessing him?”

“He isn’t a criminal or a beast to savage his own kind. He was gentle with me despite his fear.”

Erik grunted. “But?”

“But if he regains his memory, he might not consider himself our friend. Or he might be a long-lost cousin happy to find himself at home. Only he can say.”

“If he regains his memory…”

Silently, Erik stroked his peregrine’s shining back while he considered the possibilities. A persistent sense of uneasiness threaded through his thoughts. Something was wrong. He knew it.

He just didn’t know what it was.

“Will he regain his memory?” Erik asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Guess,” he said succinctly.

A chill went through Amber. She didn’t like to think of what would happen if Duncan’s memory returned. If he were enemy and soul mate in one…

It would tear her apart.

Nor did she want to think of what it would be like for Duncan if he didn’t remember. He would be restless, savage, driven mad by names never remembered, sacred vows never honored, a man forsworn.

It would tear him apart.

Amber’s breath froze in her chest. She wouldn’t cause such dishonor and anguish even to an enemy, much less to the man who had stolen her heart with a touch, a smile, a kiss.

“I…” Her voice died.

“Little one?” Erik asked, troubled by Amber’s haunted golden eyes.

“I don’t know,” she said in a shaking voice. “So much ill could come. So little good.”