Page 52 of Forbidden

So did Duncan.

“I thought you gave the talisman to me while I lay senseless,” he said to Amber, frowning.

“Not I,” she said. “Why do you think that?”

Duncan shook his head, baffled. “I don’t know.”

Without hesitation, Amber lifted her hand to his cheek.

“Try to remember when you first saw the pendant,” she whispered.

Duncan went still. Pieces of memory tumbled in his mind, but they had no more form and substance than bright leaves torn from their moorings by a wild autumn wind.

Concerned Glendruid eyes.

A golden flash of amber.

A kiss brushed against his cheek.

God be with you.

“I was so certain a lass gave me the talisman…”

Duncan’s voice trailed off into a muffled curse. His fist hit the pommel of the saddle with enough force to startle the horse.

“To be so teased and taunted by shadows is worse than no memory at all!” he said savagely.

Amber snatched her hand back from Duncan’s skin. His rage was like a brand waved close to her flesh, hinting at the searing pain that waited for her if she continued touching him while he was so enraged.

Erik looked sharply at Amber.

“What is it?” he demanded.

She simply shook her head.

“Amber?” Duncan asked.

“A woman gave you the talisman,” Amber said unhappily. “A woman with eyes of Glendruid green.”

The word went through the knights like a fitful breeze through the marsh.

Glendruid.

“He has been bewitched!” Alfred said fearfully, crossing himself.

Amber opened her mouth to deny it, but Erik was faster.

“Aye, like enough,” Erik said smoothly. “It would explain much. But Amber is certain that whatever spell Duncan was under in the past, he is free of compulsion now. Isn’t he, Amber?”

“Aye,” she said quickly. “He is not the devil’s tool, or he couldn’t wear the amber talisman at all.”

“Show them,” Erik ordered.

Without a word, Duncan unlaced his shirt and pulled out the amber pendant.

“There is a cross on one side in the form of a knight’s prayer to God for safekeeping,” Erik said. “Look at it, Alfred. Know that Duncan belongs to God rather than to Satan.”

Alfred urged his horse forward until he could see the pendant dangling from Duncan’s big fist. The incised letters of the prayer clearly formed a cross with a double bar. Slowly, painfully, Alfred spelled out the first words of the prayer.