“What’s wrong with you?” Millicent snapped at her, exchanging a startled glance with Gareth.
He had to admit Selena’s change in demeanor surprised him as well. Many women had professed their love for him, but it was usually after he’d seduced them.
Selena threw the were-cat a venomous look before stepping around Millicent to clasp his hand and bring it to her lips. “You believe me, my darling, don’t you? I admit it’s hard to control my nature, but once I tasted you, I knew. You are my one true love. Don’t you see? I am the one who will break your curse.”
Gareth flinched and Millicent growled.
Selena pressed her body against his. “Please make her go away so we can finish what we started.”
She had gone mad. That was the only thing Gareth could fathom. “Nay, Selena. Perhaps later.” He gently patted her arm. “Why don’t you get dressed, now?”
She stuck out her lower lip. It might have looked coy if it hadn’t still been stained with his blood. “Only if you promise we’ll be together later.”
Gareth frowned. He could not in good faith make a promise he had no intention of keeping.
“Blast your damn honor,” muttered Millicent under her breath as she stepped past him. She raised her voice to Selena. “He might be yours once you have this.” She thrust her arm forward, the moonstone in the relic glowing like a beacon. “You know His Grace won’t let you have him all to yourself when he finds out you have it. He’ll be too busy trying to figure out a way to use the relic to his advantage.”
Selena eyed the bracelet with fevered intensity, reached out a shaking hand to touch it. “Give it to me now.”
Gareth blocked Selena’s hand with his own before she could touch Millicent. He could not allow the woman to hurt the relic-holder again by trying to wrestle off the bracelet.
The were-vampire bat stared back and forth at the two of them, her lips tightening with jealousy.
“I’ll give it to you,” assured Millicent. “But first you have to take me to Nell. Then we’ll leave the castle, and you can have Gareth all to yourself. You want to get rid of me, don’t you?”
“Nothing would give me greater pleasure.” Selena turned toward her jumble of clothes.
Gareth went into the washroom, poured water from a cobalt-blue pitcher into a matching porcelain bowl, and washed the blood from his chest and throat. He had only a small hole in his neck from Selena’s bite.
“She’s gone completely barmy over you,” whispered Millicent from the doorway, apparently having followed him.
Gareth shrugged. He would not admit that Selena’s lovesick behavior startled him as much as it did Millicent. He reached for a dry cloth and turned toward the girl, drying his skin with slow, rhythmic movements. Her amber eyes roamed the contours of his chest as if hypnotized.
“I suppose you’re used to it. Women throwing themselves at you.”
He took a step toward her and felt the air crackle between them. “There’s only one woman I need. I’m hoping I’ve finally found her.”
She narrowed her eyes and he felt her body snap rigid with icy cold. “Fortunately, I don’t need anyone. Except that bloodsucker, at the moment. And I don’t trust her.”
Gareth tossed the cloth over a brass bar. “Have you ever trusted anyone?”
“No. It’s how I’ve managed to survive.”
“Well, my lady, it appears you have no other choice but to trust Selena, if you wish to free your Nell. But what will you do when she demands the relic in payment and you cannot remove it from your wrist?”
Millicent smoothed back her shiny black hair and purred. “I’ll think of something.”
She turned and joined Selena in the parlor and Gareth followed, glancing around with regret. A room worthy of the finest brothel in London, with myriad soft surfaces to cushion the backsides of the most passionate of lovers. He had so hoped to seduce the relic-holder here.
He pulled on his surcoat and tunic while both women watched him in silence. He shook the hair out of his face and buckled on his sword belt, his hand automatically patting his empty scabbard. He felt more naked without his sword than he had without his tunics. When he looked up at the women, they both released a sigh, although with entirely different inflections. Gareth smiled.
Apparently, Selena had already rung for the guard, for the stone door began to groan. She didn’t remove her eyes from Gareth as she said, “There should be only one guard, since it’s been less than an hour.”
Millicent shifted to panther and before Gareth could move, she lunged through the opening in the door. A loud thud followed a muffled oath of surprise. Gareth entered the landing and took the sword of the unconscious guard, hefting the blade to get a feel for its balance, checking to make sure some silver laced the blade.
Selena joined them and shot Millicent a look of amusement. “You lack finesse, my dear.”
She answered with a twitch of her whiskers and an angry flick of her tail.
Gareth dragged the guard into the room and pulled the statue on the outside wall, watching the door grind to a close with satisfaction. Then he crossed the landing and peered down the stairway, seeking hidden guards within the shadows. Selena brushed her body against his as she took the lead, the black beads of her dress winking at him from the glow of the fairylights that lined the walls. She’d left her torn pelerine in the room and her white shoulders gleamed. Gareth had to admit she was truly a lovely woman. His neck ached with the thought.
Millicent brushed by him, almost making him stumble, putting her furry self between him and the other woman.
Selena’s course took them down stairways again, but this time they appeared little used, and Gareth sheathed his sword and took a fairylight from one of the sconces to light his way when he realized they’d become scarce. His night vision wasn’t as strong as the shape-shifters’.
His sense of direction told him they’d turned a circle, and as the walls grew slimy and then dripped with moisture, he realized they’d entered passageways carved into the stone mountain that backed the castle. The air grew close and thick, until it seemed as if he could feel the weight of the stone surrounding them.
Selena appeared to revel in the space, but Millicent began a soft whine in the depths of her throat. Gareth wondered if she even realized how contrary to her nature her life had been, that panthers belonged under the open sky, flourishing in the freedom of plain and meadow.
He tucked the small globe of the fairylight into his belt, pushed beside her, and draped his arm over her neck, absently caressing the longer fur at her throat. Her whine grew into a purr and they traveled that way for a time, until Selena led them into narrower, roughly hewn tunnels, and they were forced to walk single file.
Gareth bumped into Millicent’s furry backside when she came to a sudden halt.
“Stay here,” whispered Selena as she entered a slightly wider opening. Millicent ignored her and started to follow. “You owe me a dinner,” continued the were-bat.
Millicent snorted and sat on her haunches.
Selena disappeared and Gareth soon heard a man’s startled oath.
“Selena, what are you… no, damn it. The last time you barely left me enough—” A gasp followed and then the guard sighed with rapture. “Gawd, woman, just leave me enough to walk afterward.”
The sound of slurping made Gareth shudder with the memory and he took a step forward. But he couldn’t get around Millicent without hurting her and she refused to budge. She glanced behind her at him, those golden eyes glowing with annoyance.
Gareth sighed. “We should stop her now,” he whispered.