Free Everlasting Enchantment by Kathryne Kennedy

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.
    Millicent shifted to human, making him blink at how quickly she transformed. “It’s better this way. Do you think he’d prefer that I tear out his throat, or that you run him through with your sword?”
    He longed to know what had been done to her to make her into such a hard woman. And knew he’d have to discover it before she would allow him to possess her. “He doesn’t need to die.”
    “He has kept Nell imprisoned in that filthy cell. Do you think I care?”
    The sadness that sometimes gripped him nearly choked the breath from him. Gareth picked her up, swung her behind him, and drew his sword. He crossed into the open chamber, wondering if he’d have to use his weapon as a lever to pry Selena off the man.
    But she appeared to be sated, her hand covering her mouth as she leaned drunkenly against the wall, the guard crumpled at her feet. Gareth sheathed his sword and knelt down to feel for a pulse.
    “I left him enough,” mumbled Selena. He glanced up at her as her black, leathery wings shifted back into her body. “The duke doesn’t like it when I drain his men dry.”
    “I imagine not.” Gareth stood and scanned the chamber—a scarred wooden table with a single lantern, a few chairs, a keg of ale, and a stone slab that could be a door, although it lacked a statue to open it. Millicent already stood near it, her hands running over several holes in the wall.
    “It doesn’t bother you, does it?” asked Selena as she drew next to him. “My nature, that is?”
    Gareth could smell the coppery scent of blood and the musky odor of lust.
    “Because if it does, I’ll stop.” She hiccupped. “I swear I’ll never touch another drop.”
    “Where is the key to the prison door, Selena?”
    Her glossy black eyes widened and then she grinned. “Oh, there isn’t one. The duke likes these clever doors, you see. You put your finger in the proper holes and push the release knob inside. This one just needs—”
    Stone ground against stone and they both turned toward the sound.
    “Hasty, hasty,” sang Selena. “If she’d stuck her finger in the wrong hole, she would have lost it.”
    Gareth glanced back down at the guard. He lacked two fingers on his left hand. His stomach twisted at the thought of Millicent being hurt and he cursed at her rashness while he strode toward