Everlasting Enchantment Read Free Page A

in huge gilt frames, heavy furniture of mauve and crimson, and silver candelabra stands in every corner. A fireplace large enough for Millicent to stand nearly upright in crackled with a merry blaze against the autumn chill.
    Lady Chatterly enthroned herself on a chair set before a highly polished table. “Ladies, please sit down. I have much to tell you and I fear we have little time.”
    Millicent sat near the closest window, the cold seeping in around the panes and cooling her hot cheeks. Sunshine spoiled the dwellers aboveground in other ways, for they kept their rooms too warm for someone who had lived her entire life in the cold dank of the Underground. She watched the eager faces of the other ladies, hoping that whatever Lady Chatterly had to say would involve the relic. Claire took a seat close to Millicent, as if to protect her, which she found endearing.
    “First,” said Lady Chatterly, “we must strengthen the wards to keep the prying magic of our men from the room.”
    Millicent’s heart skipped as several of the women clasped hands to perform a warding spell. She blew out a sigh of relief when several of the ladies just folded their hands in their lap. They must not have the title or the power to perform such a spell, and wouldn’t think it amiss that Millicent didn’t join in either.
    She could see the magic forming as a slight haze, feel it prickle the skin on her arms, but otherwise the spell didn’t affect her. It wouldn’t affect the other weres in the ballroom either, so the doors and walls would have to suffice. Millicent hoped they were thick.
    “Now then,” said Lady Chatterly when they finished the spell. “There’s a back exit across the room.” She nodded toward the far wall. “And a carriage waiting for the one the relic will choose. As some of you already know, the only condition is that you tell no one the relic is in your possession, and you return it to me on the morrow. Are you newcomers clear on that?”
    Several women nodded their heads, although a few looked frightened. Millicent mimicked the expression of fear while her mind calculated with truly frightening intensity. The duke had been right; the relic existed. These women had been harboring a dangerous secret. But why would Lady Chatterly allow other women to borrow such a powerful thing?
    “You are so generous, my lady,” breathed Millicent, trying to sound adoring instead of suspicious.
    Lady Chatterly shrugged. “I made a promise.” She didn’t elaborate on her explanation and Millicent resisted the urge to press. Besides, what did it matter, when it only made it easier for her to get her hands on the relic?
    Instead Millicent worried about what the woman meant when she said the relic would choose one of the ladies. She would have to follow the woman somehow, catch her alone or asleep in order to steal the thing. At least she had a significant advantage over the other shape-shifters still in the ballroom. She would know which of the women had the relic. She studied the ladies around her, some old, some just barely out of the schoolroom.
    Lady Yardley leaned forward, her hazel eyes bright with reflected candlelight. “He’s real then?”
    “Of course.” Lady Chatterly gave her a dreamy smile. Several other women nodded just as dreamily with her. “Quite real, I assure you.”
    “And how will the relic choose?” persisted Claire. “Really, darling, you must quit being so mysterious and give us more information. There are too many of us innocents here tonight.”
    The feathers in Lady Chatterly’s hair swayed with her nod. She removed her gloves and then set her reticule on the shiny surface of the table. The fidgeting of the younger girls ceased as they all stared at the embroidered silk bag. An expectant silence fell, only the muffled strains of the music from the ballroom disturbing it.
    Lady Chatterly loosened the drawstring and removed an exquisite ivory fan, a gold-embossed dancing card, and a silver