To Stand Beside Her

To Stand Beside Her

Copyright
© 201
3
by
B. Kristin McMichael

All right
s
reserved.

ISBN
: 0-13-041717-3

ISBN-13:
978-1-62314-716-7

Cover design:
Wicked Cover Designs

Editors:
Morissa Schwartz
,
David Calver
, and Eric
Boler

This book is licensed for your personal use only.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by electronic or mechanical means without written permission of the author. All names, characters, and places are ficti
on
and any
resemblance
to real, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Prologue

Kay slipped on the cold stone but kept running, her shoes clicking lightly on the hard marble floors. It was her first level
-
four assignment, and she had failed. When she
initially
accepted it, she needed the money. Now it didn’t seem to matter.
Kay
looked down each hallway for a door or hiding place. The nobles
’
quarter in the
palace
of
Lior
was unfamiliar territory.

“Straight ahead,” the young man directed the men following him. The young guard led the chase, fueled by his embarrassment. He hadn’t noticed that the girl he had been questioning was a courier until she became flustered by his questions. The young lady with
wavy
light
-
brown hair and blue eyes looked friendly enough at the time
; s
he had blushed when he searched her and her smile was nice to look at.

Kay heard the men getting closer behind her. She needed a hiding place, but the large, bare hallways offered no help. Turning right at the next intersection, she continued down yet another unfamiliar hallway.
Kay
was lost.

“Hey, watch where you are going!” a dark-haired,
wide
-built man said as Kay bumped into him.

“So sorry,” Kay replied. “I am late to work.” Kay had heard Leila, her best friend and the best courier in the business, use that reply many times before.

“Stop that girl!” a young guard yelled from the other end of the hallway.

Kay quickly moved to pass the dark
-
haired man, but he easily clasped her wrists
between his thick, masculine fingers
. Kay looked into his eyes and tried her best to put on a flirtatious smile.

“
Mister, y
ou want me to be late for work?” she asked innocently, batting her eyes. It always worked for Leila.

The man’s grip did not loosen. Leila was right again
;
t
his was not the business for Kay. Try as she might to mimic her best friend, nothing seemed to work.
If only I were Leila
, Kay thought, letting her mind wander as she waited for the guards still running down the long hallway to catch up. Leila was the best. Most of the neighboring counties had begun calling Leila the
G
host
C
ourier, and the description was an exact fit.
Leila
could easily enter any heavily guarded place and leave unnoticed with her assignment. Kay had watched her many times in action. Leila truly was a ghost.

“I’m so sorry,” the young guard said as he bowed his head to the dark-haired man still tightly holding Kay’s wrists. “Lord Macarius, please accept my apologies.” The boy did not lift his head.

“What did she do?” Macarius asked.

“She was heading into the noble’s quarters,” the boy explained, still bowing. The boy handed Macarius the papers that he had confiscated from Kay.

“Lock her in the jail for now. King Nalick will deal with her later,” Macarius replied.

Kay turned to the stout man
, Macarius,
who was now smiling as he strolled away. He knew the truth behind the papers.
Leila is going to kill me
, Kay thought. She had taken the assignment against Leila’s warning. Leila was always right. Deep down Kay knew that she was not really meant to be a courier.

When they arrived at the jail, the guard ushered Kay to the cell. Would Leila find her before the king tried her? Kay had heard the horror stories from the locals that King Nalick was a harsh man known to
arrange for
severe punishments. Kay moved to a bed in the corner of the room and stood on it to look out the tiny window. The sun was still rising, but Leila would begin to worry soon. Kay stepped off the bed and moved to the corner. Leila was not completely healed from her last trip. Both Leila and Kay’s employer, Roger, would be upset. Sighing, Kay huddled in the corner to wait. There was nothing else she could do.
Kay
was caught.

Chapter 1

Benét Leila quietly sipped her tea at a table on the patio of Veila’s Tea Shop. The quiet, demure character
Leila
portray
ed
was in stark contrast to her
actual
personality. Carefully, and in
the
most ladylike manner, she attempted to scratch her head. The black wig covering her naturally golden red hair and the scarf placed skillfully over it were beginning to prove bothersome. Maybe it was the persistent heat of the city that
Leila
was not accustomed to, or maybe it was the bad feeling she had because her best friend Kay was
over an hour
late. It was not like Kay to be late for their meeting to go home to Kay’s son. Leila sighed. They were losing their best chance to leave the city. Soon, the empty streets would be filled, and they would miss their opportunity to blend in and be lost from any of the trackers.

As the
noon
bell struck, people began
to
slowly leav
e
their shops and trickl
e
down the street. Shortly thereafter, the streets would bustle with citizens. Every day as the sun reached its peak above the city, the city of
Lexia
would temporarily halt as all the residents proceeded home for their
midday
meal. Leila sat quietly, impervious to the noise around her, sipping her tea as she waited impatiently. Out of the corner of one eye, she noticed the tea shop owner closing the shop doors.

“Just drop your money in the slot at the door before you leave, honey,” the wrinkled old lady said to Leila as she locked the door and slowly shuffled down the street into the forming crowd.

Leila’s eyes followed the old lady down the street. Leila sat alone on the patio of the tea shop, but across the street a young man stood, trying his best to stay hidden. His dark blond hair was noticeable a
s he was
a
full head above the people passing
him
by. Lexia was a city full of olive skinned, black haired residents, and this man was obviously not a native. Despite his attempts to go unnoticed,
the man
followed
Leila
. New trackers were easy to spot.

One
, she thought to herself.
No, two
, she corrected.

Two doors down a man was being unceremoniously pushed out of an adjoining shop as the owner tried to close for lunch. Leila had broken a cardinal rule: one must not stay in one place too long. She needed to keep moving.

“Great,” she whispered under her breath. Not only was Kay over an hour late, now she had to lose the tails before she could go looking for her. Luckily for her, it was not her first trip into Lexia. The pay was always better when an assignment included a trip to Lexia. Over the years, she had been there so many times that it was beginning to feel like a second home.

Leila stood and methodically stretched. She had waited long enough
;
i
t was time to move on and find out what was keeping Kay.
Leila
walked over and slid two coins into the slot in the middle of the shop door before eyeing each
of the
m
e
n
trailing her
.

This should be easy
, she thought,
newbies.

Leila
knew the city better than any local. If
Leila
moved quickly, she could use the stragglers as cover on her way back to the inn. Darting between streets, she took care to blend in with the crowds. Before long, she had lost both of the trackers.

That didn’t take much
, she smirked at the thought of each man as she left him.