LITMIR.BIZ

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faster now.

      Ruby increased her pace to a trot. She had two blocks left to reach the door to her apartment building, built into the rear wall of the palace grounds.

      The looming sounds behind her picked up their pace, as well. Was it her imagination, or was he gaining on her?

      Ruby ran. She gripped her purse with one hand to keep it from thumping against her hip as she accelerated to a sprint. She could still hear the resounding proof—louder and faster—that she was not alone.

      Risking another backward glance, Ruby saw nothing.

      No one.

      She slowed, looking back again, this time scanning the street for the source of the noise she was nearly certain she still heard.

      Where had the man gone? Ruby panted, catching her breath, thinking quickly. Was someone actually chasing her? In all the times she’d visited the Mediterranean kingdom of Lydia with Princess Stasi years before, while the two of them were roommates studying gemology in the United States, Ruby had never heard of any violent crimes in the Christian monarchy. She and Stasi had been out late and walked the city streets, without incident, far more times than she could count.

      The memories stilled her fear. In those days, Princess Stasi had a bodyguard named Galen, a youngish guard with a lopsided smile, who’d acted as much as an accomplice as a guard, helping them sneak back inside the palace when Stasi had missed her curfew, keeping Stasi’s identity under wraps so they could mingle anonymously with the locals.

      But everything had changed in the last year. In June, a fiery ambush against the royal family had shattered the peace of the tiny kingdom. And Ruby hadn’t spoken to Galen since their painful parting the previous summer.

      A noise startled her.

      Were those footsteps again?

      Ruby wasn’t about to stick around to find out. She sprinted toward the safety of the palace, her ballet flats slamming against the cobblestones as she glanced between buildings, looking for the source of the sounds. Between her rushed breathing and the distant traffic noise from a busy thoroughfare several blocks away, Ruby couldn’t be sure what she heard.

      But it sounded like the footsteps were drawing nearer again.

      With one long block to go, Ruby passed the break of a side street, glancing down the branching road in time to see a large man tearing toward her from the shadows. Something covered his face—a sheer mesh, like nylon stockings, distorting his features into those of a hideous monster.

      The man had her cut off. If she ran straight for her apartment door, she’d run right into his path. He’d be on her in seconds.

      Ruby nearly stumbled as she changed direction, taking the other branch of the cross street at a dead sprint, the heavy footsteps closing in.

      She cut down an alley. She’d taken this path with Stasi years before. There was a pedestrian gate just ahead that led through the palace wall, with a gatehouse manned by royal guards.

      Royal guards meant safety—if she could stay ahead of her pursuer long enough to reach them.

      Thick boots hammered the cobblestones directly behind her. He was close, far too close. She could hear each rasping breath as the man panted in her wake. The palace wall was near but still too far away.

      Something tugged at her hair. Fingers swiped her arm, grasping at her shirt.

      She was never going to make it. The pedestrian gate lay a full twenty yards ahead, already within view, but rough hands closed over her arms, breaking her flight and tugging her backward.

      Ruby let out a panicked scream a split second before a hand slipped over her mouth.

      * * *

      “What was that?” Galen Harris asked.

      “Eh?” Elias, whose guard shift had ended half an hour before, lingered in the pedestrian gate guardhouse, chatting as he so often did.

      “It sounded like a scream.”

      Ever since Princess Anastasia had called ten minutes before, asking him to watch for her assistant Ruby’s return, Galen had kept his attention on the security screen, which he’d switched to show the area outside Ruby’s apartment door. There’d been no sign of the princess’s friend.

      Not out back, anyway. The scream had come from down the block, beyond the scope of the security camera. Galen peered out the rear window and caught sight of two figures struggling in the distant darkness.

      “Watch the guardhouse!” Galen punched the button that unlocked the door. He burst out as the woman screamed again, the sound muffled. The evening’s dying light glinted off her red hair.

      Ruby.

      Galen bounded through the door. He’d heard she was in town, and wondered if Ruby would let him see her again after the way her visit had ended the previous summer. Certain his company wasn’t welcome, he’d purposely avoided her.

      But he couldn’t stay away now.

      “Halt!” he shouted. “Royal guard!”

      The attacker glanced up, his features marred by nylon netting. He moved his hand from Ruby’s mouth only to grab her by the arms.

      Galen tore toward them. The masked man tugged at Ruby’s purse strap, shoving against her shoulder with his other hand as he wrenched at the bag.

      With a leap, Galen threw himself at the hefty brute, slamming his arm down on the hand that gripped Ruby’s purse strap.

      The man’s grasp broke as he stumbled backward, still standing, even with Galen half on top of him.

      “Run to the gate!” Galen shouted to Ruby as he attempted to restrain her attacker. The thug spun on his heels to run, but Galen didn’t want the mugger running free on the streets of Sardis, Lydia’s capital city. He grabbed the man by the arm, pulling him back.

      Behind them, he heard the faint buzz that meant Elias had deactivated the electronic lock on the door so that Ruby could get inside. Relieved that she was safe, Galen turned all his attention to the angry man in front of him.

      Tugging hard on his arm, Galen tried to bring him down, but his massive opponent spun his arm toward Galen’s neck.

      Galen saw the blow coming a split-second before it hit him and ducked to take the blow with his hard forehead instead of his neck.

      The man grunted as his fingers crunched against Galen’s skull.

      Taking advantage of the man’s momentary weakness, Galen threw his weight against him, heaving downward on his arm. But in spite of his strength and skill as a fighter, Galen was outweighed by Ruby’s attacker who resisted his downward pull.

      Changing tactics, Galen jabbed one heavy boot toward the middle of the man’s legs, hoping to knock his knees out from under him. The thug pulled away, clear of Galen’s kicks.

      Galen lunged onto the man’s back, determined to bring him down. The attacker sagged, but snapped one arm over his shoulder toward Galen’s face. This time his opponent angled his fist deeper and caught Galen full on the nose, snapping his head backward and sending tears to his eyes, momentarily stunning him.

      Before Galen could pull him in again, the assailant dived toward the alleyway and fled into the night.

      A gush of blood flooded from Galen’s throbbing nostrils. He squinted after the man, but his vision was blurred with tears and he could hardly see where the attacker had gone.

      “Galen?” A female gasped behind him.

      “Get inside.” He gestured to Ruby, who’d stepped back outside and now hovered anxiously near the gate.

      She ducked back into the guard booth. As Galen staggered back to the brightly lit doorway, she reappeared with a towel in her hands. “Here.” She reached toward his bleeding nose.

      “I’ve got

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