Stolen Moments

By Sharon F. Kay

How can you take your life back if you can’t remember what you’ve lost?

Growing up on the streets, Leslyn could only survive by learning to steal what she needed, and she proved to be an excellent student. But now, after a lifetime spent creating a place for herself, she's lost it all – and she doesn't even remember how.

Having woken up in an alley with no memories of the last two years, she must somehow find a way to put together the missing pieces. But with no friends from her old life willing to talk to her and everything she once had now lost or forgotten, Leslyn finds she has no choice but to start over from the bottom, picking pockets and palming food to survive.

Until, that is, the day a beautiful and wealthy noblewoman shows up in her hideout with a tempting offer. If Leslyn can steal a magical potion from a rival noble she will help find the answers to what happened to her.

But can she truly trust this woman, who is clearly hiding something?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Painted Hearts Publishing
• Release date: Jan 17, 2024
• ISBN: 9781737880752

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Stolen Moments

Sharon F. Kay

Stolen Moments

Copyright © 2024 Sharon F. Kay

Published by Painted Hearts Publishing

Smashwords Edition

About the Book You Have Purchased

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Unauthorized reproduction of distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Stolen Moments

Copyright © 2024 Sharon F. Kay

Publication Date: January 18, 2024

ISBN: 978-1-7378807-5-2

Author: Sharon F. Kay

Editor: Sydney Maples

All cover art and logo copyright © 2024 by Painted Hearts Publishing

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

Leslyn stood in the wet heat of Zlerora under the shade of an obeche tree that had grown into the wall of the building, staring at the door that was ever so slightly ajar. The latch was broken; if not closed just so, the door wouldn't stay shut. It was a perfect way to know if someone had entered her room while she was gone, which is why she had broken the latch in the first place. The questions now were why, and was whoever did it still inside.

There was only one way to find out.

Standing to the side of the doorway, Leslyn nudged the door open and waited. At the lack of an immediate response from within, she pulled the small looking glass from one of her pockets and used it to look inside.

Beyond the doorway there was only a single room, and it contained all of Leslyn’s worldly possessions, beyond what she carried on her person. It wasn’t much. Not anymore. The furniture wasn’t even hers. Just few pieces of clothing in the chest, a blouse that was only slightly threadbare and a few vests that she wouldn’t be sneered at for wearing, all nicer than what she currently wore. A handful of personal grooming tools on the table with the water basin, a sharp knife for shaving and skin cream that was a basic necessity if one did not want to jerky under Zlerora’s oppressive sun. Slippers that were unsuited for the streets of the slums that she never had the occasion to wear.

And the stolen valuables she had stowed under the loose floorboards.

The room also held her intruder, backlight by the only window. It was hard to make out the features of the silhouetted form, but Leslyn was sure they were standing with their back to the door. The person appeared to be taller than her and full bodied, but not broad shouldered, in contrast to Leslyn’s own unassuming build that was now even more slender due to her recent lack of meals. The smart thing would be to walk away. Clearly, her hideaway had been compromised. Even if she was able to deal with this intruder, more were all but guaranteed to show up sooner rather than later. Leslyn won her battles by never engaging head-on with an enemy, and nothing in her room was worth losing her life over.

But still.

Anger sank its claws into Leslyn's mind and refused to lose its hold. Leslyn had lost so much and the thought of losing everything again was simply intolerable, and no matter how foolish it was, she could not bring herself to abandon the meager new life she had managed to build. Tucking the mirror away, Leslyn slipped her dagger free from the hidden sheath in her boot. Centering herself, Leslyn stood and leaned around the door frame. In a second she saw that the intruder was a woman and was indeed facing away from the door, looking out the window. The room was small and it took only two strides for Leslyn to move from the door to the woman. In less time than it took to exhale she was behind the woman and holding the blade to her throat.

Don’t move or scream, or this will go very badly for you very quickly, Leslyn said.

The woman didn’t move. Leslyn evaluated the situation – it seemed that the woman hadn’t been doing anything more than looking out her window into the dingy courtyard below. Nothing in her room seemed to have been searched, or even disturbed at all. Leslyn checked outside the window, you couldn’t see much of the city from her tiny room, she was facing the wrong way. Instead, she had a view of the devouring green expanse that was the Titan Jungle.

The Titan Jungle covered