Rosalie's POV

Chapter Eight

As soon as I ran away from "Domanic", and left him to his horrible fate with Alex, I remembered where I'd seen his face before.

The Prince!

I felt so stupid. If I am Princess of Thieves, shouldn't I remember a face that gave me trouble? I mentally kicked myself.

Well, he didn't really cause me trouble. I don't really mind seeing him again, I thought, before I could stop myself. This time I literally kicked myself. "Ouch!" I cried. Bystanders looked at me strangely.

I figured that I would have to find the prince again, and make sure that he didn't get into more trouble. Which he would, since he belonged at the palace, with all its gilt and finery, and this was the rough-and-tumble city. He wouldn't fit in, not in a million years.

So that's when I heard him talking to the girl that he called his sister, Emilia, and I remembered what I had told the guards. I almost laughed out loud. And believe it or not, she was in love with Stefan, my older brother, who worked at the palace! How strange! She was in love with my older brother. I don't even like the prince. Not in the least bit. And what was his real name, anyway? I knew that I'd heard it somewhere, I just couldn't remember what it was. Usually he was just called the Crown Prince, or the prince. Liam! That was it! Liam was his name!

After introducing myself, showing that I knew their little secret, and enjoying their expressions of shock and dismay, I took them into my tent to make sure that nobody saw them. "This is an honor," I said. "It's not every day that I get royal visitors."

"Oh, Liam doesn't mind," said the princess, grinning wickedly. At this Liam blushed and I felt all funny inside. He muttered something that sounded remarkably like "Shut up, Emilia" under his breath. It was terribly unprincelike. I shook my head.

I was silent for a moment. Then I said, "You know, your highness, Stefan is my older brother. About your age," I said, nodding towards Liam. At this, Emilia drew in her breath and looked at me hopefully. "If you want, I could arrange a meeting for you. If I'm not mistaken, he's been mooning over a princess called Emilia for the past month now."

"Oh, yes!" She cried, but then got a hold on herself. "If it doesn't trouble you- Rosalie, isn't it?" I made a little bow in acknowledgment. "And you may call me Emilia," she continued.

"I thank your highness- er, I mean Emilia." I replied, and giggled a little.

Emilia looked expectantly at the prince. "Oh, all right. You can call me Liam," he said, grudgingly.

"Come on, Liam. We'd better go. People up at the palace will be wondering where we are." She looked at me. "We'll be back- if it's all right with you, Rosalie." I nodded.

"Till next time then!" I said, and Emilia and Liam walked away.

I watched the backs of the two royal siblings moving steadily away from me. How do they avoid being found out? Anyone can tell, by their walk alone, that they are not from the lower class!

Then something struck me about the prince's back. It had a certain appeal to me that only could lead to one conclusion in my mind. And when I conjured up a picture of Liam's face before my eyes, my internal reaction only gave further grounds for my suspicions.

Life! I fancied the Crown Prince of Remalna!