Thief of Hearts

Chapter Three by: Lady Pax

Regular disclaimers apply.

~+~

The girl stood in the massive entrance hall. Her head was craned up, hair falling down from her shoulders to her back, to look at the tall ceiling. 'A chandelier…' she thought. 'A crystal and gold one, too… It'd be worth lots of money. Enough to get me outta this hell-hole of a town, anyway…'

"I hope you're not planning to steal my dear chandelier," Treize said, following her eyes. "My grandmother gave it to me, and I'd be absolutely devastated if anything was to happen to it." A sarcastic smile formed on the edges of his lips, but the girl just glared at him. "There's not time, anyway. I've already alerted my 'staff' of maids that you need a bath and new clothes. They should be coming to get you in a matter of minutes."

The girl looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Why can't I just keep the clothes I have? Royal clothes seem to be too itchy and starchy." She motioned towards the stiff neck of King Treize's coat.

"You'll get used to it."

"I don't like dresses," she said, trying to find a way out of putting her clothes in the furnace.

"I don't care, I don't have to wear it – you do. Anyway, your clothes have holes in all the wrong places. My guests wouldn't approve, and I wouldn't want to disgust them in any way. They might impeach me if I did."

"I could only wish," the girl snarled heatedly before three maids came in meekly.

"Is this the young maiden, Your Highness?" one of the maids asked, pointing towards the girl. Treize nodded.

"Indeed it is. Give her a scrubbing-would you–and find some clothes to wear. It doesn't matter if they're old, as long as they're still in good condition and don't have holes and tears in them." As an afterthought he added, "Hopefully all the clothes in storage haven't gotten eaten by moths yet…"

The maids nodded, and took the girl by the hands and began leading her up the winding stairs. "Hey!" the girl exclaimed. "I don't need a bath! I want to keep my clothes! Let me go! Let me go! LET ME GO!" she screamed.

"Stop stalling, fair maiden," said Treize, "and you'll get it over with sooner." Then he walked away.

"Bastard…" the girl murmured as the maids dragged her body up the stairs. "Did you hear that, you BASTARD! I CALLED YOU A BASTARD, YOU BASTARD!!"

"Oh thank you!" yelled Treize from the kitchens. "It must be a compliment coming from you!" He grinned to himself when he heard her try and get away from his maids in pure anger and fury.

~+~

Approximately an hour and-a-half later, the girl was allowed back downstairs: watered, rinsed, dried, and dressed. A maid led her into the den where King Treize was sitting, doing some paperwork. Half the table in front of him was covered in papers, pens, and small books, the other half was covered in food. The girl could feel her stomach growl, and she wished she had never given them the right to burn her old clothes. If she remembered correctly, she had a small packet of old crackers in one of her pockets…

"Your Highness…" the maid said quietly, knocking on the wooden doorway right outside of the den. Treize looked up, and his eyebrows shot-up at the sight of the girl.

"Ah…thank you," he said. "You may leave now." The maid nodded, and scurried off, leaving the girl in the doorway. "Well?" said Treize, looking at her and motioning for the chair on the other side of the table. "Sit down."

She followed his orders, and sat on the chair, curling her legs underneath her and crossing her arms while Treize looked her over. She wore a long, cotton, gray skirt and a matching shirt with darker gray stripes. Black boots covered her feet. Her long, sepia-brown hair was let down to the eye of her back, held away softly from her bright blue-gray eyes by a black clip that matched the stripes on her shirt. Treize could see there was a pale dusting of light freckles over her nose and now-rosy cheeks. There was also a small, hardly visible scar right next to her left eye. But nothing escaped the well-trained eye of Treize Khushrenada.

"How, and when, did you get that scar near your eye?" he asked carefully – slowly.

She glanced at him. "Street-fight a few weeks back," she said, then looked away. She scratched an itch at her neck, lowering the neck of the shirt a little – showing a small tattoo of a rose at the center of her collarbone(s). Well, he had to admit(being the ever vibrant rose-lover), that did catch his interest. But, seeing as that would be quite rude since it was somewhere where he shouldn't necessarily be looking, he didn't say anything.

~+~

The girl sat on the lounging chair, keeping her mind of the food that was right under her nose. She looked at the leather of the chair she was on. It was blue. Dark blue. She was sitting on a dark blue armchair. Interesting...

Her stomach made a loud growling noise, making Treize look up. A small blush stained her porcelain skin that had only a few moments ago been stained brown with mud, and she dug her arms nonchalantly into her stomach to stop her stomach from 'eating itself'.

"If you're hungry, you should eat," King Treize said. And before he could even blink, her arm had reached out and taken a roll from the table. He blinked. Wow. She was fast. "But before you do stuff your face..." he said. "I would like to know something."

"What?" she asked, tossing the roll from hand to hand.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Who says I have one?" she responded, looking at him with what one would call a 'childlike innocence'.

"Everyone has a name," Treize said, arching an eyebrow.

"You have to have family to have a name."

"What makes you say that?"

"Who else will give you a name?" The girl cocked her head, some of her hair falling in front of her face.

"Well...what do people generally call you?"

"Well...most often it's something along the lines of 'Stop! Thief!' or 'Get back here you little street rat!' is another one....oh! 'You wait until I get my hands on you, you insolent little bitch!' seems to be a favorite with your guards."

"Anything...shorter?" Treize asked.

"Someone I used to know called me Aveli."

"Aveli, eh? Nice name," Treize said. "What about your surname?"

"Don't know. That person's last name was Marlece though. We were like family. He took care of me, at least." Then she ate the roll.

~+~

And.......that's it! ^_^;; Longer than the other chaps. Gomen nasai kanashii-minna-san!

Next chapter by: Death's Daughter!