A/N: I own nothing. Nor do I claim to. The end.

Rosalie's POV:

Chapter One

I woke up in the morning to a normal, sunny day. It was the kind of day that you don't think much about. I got dressed and got ready to leave my tent in search of something to eat for breakfast. When I dipped into the pockets of my breeches for money, I came out only with some lint. Oh well, I thought. That won't be a problem.

I'm not an apprentice, or a merchant's daughter. If I were, I'd have some money.

I'm a thief, and one of the best ones out there. I've defeated many people competing for my title. I show no mercy, and I'm only 19 years old.

People don't call me Rosalie, Princess of Thieves for anything. I'm a good at my trade, and I have my pride. I make it a point not to steal from anyone who can't afford it. It would dirty my good reputation. And believe me, it's very clean. I'm not married, not engaged, not courting anyone, not- any of that other stuff. Even though some would call me pretty, I like to argue. But beauty is handy to use in a fix.

When I got back to my tent, I was surprised to see my "mentor" Alex, wearing a big, sly grin on his face. Alex was a big pain. He arrived on my doorstep and attached himself to my brother Stefan and me, ever since. He claims that he is my guide, but I thought that he was just a big pain in the you-know-where.

"What do you want?" I asked him suspiciously. There was no telling what he was up to when he had that look on his face. Most of his plans were those that I had to carry out.

"Oh," he said. "I was just wondering whether you're as good a thief as you look. Nothing personal, of course, but…"

I raised an eyebrow, suspicious. But since I had nothing to do that morning, I accepted the bait.

"Oh, yeah!" I said hotly. "Well I'm better than you are, doubtless. I can steal anything from anywhere!"

I could see Alex's grin grow wider in delight. Oh oh, I thought. I shouldn't have said that.

"Anywhere?" he said, slowly. "Are you sure. I'll bet that you couldn't steal anything undetected from the palace. No one's done that for years." He saw the refusal on my face and added, "Of course, if you think that it's too hard…" He trailed off.

I shouldn't have accepted. I was a very stupid thing to do. "I'll do it," I almost screamed at him. Then I calmed down, thinking what I had just gotten myself into. When someone accepts a bet from Alex, he doesn't let that person forget it.

"When?" I asked him. I suspected that he was jealous of me, and wanted to get rid of the competition.

"As soon as you've gathered all the tools that you need to get what you're going to from the castle. And it better not be anything easy. Try jewels or gold."

As soon as he said that, I began to have forebodings. Lots of my family was in prison for trying to steal something big like that. It wasn't even easy to get into the castle in the first place. For one thing, it was a lifetime of prison if a commoner who didn't work at the palace went in there. If the King was in a really bad mood, he could even have them killed.

It was dangerous at the palace.

When I arrived at the gates of the castle, the guards stopped me.

"What do you think you're doing?" one of them asked. "Do you know what happens to peasants who enter the palace?"

I nodded, not very worried. These guards didn't look very smart.

"Well," said the other guard reaching towards me to hold onto my chin and tilt my face up. I flinched away. "You have a pretty little face. I wouldn't like to see it dirtied with the grime of the cells."

At this, I drew myself up imperiously. "I'll have you know that I am on secret business for her Royal Highness, Princess Emilia. I bring her information of how things go outside of the palace. I demand that you let me pass, or suffer the consequences," I said pompously, enjoying watching their expressions change.

The guards backed away from me, chattering apologies and trying to get behind one another. Neither wanted to know what "the consequences" were. I passed them, sniffing disdainfully at the very real and disgusting smell that hung around them, and trying to keep a straight face.

So there I was, creeping around the halls of the palace, peeking into all the opened doors for an empty room with something worth stealing, and ducking if I saw anyone coming. The only person that would be safe to see would be my older brother, Stefan, who worked as a serving-boy. Stefan was also in love with the very princess Emilia that I had included in my alibi (though I wasn't sure how he knew her), and had spent the last month obsessing over her. He had even gone as far as to tell me that she loved him back. I had told him that that would only happen in his dreams. But I still had to be very careful. Other people might not be fooled by my excuse.

I stopped. Was that a flash of gold in that room? Yes it was, but the room was filled with men armed with swords, playing cards. But cards or not, they looked extremely dangerous and well trained in the art of death.

It went on like that for a while. Empty room, room with guards and gold, and my favorite, the room with the opened door and the noblewoman cheating on her husband. Until I saw it. A beautiful painting of a lady hanging in an empty room. I don't mean to say that the lady was beautiful. Ha! Far from it. I would have liked to meet the artist, though.

The painting wasn't very big. On the contrary, it was quite small. Just the size to fit inside my tunic, in fact. Perfect.

I stood looking at it for almost five minutes. I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away. When I could stop, I looked around to see if anyone was coming, quietly took the painting from the hook and frame, and rolled it up. I had just started to slide it into my tunic when I felt a hand on my arm. Oh, jeez, I thought. Then I slowly turned around, and looked into the greenest eyes that I had ever seen.

That is how I met the Crown prince of Remalna for the first time.

A/N: Well, I'm not going to beg for reviews or anything, but... please please please please pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze review! I am but a lost child, new to this fanfiction scene. I shall love you forever and ever if you review!