Raoul walked towards the questioning room, where the assassin was locked up. After the first day, Captain Garse had assigned him to the questioning, but the assassin wasn't talking. Raoul wasn't looking forward to talking to him again.

With a sigh, he opened the door and stepped inside. The assassin looked up at him blankly. Raoul sat down at the desk and opened the folder of questions that needed to be asked, ones that had been asked already, etc.

"So, Mr. Smith, where are you from?" Raoul asked.

The man rolled his eyes. "I told you, I'm not talking to you."

"Alright, you can tell me where you're from or we can do it the hard way."

"Whatever you do, it's not going to hurt me, and I know you won't kill me."

"Oh, you do, do you?" Raoul said, becoming annoyed.

The assassin smiled nonchalantly. "Then you wouldn't get your information. I know you wouldn't want that." He looked at his hands, seemingly inspecting his nails.

Raoul pounded his fist on the table. "You're going to tell me, and you're going to tell me now," he said firmly.

The assassin looked up. "The girl, the one who caught me. I'll only talk to her."

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Aleia sat on her bed, trying to read, but she wasn't paying very much attention to the words. It was a few days after the ball, and she had recovered, but she missed being a spy more than ever. She had liked being a spy, she was good at it. She felt that she was extremely bad at being a princess.

She let out a sigh and fell back against her pillows. She gazed up at the gauzy, white curtains on the top of the canopy. A knock sounded on her door. She sat up.

"Who is it?"

The door opened. It was Raoul.

"Raoul!" Aleia sprung to her feet, all smiles. "What are you doing here? I've been wanting to see you, but Father said I couldn't go to the spies' quarters."

Raoul smiled. "We've all been missing you. It's just not quite the same without you there."

"I've missed being there, too. I asked Father if there was any way I could stay in the League of Spies, but he said no."

"Well, you could be a—an honorary member. And just not do anything, but remain a member still," Raoul said.

Aleia laughed. "That sounds rather pointless, but...I'd like it. Did you see me make a fool of myself at the ball?"

"If you mean tripping and knocking over all of those stands, then yes, I did. Then I saw you run away in tears and watched you try to recover yourself outside and walk back to the ballroom with your head held high."

"You saw that?" Aleia said softly, a little embarrassed.

Raoul nodded. "I was guarding you."

"I don't need a guard all the time, I can take care of myself," Aleia said.

"I know, but it's my job. Anyway, were you okay? From what I know about lady's clothes and the way you ran out of there..."

Aleia laughed. "I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was going to die for a minute, but I pulled through alright."

"Good," he said.. "Anyway, the reason I came to see you was Captain Garse assigned me to the questioning of the assassin."

That caught Aleia's attention. "Yeah, what did he say?"

"Nothing. Until today he wouldn't even cooperate at all. Today he said he'd talk to you."

"Me? Why?"

"I don't know. He just said he wanted to talk to the girl who caught him. You don't have to, if you don't want to, but—"

"Oh, believe me, I want to," Aleia said, already pulling out her trousers and white shirt from one of her dresser drawers.

"Good," Raoul said. They stood looking at each other.

"Raoul, can you—leave so I can change?"

"Oh, right, of course," he said, walking out the door.

Aleia smiled to herself and began to change. Luckily, since she was just lounging in her apartments, she didn't have a corset on, or she never would have been able to undress herself. She quickly pulled on her pants and shirt and tied her hair back, away from her face. She walked out of the door.

"Alright, we have to go fast, so no one sees me," she said to Raoul.

He nodded and they swiftly walked down the halls to the Captain Garse's office. Raoul quickly got the assassin's file, and they walked to the questioning room. They both went inside.

"Took long enough to see you again," the assassin said to Aleia.

"Well, I had things to do," Aleia answered, sitting down at the desk.

"And people to see?"

Aleia raised one critical brow. "I heard you'd only talk to me. Why?"

"You're the spy. You tell me."

Aleia sighed, annoyed by his sarcasm. "You said you would talk to me. So talk. Where are you from and what are you doing here?"

"I live where I want, and as for what I'm doing, for now I'll just say it's nothing you would have thought of."

"What do you mean?"

"You think I wanted to assassinate the king, right?"

"Are you saying you don't?"

"Not necessarily, but there's more to it than that. Do you really think I would have allowed myself to be captured so easily? If I had really tried, you wouldn't have had a chance, Princess," he said.

Aleia's eyebrows shot up. She was shocked, how could he know? He'd been locked up since she had caught him. "Princess? I am a spy, Sir."

"You were a spy, until you found out you were a princess."

Aleia glanced out Raoul, who was leaning against the wall. He was frowning, puzzled as well. "What makes you think I'm a princess?" she asked the assassin.

"I just know."

"Well, whoever told you was misinformed, I'm afraid."

The man just laughed. "Oh, really? Then why is he," he beckoned at Raoul, "still in here? If you were a regular spy you could have done the interrogation yourself."

Aleia looked at him. "Raoul, leave."

He stepped outside without a word.

Aleia leaned forward over the desk. "Who told you I'm the princess?"

"So you're admitting it now?"

"No, I just want to know who told you, so I can stop this ridiculous rumor."

"No one told me. I've known it for a long time. Longer than you have, I'd say," the assassin said.

Aleia frowned and shook her head. "I'm not a princess, Sir, and I don't know where you're getting your strange ideas that I am one. But I would like it if you would answer my questions now."

"I think I've given you enough to puzzle over for the time being," he said leaning back in his chair.

"I don't."

"Well, that's too bad, isn't it?"

"Where are you from?"

"I told you, wherever I feel like being."

"Who are you?"

He smiled. "That's one I'll let you figure out on your own."

Aleia tried to ask him a few more questions, but he wouldn't answer. Eventually, she left.

"Did he tell you anything more?" Raoul asked when she stepped outside.

"Not really. Just that he's known I was a princess for a long time."

"How could he know that?"

Aleia shrugged. "Raoul, could he have heard anyone from where he was locked up?"

Raoul shook his head. "The prisoner's rooms are made with thick walls, to be soundproof."

"What about when you first locked him up?"

"No, I was there the whole time, no one said anything."

Aleia frowned. "Then who is he?

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So, how was it? Jumps up and down, anticipating reviews; has brilliant idea to get more reviews. Chocolate ice cream, to all my reviewers!