A Thief In the Palace (DISCONTINUED)

At The Dance

"I'm back, Alec!" Cody shouted as he came running in with a few shopping bags in his arms. "Try it on. The shops will close soon, so we need to know if they fit."
I nodded and took the suit he handed me and then disappeared behind a wall for a few secpnds. I came out in a slick black jacket over the buttoned up white shirt and black pants. I had black socks and black shoes as well. I slid my hands into the white gloves and smiled to myself.
"You . . . look . . . AMAZING!" Cody shouted, jumping up and down and laughing wildly.
"I know." Cody tried his stuff on after me and then we slept for the next day and managed to wake up at 7 the next day. An hour to get ready and get to the ball.

At The Dance

We arrived outside of a large palace surrounded by people and quickly got off the back of the carriage we had ridden on so we wouldn't be seen. There were so many people here. So many beautiful shiny things.
"Whoa," Cody said as he ducked when a flying bird swooped at him. "This place is crazy sick."
"No joke, Code. And there's no random s*it anywhere," I said. Cody elbowed me and laughed.
"Please, quiet down. Quiet down," a person said. He stepped up to next the thrones and waved a microphone in the air. Plesase welcome King Anthony, Queen Selena, Princess Zaria, Prince Zane, Princess Amy and Prince Angel to the dance they so wonderfully invited everyone to. As well as our royal family, please welcome their royal and honorary guest to this ball as well. Please welcome Princess Kayla."
People raised their glasses in a toast and bowed as the royal members filed into the room.
I waited for about an hour before Princess Zaria had gotten off her throne and started to mingle with the crowd.
"Princess Zaria," I called with a low bow at my waist. "May I have this dance?" She turned to me and so did nearly every other head in the room. The music paused for a second before continuing.
"Please, enlighten me," Princess Zaria said. "Play a slower tune."
I caught Code's eye and winked at him as I gestured to Princess Zaria.
"I win," I mouthed. He scowled and glared at me. I pointed to Princess Kayla in the middle of the room and elbowed him as soon as I bumped into him.
"That dance you asked me about?" Princess Zaria asked as she strolled up to me.
"Oi? Of course. The dance I asked you about, Your Highness," I said slowly. I don't know how to dance. But thankfully Princess Zaria made the first move. She placed my hands on her slim hips and then wrapped her arms around my neck. I was a few inches taller than her. She was beautiful. I can see why she's considered the beauty of the royals. The beauty of the world. Her dark purple dressed glittered in the low light and hugged her curves. It looked like she could barely breathe with how tight the dress was. How can she possibly like this? Like living without a choice of what she does, of what she will do. How can anyone live being controlled their entire life without a single say in anything? It's miserable and impossible. If I was in Princess Zaria's position, I would've taken control and ruled strongly and smartly.
"So, do you like being a princess, Your Highness?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. I can be charming. And in order for this plan to work, she has to be curios about me so she'll invite me to the castle. Nobody would dare speak to the princess full out and so casually like this which makes me interesting. Which then makes her curious and want to know more.
"That's a strange question. What brought it on?" Princess Zaria asked. It didn't escape me that she never answered my question. Nothing escaped me.
"Just wondering. Your dress lookes extraordinarily tight and hard to breathe in. I was thinking that nobody would like to wear clothes like that, even if they're a princess, Your Highness. I mean no offense," I say with a shrug.
"I don't believe I got your name. What did you say it was?" Princess Zaria asked. I fought to hide a smile. She kept avoiding everything I said and asked. That means she's uncomfortable with telling the truth.
"Sage. Sage Lancaster, Your Highness," I said slowly. D*mn. I nearly forgot to respect her and tread carefully.
"Sage. An unusual name, wouldn't you say?" Princess Zaria asked.
"Of course, Your Highness. I've rarely met anyone with the same name as me," I said.
Princess Zaria nodded, satisfied with me answer. "Did you come to the ball with anyone?"
"Yes, Your Highness. A friend of mine. His name is Cody. I believe he's dancing with your friend right now. Princess Kayla, wasn't it?" I said carefully. I had to keep my head level before I snatched everything valuble from everyone in this place.
"Ahh, so he's the young man over there?" Princess Zaria asked with a gesture to Princess Kayla.
"Yes, Your Highness. That's Cody," I said with my most charming smile.
"And how long have you known each other?" Princess Zaria asked.
"Since we were little," I said. "He's like my brother. I wouldn't go anywhere without him, Your Highness."
The music stopped. Princess Zaria looked like she wanted to know more about me. I had piqued her interest. Excellent.
"Zaria, mother and father want us now," a man said as he came up and rested a hand protectively on Princess Zaria's shoulder. This must be Prince Zane. Before Cody and I had come, we had memorized every little detail about every royal member in the family and their most trusted guards and servants. He had dark brown hair and light brown skin, like Princess Zaria's.
I caught Zaria shooting a worried look at me. Probably wondering if I would be okay if she left me here. I didn't feel like repeating 'Princess Zaria' over and over again. Why not stick to her own name?
"Don't worry about it, Zaria. He's just a mere peasant after all," Prince Zane said as he steered her away. I took a deep breath and then walked outside to get some fresh air.
"How'd it go for you, Sage?" Cody asked as he came up next to me.
"Excellent. Except for one thing. I nearly lost all composure and my cool when her twin brother called me a peasant. I know it's true, but that doesn't make it okay. Even if he is royalty. I don't know how long I would last in the palace if she invited us in. Not with her twin always around. I'd probably end up losing my sh*t and trying to kill him in my sleep. Especially if he calls me peasant one more time," I said, grinding my teeth together.
"Relax. We'll be fine. This is our biggest heist yet, it has to go perfectly. We don't have a choice anykmore. We've done phase one. Now we ust have to see if she takes the bait and lets us both in," Cody said darkly as he stood next to me and we stared off into the night. I wanted to run into the woods so bad and be back into my ragged and destroyed clothing. To feel the soft dirt under my feet and to feel jewelry in my fingers again. I wanted to steal something. Cody seemed to sense my urge.
"Tomorrow, they're going to announce who will be staying at the palace. The tides are turning in our favor. It turns out there were two parts of this ball. One to see who the two princesses like because Princess Kayla is staying here, and the second part is to see who the princessess will choose. I assume you hinted about never going anywhere without me?" Cody asked with a raised eyebrow.
"'Course I did. The plan won't work unless we're both inside the walls. But we should stop talking about it here. It's too risky if someone hears us," I said. "After we leave, I need to go out onto the streets. My fingers are itching for it. What time do we need to be here tomorrow?"
"We'll have to be here by two. The picking starts at two and only two of the men will be picked. We'll have to hope it's us. There's going to be a lot of people there tomorrow. All we can do now is hope and wish we've done enough to make them curious. I'm also going to assume you used some char, to try and help you?" Cody said with a wide smile.
"Yes. Now stop talking about it so publicly," I said with a scowl. "we'll go back towards the end. It'll look to suspicious if we leave right now after dancing with the princesses only. We need to dance with a few other girls as well."
I dreaded the rest of the night. THe waiting, holding my breath, and the dancing. After the ball ended, Cody and I went back to our first bunker.
"Yawn. That was tiring. I'm sleeping now. There were too many people there that were rich and I couldn't steal from any of them. Miserable," I said as I plopped down on the ripped couch and slept through the night, mumbling on and on about being bored in my sleep.

"Alec!" Cody roared. "Alec, get your *ss off the couchk. We're going to be late. I let you sleep in this late, now hurry up and get changed into that suit I bought yesterday. We need to be there or we're not qualified to go into the palace and stay there. Which means our plan will be destroyed."
I scrambled off the couch and fell onto my face. My legs and ankles were still asleep. Whoops.