Prince of Thievery | ONC 2024

Chapter 2

Milan was taken aback by the statement, causing his grip on the thief to slacken.

That gave Kyle just enough time to push Milan and dash towards the window. Milan tried to grab a hold of him but Kyle was quick on his feet. Luckily, the window had jammed – as it often did during the winter. Kyle struggled to open the window.

That gave Milan enough time to grab onto his shoulders and shove him into the floor.

Milan knelt down to look the thief in the eye. It felt strangely like staring into a mirror. He had almost the same features as Milan.

"Give me my locket back if you want to get out of here alive," Milan threatened.

"Why is that locket so important to you?" Kyle asked, struggling against Milan's grip.

"None of your business. Give it back."

Kyle sighed. "Fine, you can have your locket."

With obvious reluctance he handed the locket to Milan. Milan took it and threw it into his bed, far away from Kyle's reach.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't hand you over to the count." Milan warned.

"Like I said, I'm the crown prince. I don't think you can hand me over to the law enforcement that my family controls."

"You're not the prince," Milan stated. "There is no prince in this kingdom."

"Not yet but there will be," Kyle said. "I'm meant to marry Amanda."

Milan frowned. "Who's Amanda?"

"Take a guess," was all Kyle said, in his infuriatingly annoying tone.

Milan had to think for a while before saying, "you mean princess Amanda."

"That's the one," Kyle agreed.

"If you think you can get married to the princess you're truly delusional."

"I don't think I can marry her; I'm going to marry her. She's my cousin."

Milan's frown deepened. "What?"

Kyle snorted. "Yes, that's one of the perks of being a royal. You get to marry your own cousin."

He said it in a sarcastically cheerful tone.

Milan contemplated that for a minute.

"Alright, I'm going to let you up and you can tell me exactly why you're here," he said slowly, emphasising each word. "If you even dare to try stealing anything or running you're going to have at least a couple bruises in the morning."

Kyle laughed. "You should really calm down on the violent threats."

Milan just glared.

"Alright, I won't try anything. Just let me up," Kyle conceded. And then added, "please."

Milan slowly let go of Kyle. Then he went over to his bed and stuffed the locket into his pocket, just in case.

He watched as Kyle pushed himself up into a sitting position; he leaned against the wall close to him and wrapped his arms around his knees, getting comfortable.

"So what do you want to know about me?"

"Why are you sitting on the floor?"

Kyle chuckled. "That's what you want to know?"

"No but I thought you were a prince. I've never seen a prince who sits on the floor."

"Future prince, actually. I'm not getting the official title until at least a month." Kyle corrected. "And I just like sitting on the floor. Makes me feel closer to the peasants."