2

When i woke up, my head was pounding. The feeling reminded we of the times me and Drea, she is a very nice girl, you would've liked her, spent together, usually with a bottle of stolen whiskey.

Oh, Drea...

I wonder what she's doing now?

Spreading her legs, probably. The thought came into my mind and made me choke on laughter. Or was it blood?

But how did blood get into my mouth?

As i was thinking this, images started flowing into my mind. Empty servant room, vault full of gold, cold grey eyes and blackness.

"She's awake." I heard a voice say.

It took some serious willpower to open my eyes and as i did nothing much changed.

The room they kept me in was dark and cold.

What a waste of energy, i may just as well close my eyes again.

No. Focus, Alex. Focus.

Life-threatening situation. You tied up. Dark room. Shady men.

Focus.

I shook my head and tried to gather what the fuck did I get myself into.

In the shadows a candle got lit. And in the brim light I spot movement.

Well, well, well... i guess it was worth opening your eyes after all.

Next to the candle sat the most beautiful man ever. Chiselled jawline, black curly hair. Grey eyes, filled with every emotion imaginable and no life at the same time.

And i snorted as i registered, with a bit of delay, what the voice in my head just said. A true heart-breaker, right here.

"Amusing yourself?" Said a deep raspy voice.

"Are you making your voice sound more intimidating on purpose?" I said, looking at him genuinely confused.

Another fun fact about me. When in serious situation, like this one, I usually act as stupid and reckless as possible- seriousness? Who's that, we don't know her. Why, you may ask? I have absolutely no idea, it just comes to me to act like this. I guess that if I'm about to die, i can at least have some fun in my last moments.

While i was lost in thought the dark figure emerged from the shadows and now stood in front of me.

Really handsome, this one. Have I mentioned? Taller than I originally imagined. His body lean and muscular, body of a fighter, but not a warrior. Does this make sense?

"Who are you and how did you find out about the gold?" His voice caressed my eardrums, even though his tone was threatening, I liked it.

"Hi, my name is Dirty Diana and totally by coincidence." I replied half-jokingly, my eyes travelling up and down my kidnapper's body. A real sight to behold.

"Dirty Diana?" Said some other guy in the room, laughingly, a guy i haven't even noticed by now.

What an attentive person you are Alex, I'm sure your mothers are very proud of you.

"Are you a hooker or something?" Said the same voice, contempt and laugh clear in his voice.

"Actually, I am a whore." I said confidently. "Prostitute on the weekends, sex lover every day."

Ok, now imagine how taken aback this men were. A woman talking about her love for sex in front of them. Shamelessly. Even the handsome one blinked at my statement and I couldn't help the grin spread on my face.

Although, in all seriousness, my sex life wasn't as thrilling as I may have made it sound.

The grey-eyed man squinted his eyes at me and moved away, humourless smirk on his lips.

"Do you realize the kind of situation you found yourself in?" He said icily. "Tell us who you work for and your death will be easy. Don't and..." His smirk grew wider as the threat hanged loosely in the air.

"I don't work for anyone, I really did found out about the vault by chance."

"Ok, sure. Let's go with that. What are you doing in the castle? You certainly aren't a member of staff."

I smiled. Really sharp this one.

Ok, Alex what are we going to tell him. Seriously, now. The complete truth? A year-long truth? Would that be wise?

"I was just hoping to get some money, honestly. Imagine my surprise when i found what i found." I smiled. "I mean, it's pretty smart, but have you considered that the servant sleeping in the room might drop the painting."

"The servant living there isn't a real servant." The other guy commented, earning an angry look from the beauty.

"So, he is there to protect the money? But has to act like a servant so he doesn't draw suspicion and is therefore never really there to protect the money. Clever." I said mockingly.

Which also probably wasn't the best idea, since it made the dude angry.

"Leave." He said. One short word, but the power it had. The room emptied immediately.

And then it was just him and i.

"I don't believe you." He said, voice clear of any emotion. "How did you find out about the vault?"

"Look, it wasn't the first time i snuck into the castle. The first time I almost got caught by some servant boy, so i hid into the closest room, which, funny enough, was the room." I said, slightly annoyed. "And believe me or not, by nature, I'm a clumsy person and I just so happened to accidently knock the picture off the wall." As i was talking, he just played with his knife. Probably to intimidate me, but honestly i just found it amusing. It was soclear he was doing all of this just to scare me, but once you see through it, you just can't help to smile.

"When I picked the very simple lock," I said throwing him a look, "and saw all the money inside, I just took some. Not enough to make it noticeable, but not little either." I smiled at myself. "Then I just changed into the servant uniform that hanged in the closet and left the castle. When i heard about the king's vault, I just put the pieces together..." i said proudly.

"Your intelligence is the threat to the kingdom." He said sarcasticly.

But...

"Literally..." i replied and amused myself with his poor choice of words. "Of course i couldn't leave that kind of money alone, especially with me being poor and all," I send him a look, to let him know that my financial state is his doing, "so I returned."

"And how many times did you return exactly?"

"This is the third…no, wait fourth time." This month. Although i didn't say that aloud.

"Only four times in a year? Do you think-"

"No, four times in a few weeks."

He raised an eyebrow. "You said you first stole and then heard the news about the vault, that was a year ago."

"Yes, but i only heard them a few weeks ago. Believe me or not, kings money is not really the hot topic in a whorehouse." I said, faking annoyance to make my story sound more believable.

"Alright." He said, making it clear he doesn't believe me, but still, he didn't push for more information. Probably, because he knew I wasn't going to give any. I told him the story and now, no matter what, I'm sticking with it.

I waited whether or not he is going to add anything else, but no. Minutes stretched in hours as silence surrounded us.

"Um, sorry to interrupt your-" i said to him after what must have been at least an hour, as he was absentmindedly watching the wall "-whatever, but can you just kill me already? Or maybe, if you are feeling generous give me some paper so I can write a letter to my sister and kill me after?"

"Why? So you could share your information with her?"

"No, i'm not stupid. I don't want to put her in danger. I would just like to explain why she's never going to see me again." I said without any amusement.

Silence.

Ugh, this dude.

"Or," I started again, this time a smile playing on my lips, "you could just let me go?"

Nothing. He was just playing with his knife, absolutely no expression on his face. Time started passing by.

I rolled my eyes as he observed me in silence, for some time now.

"You like what you see?" I said, this time really annoyed.

"Not particularly, no." He replied coldly and i couldn't help but smile.

I know i wasn't much of a beauty, my eyes were too close together, my nose too big for my face, my hair was a curly mess...

Probably the only reason i was making money in the brothel was because we were obligated to wear masks. "To protect the identity of the girls and the customers," Drea explained to me.

"So, could i get some paper?"

"No." The cold voice replied. His eyes still focused on me. Watching me closely.

Honestly, is there anything more annoying than staring. Minutes passed us and I was growing anxious under his eyes. And what is a girl supposed to do in situation like that? The proper thing would probably be to make herself look as admirable as possible. But what am I if not improper, so I pointed my tongue at him.

And he scoffed, an actual human reaction. From a statue. Nice. I truly do have superpowers.

Oh, my god. You stupid girl. YOU DO HAVE SUPERPOWERS!

A wicked smiled crossed my face as the ideas started pouring in my head.

I saw his eyebrows rise even more as he looked at me as if I'm completely crazy.

"Kind sir, may i ask you of your name? I'm afraid it slipped my mind." I said, knowing damn well, he never gave it to me.

He gave me no actual response, other than a cold look, of course. But this time, the coldness in his eyes kind of wormed me up in this chilly cell.

We sat like that for what seemed like years, both in complete silence.

I thought of maybe annoying him some more, but the thought of survival made me think better. He didn't strike me as someone who would tolerate bullshit.

A century later, finally something changed.

"Your highness?" The man from before asked as he opened the door and this time it was my eyebrows that shot up.

Your highness? This is THE PRINCE?

Suddenly all the cockiness left me and was replaced with burning anger that didn't go unnoticed.

The prince looked at me and offered me an arrogant smirk.

Oh, how much would i like to slap it off of him. This pathetic little worm. Oh, I'm going to...

No!

Alex calm down. Don't act on impulse. You will only complicate things more.

"Ah, Jonah. It's time we move this worthless idiot."

"You mean the idiot who stole very secret money from his majesty, the daddy, and got away with it three times. And when the idiot did get caught, it was by pure coincidence?"

He shot me another cold glare, matching the one on my face.

After our little staring contest, Prince and Jonah discussed my transport and I took that as the chance of my escape.