The Princess & The Thief

Chapter 4-Never Underestimate A Princess

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"Way up, way up, we go,"
"Been up and down that road,"
"Way up, way up, oh no,"
"We gon' burn the whole house down..."
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Luke's POV

Luke stopped in the shadow of a building right next to the castle walls, turning to Alex and Reggie.

"Okay, we all remember the plan right?"

"Remembering is easy. Understanding your fucked up logic is the hard part." Alex growled for the fiftieth time that night.

He rolled his eyes, clapping a hand on Reggie's shoulder hopefully. "Do you remember the plan?"

"I'm like ninety-nine percent sure." Luke groaned and Reggie hurried to correct himself, "meaning that I'm pretty sure I know exactly what's going on. Getting through these gates is going to be the scariest part."

"Sure, you're mildly correct. But if you forget something tell one of us and don't just improvise like you did that time we tried to steal the fresh bread from the bakery."

"Okay that was one time. And that girl was really hot."

"Luke all this standing around is pissing me off. Are we going or not?" Alex glanced at the bustling crowd apprehensively.

Luke simply smirked and flipped up his hood, rounding the corner and heading towards the gates. There was what had to be fifty different horse drawn carriages being pulled around, packs of royals parading up the steps and into the glowing castle.

"He really is serious about this isn't he?" He heard Alex asked dreadfully.

"He has been doing more pushups than usual." Reggie replied.

Luke shushed the two as they got closer to the crowd, silently signaling for them to follow his lead. He hunched his shoulders, falling into step beside someone's overly glamorized carriage. No one cast them a second glance—there weren't many guards stationed near the entrance anyway—and they made it through the gates like any other servants would.

The king was an easygoing man, more laid back about his security, which was helpful. The real challenge would be when they got to the ball room, where most of the guards would undoubtedly be watching. Probably just to prevent any duchesses from clawing each other's eyes out, but details.

He exhaled as he realized he'd been holding his breath, slipping away from the carriage and into an entirely different crowd of common folk. He let Reggie take the lead as they rounded the corner of the castle to an area where volunteers and workers were waiting to be signed in.

He flipped back his hood, trying to remain as inconspicuous as possible.

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Julie's POV

Leaning over the balcony railing Julie breathed in the warm summer air, watching as all the guests flooded into the castle.

Having been restless, she'd decided to watch the servants line up to enter their quarters. Familiar faces caught her eye as always, but what really intrigued her was the newcomers. Sometimes she got lucky and found someone cute.

Tonight she was very lucky, all because of one particularly gorgeous boy. Even if she couldn't fully make out his features from so far, his energy alone...it was magnetic.

Maybe this ball wouldn't be so dreadful after all.

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Luke's POV

Luke had been worried that when their background check was done there would be some mention of their criminal history, but to his relief the boys got inside with little more than a glance in their direction.