Thief, Assassin, Queen, Girl

Chapter 1

Anne chased her twin sister, Elizabeth, around the room they shared, both of them giggling and shrieking as they ran and nearly knocking over a very old and expensive vase. Anne had found a frog and was determined to get Elizabeth to kiss it. She wanted to know if it would turn into a prince like in the stories their older sister, Princess Victoria, read them. But, she certainly wasn't going to kiss it herself. "Lizzy! Slow down. You're going too fast!" she whined. This earned a giggle from her sister at the use of her nickname. "No. You speed up. You're not going fast enough!" she mimicked her sister's tone.

By now, Anne had already dropped the frog and was just chasing Elizabeth for no other reason than it was fun. She tripped over a power cable connecting the TV into the wall, and ended up tackling Elizabeth, who reached for the table with the vase on it in a desperate attempt to keep herself upright. The table capsized causing the vase to crash to the floor and be shattered into a million pieces. One of the shards bounced up and cut a gash in Anne's left arm. She didn't register it right away. She was more concerned with her sister that was in tears over the fact her sister got hurt. "Don't cry Lizzy!" Anne said trying to console her twin. Elizabeth still wouldn't stop crying.

Within seconds of the crash their sister,Victoria, and Nessa, their governess, came rushing in to see what had happened. "Oh my gosh! Are you two alright? Did you break any bones? Oh no. Don't cry Elizabeth." Nessa exclaimed. Anne was still staring at her sister who was crying. The cut started to sting but that's not what upset her. What upset her was that her sister was upset and she couldn't fix it. So, she did the only reasonable thing to do when you're 5 years old and upset. She too burst into tears. "Oh no! Not you too Anne. Oh dear." She fussed. Victoria tried to conceal a giggle at the over-concerned, coddling governess. This earned her a stern look from Nessa. "Sorry, Nessa." She muttered. Anne was confused as to why Victoria was laughing. She didn't find this funny at all. In fact it was quite the opposite. She was still concerned about her twin.

She felt Nessa pick her up and set her down on a large table. From across the room she saw Elizabeth being picked up by Victoria. She saw Nessa reach for a box with a large red cross on it and began to disinfect the cut on her arm. Victoria spoke, "I'm going to take Lizzy to Mom for a while. Bye Annie!" Nessa frowned at the use of the nicknames and muttered a simple "Ok." Anne grinned at her older sister until she left with Elizabeth. "Bye Toria! Wait. No! Where is Toria going with Lizzy?!" She cried. Nessa smiled at her kindly and explained that since she was the only one hurt that Elizabeth was going to go play with Mommy and Daddy or as she said "The King and Queen." She was still confused but nodded. Nessa set her down and she ran off to find Elizabeth and Victoria. She bumped into her 15 year old brother, James.

She looked up at her older brother and smiled radiantly. "Hi, James!" she said happily. James smiled and picked her up. In the arms of her loving older brother she quickly forgot her original plans. But, who could blame her? She was only 5 years old and easily excited and distracted. Her brother smiled fondly down at her, "Hi Anne, how are you this fine morning?" he asked, seeming to be in a good mood.

"I'm quite alright, James. You seem really happy today, did something exciting happen, is that why you seem so happy?" She fired the questions off in such a lightning fast manner she wondered whether he understood her, nonetheless she continued to look up at him with her beautiful and piercing blue eyes in a questioning manner.

"Nothing that would excite you very much, I start my fencing and self-defense classes this afternoon with my new tutor, he's supposed to be the best money could buy. Fencing has always fascinated me. That's why I'm in such a good mood." After watching her nod, he kisses the top of her head and set her down.

"Run along and go terrorize Victoria for me. Can you do that for me, Anne?" Anne smiles and runs off in the direction she last saw her elder sister as James heads in the direction of his father's study. He was supposed to give his opinion on the matter of the rebel uprisings in some of the villages in front of his father's privy council.

Surely it wasn't something to be worried about.