"Aleia, get out of there now!" Raoul whispered loudly from somewhere a ways behind her.

Aleia ignored him. She had almost caught the assassin. She wasn't going to give up now. She crept around the corner. He hadn't noticed her. He was crouched down, waiting for the king to enter. She walked softly, then grabbed him round the waist with one hand, and took her knife from the belt with the other. He was surprised, but reacted quickly. He twisted around and grabbed her arm, twisting it. She broke loose and punched him hard in the eye. He sprawled on the floor, and she pinned him down, with her knife to his throat. She wasn't going to kill him, of course, she just couldn't have him trying anything funny.

"Don't move," Aleia whispered. "Guys, I got him," she called to the other spies who then came out from where they had been watching, waiting for the right moment.

They came and pulled the assassin to his feet, with his arms behind his back. "Walk," they commanded him, and most of the men followed close behind him.

"Nice job," one of the men dressed in black walked over and commented to Aleia.

"Thanks, Josh. But why did Raoul tell me to get out? I practically had him already."

Josh shrugged. "I don't know. Guess he just cares about you and doesn't want you to get hurt," he teased.

Aleia rolled her eyes, though she was blushing slightly. "Shut up! But where is he, anyways?"

Josh laughed. "He probably went back to the office as soon as he saw you had the assassin. Well, c'mon. Cap'n Garse will be waiting for us to get the details and question the assassin."

Aleia nodded and they walked down the halls to where the League of Spies always met. They were the best the king had. They could always find out the most information and protected the king and queen from assassins like the one they had caught today. All of the spies had their own quarters in the same wing as the office where they met to discuss things. The prisoner cells and questioning room were also located in that wing. No one really knew the way to or around that wing except for the spies and the king himself.

As they approached the door to the office, Raoul came out, spotted Aleia, and walked straight towards her. Josh went to talk to some of the other men, so Aleia turned her attention towards Raoul. Raoul was handsome with his dark brown hair, tan skin, and vivid blue eyes. He was higher in station then all of the spies that had been with Aleia when she was fighting the assassin. He wasn't proud, though, and he still was good friends with all of the lower spies. Captain Garse was the head of the league of spies, with Raoul, Vaughn, and Kirgen under him as officers. The rest of them were all in the same rank as cadets.

"Aleia, what were you doing? I told you to get out, you could have been hurt," Raoul said, sounding upset.

Aleia was confused. He had never treated her like that before, and he had never said anything like that to any of the other cadets. He shouldn't have been treating her any differently than anyone else. True, she was the only girl in the League of Spies, but that had never mattered before. She had proven herself to be worthy of the position.

"Raoul, I got him. What are you so angry about? Everything went fine."

Raoul looked uneasy. "Captain Garse wants to talk to you," he said.

"What is this all about?" Aleia thought, as she noticed all of the spies that were at the palace right now were standing outside the office door and some of them were looking at her funny. Aleia walked to the office, opened the door, and stepped inside. She was extremely startled to see the king sitting at Captain Garse's desk, while the Captain was leaning against the wall.

"Your highness," Aleia dropped a curtsy.

The king looked her, seeming to scrutinize every aspect of her being. She felt rather uncomfortable. "Aleia," he started.

She was surprised he knew her name.

"Do you know who your parents were?" he asked her.

"No, sir, I was orphaned when I was very young."

"And who raised you, then?"

"I was at an orphanage, sir, but I ran away when I was fifteen. I wandered on the streets until I met Captain Garse, who took me in and trained me to be a spy. I have lived here ever since."

"I see. I'm really not sure how to say this, Aleia, so I will just come out and plainly tell you. You are my daughter and the crown princess of Tressar."

Aleia was stunned. "What! But—I—it can't be. That's impossible."

"No, child, it's not. It took a long time to trace you down, but I am quite certain that you are the princess," the king stated.

"But—but—then why was I sent to an orphanage?"

The king sighed. "When you were born we invited several fairies to your name celebration. But we forgot one and, well, she cursed you. She said that when you turned twenty-one you would prick your finger on a spinning wheel and die. We didn't want this to happen to you so we sent you away to be raised as a commoner. We thought you would be protected that way, and we could have other children who could rule. But we didn't have any more children and my queen felt terrible about sending you away so we started searching for you. Then we found out the family you were staying with had died and it was very hard to track you down, but we found you now. Your mother and I are so happy to have you back now!"

Aleia felt like screaming. "What! First I'm a princess, now I'm going to die when I'm twenty-one! And what kind of parents solve the problem of their child being supposed to die by sending them out by themselves to the streets!"

"Aleia...we're sorry. We realized it was a mistake and that's why we're trying to fix it now."

Aleia shook her head. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. "I—I've had it," she shouted, running from the office, through all of the spies standing outside, to her private quarters where she could be alone.