Little Thieves (Little Thieves, #1)

by Margaret Owen

Little thieves steal gold, and great ones steal kingdoms, but only one goes to the gallows.

“I think there are lives that make it easy to be good. Or what most people call good. When you have wealth, status, family, it’s easy to be a saint, it costs you nothing. I can’t say if you’re a good person or not. But the more I know of you, the more I understand that the world keeps making you choose between survival and martyrdom. No one should fault you for wanting to live.”

the higher-ranked ruling families.