Page 12 of Renaissance Bear

"Only fictionally," Alis said almost absently. "In real life I'm a schoolteacher and you own a family business. I think you rank over me in social terms."

"I amnotstarting this relationship that way," Jon said firmly. "Real-life equals or I'm out."

She blinked, then flashed a smile. "Right, yes, obviously. I was just thinking of it in sort of Renaissance-y terms. I'd have to be a man for my ability at scholarship to mean anything, back then. Oh, God, I'm overthinking this, aren't I? Yes. Equals. I wouldn't take anything else." Her eyebrows rose again. "'Relationship?'"

"Hey, you're the one who kissed me!"

"I didn't know I was starting a whole relationship! But I liked doing it." Alis, still smiling, rose on her toes to kiss him again, soft and sweet, before taking a deep breath and a long step backward. "Impress me at the lists next time, Sword Boy, and we'll see where this goes from there."

Then she disappeared into the night, leaving Jon smiling after her like an idiot.

She is an excellent mate,his bear said happily.She makes you smile.

A whole new flare of panic rose in Jon. "She does, but what does that mean about the Black Knight?"

The bear shrugged.The knight will also make you smile. And will be good for fighting!

Jon made a sound that could have been a laugh, or could have been a groan. Even he couldn't tell. "You're not supposed to fight with your mate, buddy."

He got a distinct sense of befuddlement from the bear. It said,But fighting is fun,yet had a distinct undertone ofno, no, I'm afraid the human is right, fighting is not for mates.After several seconds in which it obviously tried to wrestle this sticky problem into a satisfactory answer, the bear abruptly curled up in his mind and went to sleep.

Jon chuckled, murmuring, "Yeah, that's a good way to deal with it," and went home to bed himself.

Chapter 6

The lights were still on in the RV as Alis approached, so she made no effort to be quiet as she opened the door and climbed in. Jasmine immediately called, "No luck with Sword Boy, then, huh?" and leaned back in her seat to give Alis a cheeky grin.

"Actually so much luck with him. His name's Jon and he's great." Alis scrabbled at her own spine until she found the top of her dress's zipper and shucked it in favor of the shorts and tank top she slept in. "Tall. Handsome. Family owns the brewery that runs the tavern here. He's got a brother who could possibly be his twin." She squinted, trying to remember if she'd asked directly about that, while Jazz made a totally horrified noise.

"No. No, absolutely no way, we are not doing the twins thing, Al. That's too frickin' twee."

"Oh no yeah absolutely you are fully not allowed to fall for his brother. Also I don't think he's your type, like, atall, but definitely no even if he is. I saw my guy first." Alis threw herself into the RV's couch and groaned. "Air conditioning, how many ways I love thee… Did you get any work done?"

"Yeah, my brain came back online once I was in the coolth and I got a lot done. What's our schedule tomorrow?"

"Uuuugh, you ask such hard questions." Alice had studied the faire schedule dozens of times and still reached for her phone to make sure she was right before saying, "All right, tomorrow is the next round of armored sword fighting, so that's three hours in the afternoon that you'll be Lady Alessandra. My Sword Boy is in the morning qualifiers and I want to go watch him, but I'll point him out to you in case you want to flutter at him a bit on my behalf while I'm fighting."

"Me flirting with your pretty boy seems super sketch, Al!"

"Yeah, but I can't tell him I'm a twin and I don't want to look like I'm running all hot and cold on him!"

"You could totally tell him you're a twin."

"Then he'd want to know where the real me is when you're being Lady Alessandra!"

Jasmine opened her mouth and shut it again with a click of her teeth. "Dang it. Yeah. All these years of hiding the Black Knight's identity, ruined by a crush? That would be embarrassing. Okay, fine, but only very polite flirting. I'm not getting all touchy-feely or anything."

"Ugh, God, no." Alis full-body shuddered. "Look, hey, if I hadn't said so, thanks for being my twin. And also for being Lady Alessandra in a pinch."

Jasmine finally shut her computer with a click and gave Alis a fond smile. "You have said it, but you're welcome. On all counts. You know I don't mind, right? Like I absolutely one hundred percent do not want to spend my entire summer sweating through every day at the faires, but I love getting out and doing it for a few hours and then being able to bounce with no guilt."

"I don't think the kids these days say 'bounce,'" Alis informed her.

"That's fine. I," Jasmine said with a sniff, "am awoman."

Alis laughed out loud and dragged herself out of the couch to hug her sister. "You're the best, is what you are. Okay. I'm gonna hit the sack. The gates don't open until ten tomorrow, so if you want me to get up early and make breakfast just say the word."

"The word," Jazz said obligingly. "Or we could drive into town and do the diner trick."

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