Page 51 of Renaissance Bear

"It's just a show." Jon paused to lean against a building and tug Alis into his arms, nuzzling down for a kiss. "I'm pretty confident I've got the girl in the real world. Tell you what, I'll bring you back to the fairgrounds tonight and see if I can find some of the other onions and get the word out about scentless apples."

Alis's shoulders shook with amusement as she nestled close. "All right. That sounds okay. I should get a good night's sleep, anyway. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

Chapter 23

Shelly wasn't at work in the morning.

Alis wasn't angry, she thought: just disappointed. Except, no, she was angry. She only had a little time with Jon before she had to head out to Seattle, and she didn't want to waste it playing Princess Cecilia to Lord Argent's smarmy arrogance. Especially when she was certain she'd seen Shelly the evening before, picking up Chinese food on Main Street.

"I don't think she was sick at all," she muttered to Jasmine as they got her dressed in Shelly's gown. "I think she's playing hooky."

"It's not that I think you're wrong," Jasmine said, fastening Alis's bodice, "but ren faire actors, especially for these big festivals, are usually pretty serious about their performances. If she's not sick, what would be important enough to make her miss it, that she would also have to lie about? If somebody else was sick, or somebody had died or something, she'd tell the Faire about it. The show must go on, yeah, but there are exceptions."

"Yeah, I don't know." Alis sighed, took a deep breath, and coughed again.

"Too tight?" Jasmine went to loosen her stays, but Alis shook her head.

"Just whatever deodorant or perfume she uses. I don't like it."

Jasmine stuck her nose in Alis's armpit, sniffed, and fought off making a pained face. Her, "I don't think it's too bad," was bright and not very convincing.

"First, you're a terrible liar, and second, you're trying to be reasonable with someone who doesn't want to hear the voice of reason right now."

"Hey! I'm not that bad a liar! But okay, yeah, it kind of stinks and I want you to move far far away from me so I never have to smell it again. Better?"

"Just great, since you're going to have to wear this stupid thing all afternoon. No, actually, I'm glad you also don't like it, because I thought maybe I'd gotten hypersensitive to smells because we've been talking about them so much."

"We have?"

"Jon and I have."

Jasmine stepped back from finishing the dress's bits and bobs to give Alis a funny look. "You two have been talking about how thingssmell? Is this some kind of new swipe right kinda thing?"

"Hah! No, I don't think so. It's just…he has a really acute sense of smell? So we've been talking about it." This was not going to work, Alis realized. She couldn't possibly keep Jon's shifting a secret from her twin sister. She also couldn't possibly betray it without talking to him first, but Jasmine was hertwin. Alis would never keep a secret that big from her.

Of course, she still had to tell Jon she was the Black Knight, too, so there were all kinds of secrets that needed revealing. She sighed and stepped forward to give her sister a long hug. "I knowI was looking forward to getting this far west, but honestly, I think I'll be really glad when this particular faire is over."

"Yeah? What about Sword Boy? Will you be glad to be over him?"

Alis sat abruptly in a fluff of skirts, feeling overwhelmed. "No. No, I'm not sure I'm ever going to get over him. I really like him, Jazz. Like…maybe I'm in love with him, like him." She was certain of it, but also not quite certain enough to say it to a twin who would point out Alis had known Jon for less than a week, and that that was an awfully fast turnaround from 'meet cute' to 'in love.'

To her surprise, Jasmine crouched in front of her and took her hands. "Yeah, I was getting that vibe. Oh, come on, Al. I literally don't remember the last time you blew off our hang-out-after-the-faire nights in the RV. I think it might never have happened before. You obviously really like this guy. And let's be real, I've only talked to him as you?—"

"As Lady Alessandra," Alis stressed.

"Okay, as Alessandra, who is definitely not named after the sister named Alis or anything, but sure, whatever. But he seems really nice. And honestly, I think I'm confusing him. Every time he looks at me it's like he thinks something is wrong. I know we're crazy identical and we do everything we can to play that up at the faires, but I'm pretty sure he knows, Alis. Did you tell him you've got a sister?"

"Yeah." Alis squirmed guiltily. "I told him I had a little sister. But not that she was at the faire."

"I'm only eleven minutes younger than you!"

"Still my little sister."

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "Okay, so maybe he doesn'tknowknow, but he knows something's up. You definitely have to tell him."

"Yeah, I just…I kind of want to get through the rest of the tourney. I want to keep the Black Knight for myself just for the rest of this show. I don't know, Jazz." Alis sighed and slumped further, which wasn't easy, in a corset. "I've gotten in the habit of keeping it a secret so long it's really hard to admit to it, even when I want to. And I did try a couple of times! In fact, you interrupted once when you called."

Jasmine grimaced. "Oh. Ooops. Oh! Hah! Was that when you said I had terrible timing, or something?"

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