Page 55 of Renaissance Bear

Chapter 26

Jon said, "Oh, thankGod," as the crowd around him went ape-shit wild, their cries enough to raise a roof that didn't even exist. People were on their feet, stomping, clapping,screaming,as Alis slammed into a thunderstruck Argent, attacking with such vigor that the 'elf lord' fell back, and back again, before even starting to mount a defense.

It was too late by then: Alis had him on the ropes, battering him into submission. Every blow got another scream from the crowd, until it seemed like her sword arm was powered by their excitement. There were women beside Jon in tears, clutching each other and sobbing and screaming into each other's faces and at the fighting ring itself, overjoyed by the Black Knight's incredible, unexpected, reveal.

Jon swayed, as stunned as everyone around him. More stunned. More stunned than anyone except?—

He turned toward the stands, where Lady Alessandra had collapsed into her seat, mansprawled like the best of them, her jaw dropped and eyes creased in a huge, body-shaking laugh. Jon couldn't hear it from across the distance, not even if the screams hadn't been so utterly thunderous, but she wasvisibly, obviously thrilled and delighted beyond words. The court around her was torn, half of them watching the fight and screaming their fool heads off, the other half snapping their gazes back and forth between Lady Alessandra and the Black Knight, hertwin sister.

You see,his bear said,Isaidthat was your mate.

You could have been a little clearer about things!!!

The bear felt genuinely injured.I was perfectly clear!

Jon spluttered, half mad at the bear, half mad at himself for not figuring it out, half mad at Alis for not telling him, half relieved, half—half something else, too, probably, even if that made up far too many halves.

Alis was justpoundingon the Silver Knight now, absolutely obliterating him, fighting at a speed she couldn't possibly keep up, with strength beyond human norms. But then, Jon thought, if he had that kind of audience support behind him, if he had just pulled off a reveal of that magnitude, if he had been clever enough to do it onthat line, he too would have felt able to fight until the end of time. Alis's face shone with a sweaty grin, her sword flying faster and faster until it suddenly darted in, slammed into Lord Argent's sword wrist, and disarmed him with an ease that suggested she'd been toying with him all along.

Argent gaped as his sword flew away, watching it and not Alis. She snagged a foot out, caught his ankles with it, and with a straight-armed thrust, shoved him to the ground. Her sword went to his throat, and for all that it was blunted, a weapon meant for performance instead of killing, the whole audience gasped in unquestioning belief.

Then the screaming began again, just noise, wild, excited noise that gradually became a chant ofAl! Eh! San! Dra! Alessandra! ALESSANDRA!

For some reason, Jon found tears streaming down his cheeks.

Alis looked up with a wild grin, her gaze locking on his despite the hundreds of people to find him amidst, and she mouthed,I'm sorry.

Jon put his hand over his heart, shook his head, and finally began to laugh, the tears still running down his cheeks. He shook his head again, bowed toward her, and then, with laughter and tears and joy, took the favorher sisterJasminehad tied around his arm, and raised it toward the Black Knight, his fated mate, the woman he loved more than the world itself.

Alis laughed, silent beneath the roars of the crowd but shining in her face as she strode forward to accept the favor. Jon hauled her into a kiss despite the fact she was wearing armor, and somehow the noise around them redoubled. Alis wrapped her free arm around his neck, her favor clutched in her hand, her sword arm twisted out of the way, and returned the kiss with all the passion that he'd been missing.

Something changed in the tenor of the crowd's roar, a note of warning growing in it. Jon hadn't yet really begun to realize it when his bear snarledLook out!—

—but Alis knew, Alis was attuned to the audience's mood, Alis was buoyant on their power, Alis was already turning away, the favor still clutched in her hand as she brought it to her weapon's hilt and changed the blade she'd been using for speed, one-handed, into the bone-breaking power of a two-handed sword.

Many things happened very fast, so fast that time slowed down for them, there in the dusty lists under a relentless blue sky. The first was that Argent swung at Alis; the second was that she ducked beneath his blow, so close that Jon saw his sword brush her hair as it flew up while she ducked down.

The third was how she spun, grace and rage in motion, and rose with the motion so that when her own blade came up, it was into the bottom shoulder joint of Argent's armor. His shoulderdislocating may not have made a sound, buthedid: a scream that cut through the audience's wild shouting.

The fourth thing, the one that nobody noticed, thank god, was that Laurie, who hadn't evenbeenthere a second ago, grabbed Jon's shoulders and threw him backward off the fence he was in the process of vaulting, keeping him from shifting into a bear to protect his mate in front of an audience of hundreds.

Jon hit the ground with a groan that had nothing on Lord Argent's. Laurie, standing above him wild-eyed, looked like he didn't know what to do next, and like he thought it was possible Jon would get up and murder him. Instead Jon put his hand up, Laurie pulled him to his feet, and Jon muttered, "Thanks."

Laurie's shoulders slumped in relief as the sound of metal scraping on metal caught both their attentions. They both turned toward the fighting ring again, where Alis was placing a foot on Argent's chest and crouching like that, all gleaming black metal in the sun. The crowd went wild again, which meant it took a shifter's hearing to catch Alis growling, "Now tell me what the fuck you did with Whitfield before I beat it out of you like the people want me to."

Laurie said, "What?" and Jon, gaping, shook his head and surged back toward the fence, trying to hear better. Argent was mumbling, inaudible even to Jon's ears, but after a long moment Alis looked satisfied.

Then she grabbed his left gauntlet, pulled it off his hand, and lifted it to the audience. "See the evidence of Argent's dishonorable actions!" she bellowed. "He fights unfairly in every bout, and I, the Black Knight,demandthat his honors and accolades be revoked from this and every Faire across the land!"

As she spoke, she discarded her own gauntlet so she could put her hand into Argent's. She pulled something out, then lifted it: a tiny ring light that sputtered, then flashed a violently blinding LED. Alis turned slowly, shooting incredible shards ofdazzling brilliance into people's eyes as the crowd's roars turned from confusion to disapproval. When she was certain everyone understood what was going on, Alis stalked to the stands where her sister and the rest of the Red Court sat, and flung the gauntlet down.

"My lords and ladies!" she cried to them. "I stand before you now as my true self, Lady Alessandra, the Black Knight of the Eastern Kingdoms! I beg forgiveness for my deceit these many years, and thank my beloved twin, the Lady Jocelyn, for her assistance in carrying out this charade. It was not shame or fear of rejection that brought me to fight as Lord Edward," she added in audible amusement as she lost hold of her 'Olde English' phrasing for a moment. "It was just you all assumed I must be a man, and I thought I'd see how long it was before anybody figured it out. It took a lot longer than I expected!"

A roar of laughter and applause went up, and Alessandra's name was chanted around the ring for a full minute before she finally turned to the crowd, bowed, and patted it down, a huge smile fixed in place. "Thank you," she called. "Thank you all for embracing my true self. But as you can see, your majesties, I am especially uninterested in wooing either Lady Jocelyn or Princess Cecilia!"

Another laugh rose as Jasmine performed a delicate shudder and Alis grinned wildly, first at her sister, then at the Red King and Queen. "Have I your permission to select myownparamour, majesties?"

"God forbid we stand in thy way," the Red King said dryly. "Our hearts do tremble in fear at what lessons we might learn at the tip of thy sword. We prithee, Lady Knight, introduce us to the one who has captured thy heart."

---