Page 56 of Renaissance Bear

"Armsman!" Alis strode across the field toward Jon, a huge smile still stretching her face. "Cross into the battlegrounds, if you will!"

This time Laurie didn't stop Jon as he vaulted the fencing. Another ridiculously huge roar of approval rose, then reached an impossible crescendo as Alis, in her armor and all,knelt in front of himand took his hand. Jon didn't consider himself a man prone to swooning, but he was suddenly in real danger of it as Alis beamed up at him.

"Armsman Jonathan, if you will have me, I pledge my strong sword arm, my honor, and my heart to thee here and now, before all these witnesses. Wilt thou in exchange consent to be my best beloved, my minstrel, my merchant, master of my heart?"

"Holy shit, dude," Laurie whispered from the other side of the fence, "I think you just got proposed to."

Jon, dizzy with astonishment, was pretty sure he had, too. His voice cracked as he said, "I accept your pledge and give my consent," and then, realizing nobody could possibly have heard him under all the screaming, nodded to make sure they all knew he'd said yes.

He hadn't known it was possible for people to make that much noise as Alis stood, wrapped her armored arm around his neck again, and kissed him breathless. Against his mouth, she murmured, "Sorry for putting you on the spot. It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"It was the best idea in the history of the world," Jon whispered back. "What the hell is going on with Argent?"

"Hopefully right now the medics are taking him away," she breathed, which happened to be what was, in fact, going on. "But I finally realized, Jon. He smells weird tome."

Jon's eyes widened, but before he could say anything else, Alis added, "I have to introduce you to the King and Queen," and grabbed his hand, dragging him over to the royal stands. "Majesties, may I introduce you to Armsman Jonathan Brewster, master of the unarmored sword division and the only man to ever conquer my heart?"

"We cannot have this," the king said in deep, disapproving tones as the crowd died down to hear what they were saying. Died down for a moment: a massive protest arose at what hedidsay, until the king glared it into silence again. "We cannot have our most noble knight, known throughout all of these lands as honorable, above reproach and ranked, too, as a lady of our court, beloved to a commoner. Kneel, Jonathan."

Jon, dizzy with nerves all over again, did as he was told to the rising cheers of the crowd again. The king stepped down from the royal stands, put a hand out, and accepted Alis's sword into it before touching Jon's shoulders, once, twice, thrice. "Arise, Jonathan Brewster, Lord and Knight, and be welcome into the Red Court!"

Chapter 27

It took…awhile…to extract herself from the legions of adoring fans, after that. Alis hadn't anticipated that, and Jon, who was apparently not at all threatened by his girlfriend being the premiere knight in the realm, sat back and grinned at it all. Women and girls, young and old, kept coming up and crying on Alis, and then she would cry on them, and by the time Jon helped her get away, Alis was headachy and dehydrated, but as joyful as she could ever remember being.

"I'm so sorry," she said as soon as she got the chance. "I should have told you I was the Black Knight, but every time I started to, something came up."

"You have no idea what I've been going through." For some reason Jon didn't seem at all upset. "First—all right, first, do you want to get out of that armor?"

Alis felt an unexpected swell of pride and embarrassment rise up in her. "Kind of no? This is the first time I've ever gotten to bemein it, although it might make us talking kind of difficult," she added as more women came up to congratulate her.

It took well over an hour to make it back to Jon's tavern, but every slow step of the way was so worth it. Jon simultaneously hung back to let Alis have her moment, but was alwaysthere, keeping an eye on her, making her feel supported, and somehow not twitching with agitation to find out everything she had to tell him.

When they finally got back to the tavern, enough people wanted to buy Alis drinks that she had to hand them out to others, or she'd be too drunk to breathe, never mind talk, walk, or think. So it was nearly closing time before she and Jon finally sat down in the warm, pine-scented air to duck their heads together and, as it turned out, both start talking at the same time.

Jon said, "The thing about the Black Knight is," as Alis said, "I did want to tell you about being Lord Edward—" before they both broke into laughter and went through a round of protesting, "You go first, no, no,yougo first," until Alis lifted her hands and said, very firmly, "You first."

As if he'd been bursting to say it, Jon blurted, "The thing I didn't tell you yet about shifters is that we know when we've met the person we're meant to be with forever. That's why I was so sure about us last night when you said you loved me. I know it's real. But Alis…I saw you, and I knew it was you. And then I saw Lord Edward, and I knew it washim. I've never been into guys, so theshockof that…! And then your sister…!"

Alis's eyes widened and she clapped her hands over her cheeks. "Oh. Oh no! Oh my God! So sometimes you saw Lady Alessandra and it was me and everything was good and sometimes it was Jazz and everything was?—"

"Bad," Jon said desperately. "She's obviously very beautiful and everything—you didn't tell me you were twins!—but she wasn'tyou, but I didn't know she wasn't you because you didn't tell me you were twins! So I thought maybe I had to choosebetween you and Lord Edward, but I could never find him to talk to him, and every time I saw two out of three of you my bear said 'that's our mate' and then the third person it was like 'nah brah' and—" He put his face in his hands, too, then looked up through his fingers, helpless with laughter and relief. "Five hundred people were out there screaming their heads off when you removed your helmet and I was just like 'oh thank GOD.'"

Alis leaned over the table to kiss him thoroughly. "I couldn't tell you Jazz was my twin without blowing the whole Black Knight thing, but I swear, Jon, I was going to tell you as soon as the tourney was over. Although I don't even know what's going to happen with that now," she realized in the moment. "Argent was supposed to compete in the jousting."

"Someone will take his place," Jon said carelessly, "but whataboutArgent, what was that—how did you?—?"

She held her hands up, smiling wildly. "I don't know everything. I don't think I know everything, anyway. But do you remember Shelly's perfume?"

Jon rolled his eyes, obviously trying to come up with a scent, then shook his head. Alis shrieked and threw her hands upward. "Really? Smells like a skunk rolled in roses?"

"Ew. No, I'd remember that."

"See, if I'd known that three days ago we might have figured this all out. I don't know what it is about it, Jon, but it does something to shifter body chemistry, or to your noses. Maybe you just can't smell it at all. She must have spent ages working it out. It stinks to high heaven on humans, but that's what was tricking you, I think. Argent was wearing it, and even I could tell there was something weird and wrong with his scent. But that was after I'd called Officer Saunders to check in on Shelly, because if she was wearing this stuff, either she was a shifter or she was working with one, and I thought she might have Mayor Whitfield and that's why she was taking time off from Faire."

The words tumbled out, and Jon's eyes got bigger all the way through. "And?"

"And I don't know! I haven't heard from Gus yet!"

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