Duke Roger nodded to the nervous looking servant standing before him, who hurried to bow in a dark-haired knight. The young man bowed slightly to the duke and the green-eyed woman sitting beside him, a thin smile pulling at his secretive and normally serious face.

            "Alex. And what brings you here at this hour of the night? Something important, I hope." Roger's tone, although light, held a threatening undertone.

            Alexander of Tirragen was not intimidated. "Of course, Your Grace. Very important news." His dark eyes glittered as they flicked briefly to Delia of Eldorne, taking in the power-hungry look on the young woman's face.

            Roger coughed slightly. "Delia, my pet, would you excuse us for a moment?"

            Pouting, Delia protested, "But I'd like to hear this 'important news'."

            Roger frowned. "I said to excuse us for a moment, Delia."

            Catching the contained impatience in the duke's voice, Delia rose and flounced out, casting Alex a haughty look.

            As soon as Delia was gone, Roger nodded to Alex. "What have you found?"

            Alex's eyes gleamed dangerously as he spoke. "Some of my men in Corus spied Alanna the Lioness entering the city this evening." He paused, letting Roger wonder for a moment before the duke demanded, "And?"

            Alex smiled darkly, continuing, "They followed her to the Dancing Dove, where she apparently fainted. An unidentified man carried her out, and my men followed them to the house of a Mistress Cooper, a healer. They then alerted me of her presence and I hurried to the city as quickly as possible. We thought we had lost her for a moment, but then I heard her voice in an alley near the Dancing Dove. Although I didn't see the face or catch the name of the man she was with, I did overhear their conversation." He paused again, and again Roger prompted impatiently, "And what exactly did you overhear?"

            "I overheard our Lady Knight announce that she is pregnant…" he let the silence hang again, long enough for Roger to grumble irritably, "Is that all? Wonderful, so we now have one more to dispose of before I can take the throne."

            "… with the child of someone who is not King Jonathan."

            It took a moment for Alex's words to sink in. When they did, Roger leapt to his feet, face white, and grabbed Alex's arm. "Are you certain of this?" he whispered hoarsely.

            Alex nodded firmly. "I heard the words with my own ears."

            Roger began to laugh. "So," he chuckled maliciously, "We finally have completely power over the untamable Lioness."

            "But, milord, one more thing. We also overheard the queen later telling this unidentified man that although she didn't love King Jonathan anymore, she had to save his life."

            "Save his life? From what?"

            "Us," Alex replied in a hard voice. "She knows, Roger."

***

"Ah, my Queen, I finally have the luck of catching you without a partner. Care to duel with me?"

            Alanna jumped at the voice behind her and whirled angrily on Alexander of Tirragen. "Alex!" she snapped. "Don't sneak up on me like that!"

            Her friend—or former friend, it seemed—laughed, but his eyes were cold. "Forgive me, Highness."

            "Oh stop it, Alex," Alanna scolded, feeling unnerved for some reason. She reached up to grip her ember stone for comfort.

            The knight laughed again. "Sorry. So, shall we duel?"

            Having no reason to refuse, Alanna shrugged and hefted the practice sword she was using—after the incident in the desert, she had carefully avoiding using Lightning.

            Alex smiled as he stepped onto the practice court, his naked blade gleaming in the sunlight. Warily Alanna brought her sword up to the "guard" position, studying Alex carefully: something didn't feel right about this match.

            Alex swung his blade up and around for an attack, which Alanna parried easily, and returned with her own strike, which he blocked and returned with another. And so it went, but rather than relaxing with the easy, polite bout they were having, Alanna began to grow nervous and suspicious at Alex's lazy blows: his dark eyes were too intense for this playfulness.

            She was right. Without warning, Alex switched into another gear and began to attack in earnest, his sharp blade whipping up and around to her shoulder. She jumped out of the way as he flipped his sword the other direction for the mirror strike at her left side, then down and under to slice at her abdomen. Alanna dodged and met his blade with hers, the metal making a ringing noise as the swords clashed and broke apart.

            "Alex, cool it!" Alanna protested, remembering all too well the "friendly" bout they'd had in her years as a squire, when Alex had nearly killed her.

            "What, you can't handle a friendly little swordfight now? That's too bad," Alex said lightly, but despite his cordial tone there was no mistaking the threatening implication beneath.

            "And what's that supposed to mean?" Alanna snapped, knocking Alex's sword away and stabbing in towards his chest. The young man darted lithely away, smiling coldly.

            "You know what it means, lady." His next blow came down harder than the last.

            "No, I'm afraid I don't, Alex," Alanna replied, trying to keep her voice even. What was going on here?

            Abruptly all the friendliness was gone from Alex's voice, until his tone matched the dangerous chill in his eyes and expression.

            "I mean I suppose it's hard for a pregnant woman to handle herself in a swordfight. Pity."

            Alanna stiffened. She'd only told Jonathan that, and she'd told him the night before, late in the night after she'd returned to the palace and avoided him until only two hours before dawn. Jon wouldn't have had time to tell anyone the "good news" yet—or at least what he knew of it. The king believed that Alanna's child was his child.

            Suddenly Alex's blows began to reign down even harder and faster, so furiously that Alanna had to switch her sword to her left hand and concentrate all her attention on the duel to keep him from landing a blow on her. Trying to distract Alex, Alanna said brightly,

            "So you've heard?" She forced a laugh. "I suppose proud fathers just can't contain that sort of news?"

            Alex barked a laugh. "Don't kid me, Alanna, we both know the father of this baby won't be doing much announcing of news. He wouldn't dare."

            Cold dread washed over Alanna, but she forced herself to continue as if she didn't know what Alex was talking about. He can't possibly know! she screamed inside, but how else would his words make sense?

            "I don't know what you're talking about, Alex." Alanna meant the words to be strong and firm, but they came across as weak and doubtful.

            Suddenly Alex stopped altogether and stepped back, grinning like a cat that's trapped a mouse in a corner.

            "Time to give up, Alanna. We know all about the bastard child you're carrying."

            Alanna paled visibly. "You… you can't know that," she whispered, giving herself away.

            Alex just laughed again. "Yes, I can. Now you'd better come with me."

***

Dimly wondering where Faithful was and wishing desperately that her cat was beside her, Alanna followed Alex through the palace, her mind spinning.

            This can't be happening, she pleaded. It just can't. I'm not pregnant with George's child. In fact, I'm not pregnant at all! And Alex definitely doesn't know about it… because it never happened!

            Her hopes were shattered by reality as a servant let them into someone's suite of rooms. Lost in horrified thought, Alanna hadn't even noticed where they were going and didn't realize until too late that she was in Duke Roger's rooms. She immediately tried to turn around and run out, but the door was shut and blocked by a grimly smiling Alex.

            "Don't try anything," the Duke of Conté advised. "The door is sealed by magic anyway, besides Alex and myself being here to stop you if you… get any ideas about leaving early."

            Alanna cursed under her breath, cursed herself for allowing this mess to happen in the first place and then for letting herself get tricked into walking into a snake's nest on top of everything else.

            "Now then," Roger was continuing. "Won't you sit down?" He waved a hand over to a set of couches and chairs. Alanna hesitated, but Alex prodded her sharply with his sword hilt and she moved to obey, boiling with anger as her fingers itched to draw her own sword and teach them a lesson; but fighting Alex or Roger one-on-one was hard enough, and after an exhausting bout with Alex there was no way she could handle them both at once.

            Alex sat beside her on the couch, and Roger seated himself comfortably on a chair facing them. Smiling genially, he poured wine from a crystal decanter into three goblets resting beside it on the shining wooden tabletop and offered two of them to Alex and Alanna.

            Watching suspiciously to make sure that Alex and Roger both drank from their goblets, Alanna put her own goblet to her mouth, unable to risk also probing the wine with magic to make sure it was not poisoned. Roger grinned, and Alanna wondered again if the sorcerer had been lying that his Gift had not returned to life with him from the Realms of Death. How else could he have known she was testing her wine with magic? And why would he have magical guards on his door? He could have guessed, of course, and could have had another sorcerer put the guards in place, but…

            Alanna put aside the thought for a moment and forced herself to concentrate on the present situation. Roger was smiling silkily at her over his goblet, and Alex's eyes followed her every move.

            "Now then," Roger commanded suddenly. "Let's get down to business. I presume Alex has told you of our… er, our knowledge?"

            Alanna nodded tensely, unconsciously building a protective wall of magic around herself. Roger gave no indication that he was aware of her shield, but Alanna was still almost certain the sorcerer had not left his Gift behind in the Black God's realms.

            "Good," Roger was continuing. "Knowing that we know something about you that I'm sure you wouldn't want known to anyone else, would you be interested in our proposition?"

            "Pigs might fly," Alanna snapped, bristling at the implied threat. "I'll never make a deal with you."

            Roger shrugged, commenting airily, "It would seem queens possessed more tact. It would also seem they had more sense."

            Alanna's temper blazed. "Sense enough to avoid a man who should be dead!"

            Roger shrugged again. "You're free to hold your opinions. But my opinion is that one should at least hear an offer before turning it down… but if you're sure… Alex, please escort the queen back to her rooms. I must summon my young cousin."

            "No, stop!" Alanna interrupted, before she could help herself. Two pairs of eyes turned to fix on her, and she shivered nervously, fear and the feeling of being trapped igniting her temper. "All right. What's your offer?" She spat the words out, hating the helpless feel of them on her tongue. She had killed this man! How could he hold her in his power so effectively? Alanna shivered again, knowing that she still feared the Duke of Conté and hating the power he had over her.

            "Our plan is simple. We don't tell the king that he is not the father of your child, and you don't let slip what you know of our… other plans, plans regarding the kingdom, and do nothing to hinder them. We will all benefit from this arrangement. I think you know what our gain is, and as for yours… well, I'm certain you'll have no trouble abdicating the throne once you are sole ruler of Tortall. The conservatives certainly don't want a Gifted female knight on the throne, and I'm sure any others can be… easily swayed."

            "And how do I gain from this?" Alanna growled, her mind racing furiously to find a way out.

            The Duke shrugged, glancing at Alex, who grinned at him. "You? You will be without a husband, free to do whatever you choose with nothing to hold you back…" He grinned wolfishly, letting his implication sink in.

            Alanna froze, her tart reply caught in her throat. In her moment of shock she let her magical shield slip, and didn't notice the orange fire taking its place until it was too late, until after it had seeped under her skin and saturated her body. The words "I can't" had almost slipped from her tongue when the orange fire caught them and forced her to swallow them, putting new words in her head. I really do want that, don't I? The thought was there, dancing around just out of her reach so that she couldn't swat it away. Over and over the words played in her mind, until it was a hopeless jumble of confusion and similarly sickening phrases. And all was bathed in the orange fire, which singled out any lone thoughts such as No! I could never hurt Jon! and flung them far away, into the remotest reaches of Alanna's mind.

            And from across the room, Duke Roger of Conté watched the inner struggle that he was helping Lady Alanna the Lioness, Queen of Tortall, to lose, a triumphant smile twisting across his face.

A/N: so neway, lets try FIVEreviews for this chapter? (from different people… ha, I see you trying to take the easy way out!) PLEASE??? Go tell yur friends about it. im evil, I wont update till I get my reviews!! Actually that's not true.. hey stop laughing, so im desperate. :-). REVIEW, PLEASE……… even if u already have, review again! Its so easy… just hit the little button down there… and make me so happy… ;-) and itll make you happy too….. just look down there, right below here, and see what a luverly personalized response you get, from ME, yur adored author.. *reminds herself um, yeah right! and makes fun of self*

AmayaNightRain11: glad u still like it! ;-) even tho im so mean to alanna… she really is my fav character tho!! And george, hehe. (and im sure yur imaging the terrible things I do to characters I don't like… *grin*)

Innocence: I know im evil… couldn't help myself… plz keep reading tho! I promise everything will work out… possibly… ;-)

pixie-pain: is this update ASAP enough for ya? :-) and ill try to get out another chapter today or tomorrow… and hopefully some next week but ill be really busy… and I am SO SORRY but ill be going to cali and portland for most of july and I don't think ill be able to work on the story!!!!!!!!  *begs pixie-pain not to strange herself*.. call the suicide hotline? :-P. but really ill do my best!!!!!!!! SORRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-(