To those who wished a longer chapter, here it is! Enjoy!

Chapter 3

"Agh! I'm so bored. I feel like a caged animal in here!" Alanna said pacing back and forth across her room. Jon eyed her from his seat across from her. "I want to start roaming again! Why had I listen to you and come back with you?"

"Because we are betrothed." replied Jon quietly, but simply to his ex-squire. He didn't want to rise up her famous temper.

'Maybe visiting Dancing Dove would be an adventure.' Suggested the black cat on her bed.

"Right, good idea, Faithful!" exclaimed Alanna, her eyes lit up suddenly.

"Why do I always feel left out whenever you two talked?" Jon asked.

"Okay, Jon, do you feel like to visit the Dancing Dove today? We might able to take Gary and Roaul along with us and I… I needed to take care of something in the city." Alanna finished a little uncertainly. Jon raised an eyebrow, Alanna just smiled sweetly at him. She hadn't told him about Lightning and she was not about to now. "No questions."

"You are commanding me?" Jon asked wickedly.

"As your future wife, I ask you to ask no questions at all." Alanna replied in a sharp tone as she put on her coat. "Come on, Faithful, Come on, Jon. We are leaving."

"Did you hear me saying I want to go to Dancing Dove?" Jon muttered under his breath, "the next time, you might call me over to you as how you will call your horse over."

Alanna heard the remark as she closed her door and grinned, "Okay, Prince Jonathan, can you go to the Dancing Dove with me tonight?"

"Now, not that formal please, Alanna, you are making me feel like talking to a court lady instead of my friend." Jon said, wincing. "To your question, yes, I'd like to go with you…umm, about Gary and Roaul, how about bring them next time? Could we just forget about them for tonight?"

"Your wish is my command, Your Highness." Alanna said.

"Agh, stop that!" Jon knew that Alanna did that to annoying him. "And you've got yours Lady Alanna of Trebond and Olau, and will be Corte." Jon added, this time, it's Alanna's turn to be annoyed. Jon wrapped his arms around her and kissed her, Alanna's snapping violet eyes softened at his touch.

"Meow!" somewhere from the shadows, Faithful urged the couple. They broke apart and laughed.

The Dancing Dove was packed as usual, but there was no trace of Marek, Rispah or George around. She asked a flower girl about them and she replied: "Ye got' a go to Port Caynn t'see them." With that, she continued to do her job. Alanna just stared after her. Then, with a quick word to Jon, who was winning a poker game, she mounted up onto Moonlight, her horse and galloped down the road in full speed toward Ms. Cooper, George's mother's house.

The house was all dark except for one window. Carefully, she entered through the back door, after she tied Moonlight on a post. Softly, she called out, "Ms. Cooper, it's Alanna." Just as her last words left her mouth. The kitchen's candle came on in full blast. Alanna covered her eyes briefly from the strong light.

"Oh, it's you dear; I thought I heard someone come into my house. I'm just not too sure. With George gone, it's really quiet out here." A white-haired, slender lady came into Alanna's view. "Sit, while I make some tea."

"Thank you, Ms. Cooper." Alanna said as she sat.

"So what brings you here, Alanna? As I recall, you are at one of the Bazhir tribe. George vowed to have his eyes on you all the time; I heard he lost you to those Bazhir's." she chuckled. "You know that he cared a lot about you."

"I know." Alanna whispered, bring back her memories of the laughing, strong-built young man who showed his affection for her not just once or twice. "Well, might as well for me to tell you this, Jonathan and I are betrothed." Alanna said softly.

"Oh, that's wonderful!" Ms. Cooper smiled warmly as she handed her a cup of tea, hard. She nearly spilled it. Even under the bright smile, Alanna could see her sadness. As if reading Alanna's observation, Ms. Cooper sighed and pulled her smiling mask off her face. "You do know that George will be heart-broken hearing the news."

"Uh-hum." Alanna nodded, a bit sad. She hated to disappoint him.

"So, I'm going to leave the telling part of the job to you. It's up to you to tell him yourself, or he found out from someone else." Ms. Cooper decided. "As a mother, I'll tell you right now that he won't be happy!"

"I know, but I think he already knew. "Alanna pointed out.

"You are right! He probably is making everyone's life miserable where he is now." Ms. Cooper said with a knowing look in her eyes. Alanna knew they were both thinking the same thing; spies.

"Anyways…" Ms. Cooper changed the subject, breaking the tension that was building between them. The evening was spent on talking about other things other than George. Finally, Alanna left the house to go back to Dancing Dove. She met Jon as he was coming out of the bar.

"Where were you, I'm just about to go out looking for you." Jon said worriedly.

"At Ms. Cooper's house." Alanna replied as they slowly made their way back to the palace.

"So, I guess you've done whatever you are supposed to do here that I'm not supposed to know." A relief grin spread across his face.

Alanna mentally kicked herself. "Um… yes."

They came to view of the palace guards. They all bowed and murmured, "Your Highness." Alanna and Jon walked up to Alanna's bedroom in silence after dismounting. Each of them were lost if their own thoughts. They both failed to notice a shadow slip out of Alanna's room.

Jon opened the door for Alanna, however Faithful slipped in first, she did a little curtsey as well as a cat's legs can manage. That made them both laugh, breaking the uncomfortable silence. They got into the room, suddenly; Jon bore her down to her bed and start to kiss her from head to toe. Alanna returned his kiss as much as possible. This was the Jonathan she loved. They started to pull each other's tunic off, when Jon asked softly. "Are you wearing your pregnancy charm?"

Alanna pulled him closer and kissed him as reply of a 'yes'. Jon broke away again. "I expect you to take that off once we got married!"

"If we get married." Alanna pointed out.

"Don't worry, we will, we will." With that, they continued their romance-filled night.

As you can see, I have trouble putting fluffs in there, but I tried my best. In the next couple of chapters, I'm going to occasionally copy parts from the story. Hope you don't mind reading part of it again. Until next time… tell me what do you think!

Sorceress Shadow Rain