A/N: Welcome to the next chapter. I was easily swayed to post the next chapter earlier, I wanted to anyway, but then someone told me to so I did! Aren't you incredibly excited? I am!

"Alanna, will you marry me?" asked the prince. Alanna sighed with pleasure and accepted. Jon pulled out a ring that he had hidden in his robes. "This was my mother's…I know she would have wanted you to have it. She always liked you after the Sleeping Sickness struck. I still miss her."te

"Oh, I know Jon. I miss my mother too." She leaned into her fiancé for comfort and soon found that she was kissing him. She loved everything about him, and he felt the same way. She could tell from the way he handled her. It was different from the first time he had kissed her. Then, it had felt as if he knew she was a knight and a girl at the same time. A little rough, she had always felt, but now it was better. She felt like a girl, and Jon's girl, not just a female knight. She sighed again and she and Jon stayed together for the rest of the night.

When they awoke in the morning, Alanna was thrilled to find Jon beside her again. She had been certain that he would be gone and George would be there in his place. When Jon saw she was awake, he leaned over and kissed her. She got up, laughing, and got dressed. She and Jon went hand in hand to breakfast. When they had finished eating, Alanna went to Myles. Myles nodded and said, "Congratulations!" Alanna was confused at first, but then followed Myles' gaze to her finger and then to Jon, and she understood. "I'm sure Jon will make an excellent son-in-law. Imagine me as the father of the King of Tortall." Myles laughed heartily at his own joke. Alanna blushed and returned to Jon's side.

The next morning, Jon announced that he and Alanna were engaged. The entire tribe clapped and cheered at this. Alanna had no idea how so many people knew, but she couldn't care less. She was with the man of her dreams, and it didn't matter. After a brief discussion, Alanna and Jon decided to leave the Bloody Hawk tribe within the week to prepare for their upcoming week. Also, Alanna needed to begin lessons on becoming the Queen. Jon firmly insisted on this, even thought Alanna tried to persuade him otherwise. Alanna had to admit, Jon could be very convincing. First, he just tried talking to her, then, when that didn't work, kissing her. That worked, and Alanna said yes, as long as he didn't stop. He didn't, so Alanna took Queen lessons.

At the end of the week, Alanna and Jon bid a tearful farewell and rode out of the tribe on Moonlight and Darkness. The trip was highly enjoyable as both Alanna and Jon were ecstatic. By the end of the first day, Alanna could think of no place she'd rather be than right there beside Jon. The trip was only a few short days, and the couple was sad to see it end. Laughing all the way to the palace gates, they were greeted by the King himself. "Good afternoon, Father!" said Jon upon reaching him. "Alanna has accepted my proposal, and we'd like to have our wedding as soon as possible." King Roald did not seem surprised at this. He merely sighed and said, "Good afternoon to you too" and ushered the pair inside. Alanna laughed and Jon grinned at his foolishness. Soon enough, the King joined in the laughter too. Alanna knew she would have a lot of fun at this place, especially with Jon.

The next weeks were intense. There were wedding plans to be..planned, queen lessons to be taken, time to spend with each other (in very miniscule amounts) and no end to noble visitors arriving for wedding festivities. Alanna found them all stuffy and boring whiny people and the queen lessons were hard and weddings were horribly complicated and she had no time to spend with Jon and she didn't like it one bit. Alanna would be immensely relieved when this whole business was finished. However, there was the issue of producing a male heir rather quickly… Alanna had talked to Jon about it numerous times. "I just don't want kids right away, Jon." pleaded Alanna.

"I know you don't. And I don't if you don't. But royal life doesn't work that way. I'm an only child, remember. My parents wanted more kids, but I was all they got. They don't want that to happen to us and it's royal law that the first thing a new king must do is produce an heir. I'm not king yet, but my father is getting older and my mother is no more, Mithros rest her soul. And I'm not growing any younger…" That was the end of that discussion. Alanna rolled with the punches. That was one thing she had learned to do in all her years in training. Besides, she liked the process of becoming pregnant, even if she wasn't quite ready to actually have a baby. 'Oh well' she reasoned with herself. 'It will make Jon happy, and that's all that matters. It's not the end of the world.' And that was that.

The wedding was finally planned to the last detail, Alanna felt marginally competent enough to become the new queen of Tortall, and Jon was happy. So was Alanna, mostly. She had never exactly enjoyed being a noble. Too many rules and too many people to please. She liked being herself, even thought that self was very open about what it thought about people. Anyway, the wedding was planned for the seventeenth of April. Alanna loved that day. No particular reason why. Maybe it's because it would be her anniversary. That was two days away, and Alanna was hectically scrambling about making last minute plans etc. Her dress was all ready to go and the food was already being prepared by the finest chefs in the country. Everything was perfect, and Alanna couldn't be happier. This was so much better that her wedding with George. She never thought about him these days. In fact, the moment she had any time to think about it, she made sure that King Roald threw him in jail, never to see the light of day again. The day she was married to George, she wore a purple dress, to match her eyes, George had said. She figured now that was because he couldn't stand anything as good as the colour white. Her dress now was brilliant white silk with inlaid pearls and diamonds. White lace was frothing at the ends of the long flowing sleeves and delicately bubbling over the (rather low) neckline. Alanna just adored that dress. Of course, she would never wear it again, but she could persuade Jon to have it framed and hung up in their bedroom. Just think, their bedroom. No longer visiting each other's rooms, worrying about who would barge in and think that their prince was gay and making love to his classmate, who was either gay as well or being assaulted/raped. They could be proper lovers now. People obviously knew that Alanna was a girl now, but before, there had been some issues. Jon had to 'dispose' of a former classmate who had walked in on them once. No on knew what ever happened to him. No one cared either. He had run around for a few hours ranting about how Jon was gay, and then he disappeared off the face of the earth. Alanna and Jon laughed about that now and then, and it usually led to some more of the stuff which the former page had caught them doing. Alanna couldn't get enough of Jon. He was so kind, gentle, funny, caring…her list could go on and on for miles. He was her dream man, no doubt about it. She did not miss George at all, and would be rather glad if he never appeared in her life again. When she had gone back in time, she had been 2 months pregnant, and she definitely didn't miss carrying George's child. And now that Jon had convinced her that they had to start a family early, she was a bit excited. She had liked the fact that there was a human being growing inside her, even though it was George's. Of course, her pregnancy had disappeared when she went back too. Alanna shuddered to think of what Jon would say if their first child was not his.

Alanna's next two days were hectic, full of rushing around and refitting her dress in case she had gained or lost the slightest bit of weight. Jon was a nervous wreck. He didn't know what he was doing. He knew that he love Alanna and could never stop loving her, but that didn't make his wedding seem any easier. "Alanna!" he cried the afternoon before their wedding. "Come here quick!" Alanna rushed over to the couch on which Jon was sitting. When she got there he stood up and grabbed her around the waist and drew him close to himself.

"What's wrong, Jon? You sound scared."

"I dreamt…I dreamt last night...that you didn't…love me anymore. You were in love with George." Jon let go of Alanna and put his face in his hands. "I need to know that you still love me."

"Oh Jon!" Alanna grabbed Jon's arm and pulled him so that their faces were pressed together. Then she kissed him passionately. He did not pull away, so she reached for his shirt and he reached for hers and…well, I'm pretty sure that you can guess the rest. If not, just pretend that Tamora Pierce is here and she'll tell you exactly what is happening. If you STILL don't know what the heck is going on, I'm not entirely sure if this is the most appropriate story for you to be reading. Well, anyway, when they were finished wan lying on top of each other on the aforementioned couch, Alanna said, "Well, what do you think, Jon?"

Jon grinned. "I'll take that as a yes!" He kissed her one last time, then they both laughed uproariously.

"I will always love you forever and ever. That's why we're getting married, remember? Also, I hate George. I'm pretty sure that he was plotting to kill you at one point in time. "

"Well, it's a good thing he's shut up in the dungeons then!" laughed Jon. "Can you believe we're getting married tomorrow? It's such a frightening thought. I mean, I've always loved you, but this is a huge step for me."

"I know. I'm really nervous. I know that you love me though, and that's all I need. I've been thinking though…" At this Jon's face blanched, as if he was nervous about what Alanna would say next. "That I'm excited to have a baby with you." Colour rushed back into Jon's face, more than before. He was embarrassed. "Why, what do you think I was going to say?" asked Alanna.

"I dunno…I'm just so excited and nervous. I think that something will happen to ruin it all. It's…I'm…I'm…well I don't know." Jon finished with a laugh. Alanna laughed too. He looks cute when he laughs, she thought. I mean, I know he looked cute when he laughed before, but I really noticed now. I will make him laugh more often now. She sighed a sigh of pleasure and closed her eyes. Within minutes, she was asleep.