A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I'm glad that you guys like my story so far. One reviewer told me that "Jon was such an ** to not contact her at all in three months". I just want to add that there is a story behind that and it will be told. I also agree that Jon was being a ***! Enjoy chapter 2!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the books written by Tamora Pierce.

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"Jon, breathe! It's okay. Oh Mithros I shouldn't have told you. I should have just left – " Alanna said as she began to work herself into tears. Jon didn't give her time to finish her sentence. "If you finish that sentence with 'left things the way they were,' I don't know what I'll do but it won't be good." Jon glared at her. But as she looked up at him with her sad violet eyes the glare melted and he pulled her close. "Alanna, please tell why you are crazy enough to think that I want nothing to do with this child." John said as he stroked her hair. "I know I've messed up and maybe I shouldn't have – " Alanna interrupted him this time. "If you finish that sentence with 'shouldn't have come,' I don't know what I'll do but it won't be good." Alanna pulled away. "I'll tell you why I think you want nothing to do with this child! Because then you'll have to deal with me! You haven't contacted me in three months! I get it! What I don't get is why you came tonight!"

Jon looked down at Alanna, pain across his face. "The morning after you came to my rooms and we made love I woke up and found you gone. No note or anything. I dressed hurriedly and basically ran to the stables. Moonlight was gone. I was in Darkness's stall, saddling him up so I could ride down to the village and talk to you. To find out why you left." Jonathan suddenly scowled. "Then Stefan let out a whoop of joy. I peeked out of the stall to see what he was going on about. He was dancing in a circle, singing, 'King of Thieves has a new Queen' over and over again. I knew what that meant." Jon let out a sigh and looked at Alanna. "But now I can see Stefan was mistaken, which was why I came here tonight after all these months."

Alanna held her ember necklace in her hand. The heat helped calm her. She looked up at Jon. He was looking at her. "And during those months… how many women did you sleep with?" Alanna asked as she looked away and turned red. To her surprise Jon laughed. "I'm very surprised you haven't heard! On second thought, maybe not surprised at all. The Prince turned recluse three months ago, never leaving the palace. People contributed to my mother's death, which did make me more depressed. But the thought of you marrying someone else, lost to me forever before we had a chance, was worse. It seems cruel I know to grieve over my own mother less than I grieved over you." Jon laughed bitterly.

"I didn't even know your mother died!" Alanna said as she pressed into Jon more. "I'm so sorry". Jon and Alanna sat on the bedroom floor holding each other for a moment. Jon frowned and said, "Roger's antics took a toll on her. She was going to die long ago but you saved her." Jon pulled Alanna's face up so he could see her. "She never told you how grateful she was that you saved her family. Once she even told me while you were with the Bazhir, before our… um… fight, that she was in awe of your courage to go through the initiation to Knighthood." He pulled Alanna closer and said, "As am I." Alanna looked up at him, surprised. "You never told me that." She stated. "No, because you were masquerading as a boy until you left and then we had a fight! Besides, I know you. You wouldn't have believed me." Jon grinned and Alanna laughed. "True." She said and then sighed.

"The reason I left you no note was that I was going to pack my things and say goodbye to George. I wasn't expecting to live with you in the castle but it wasn't fair to George if I pretended to love him while I only loved you. I was going to find a small loft and live there to be yours when you wanted me." Jon opened his mouth to object, but she silenced him with a finger to his lips. He grabbed her hand and held it as she continued her story. "When I reached the Dancing Dove, old Solom had a note to me from George. He had sent it from an undisclosed place and it said that he wouldn't be back for another month and to stay with his mother, Mistress Cooper, until he returned. I was fine with that, until I found my own place. I guess he also sent a pigeon to Stefan saying we were betrothed." She scowled and continued on. "Mistress Cooper acted odd, probably because she could sense I was pregnant, until I realized I hadn't received my… umm… monthly cycle." She turned red to Jonathan's great amusement. "That was the day George came home and Mistress Cooper told him I was pregnant before she told me. George was so excited because he thought the child was his. But I could feel your magic in the baby and I knew better."

"Why didn't you come to me the minute you knew?" Jonathan said, demanding more than asking. Alanna sighed again. "I knew it wouldn't be politically good for you. The father of the scandalous maiden knight's child, out of wedlock no less!" Alanna looked at him as if she would never see him again because he would realize truth in her next words. "Besides I'm not good enough for you." She tore her gaze away from his face so that he couldn't see her tears. But Jon knew what she was trying to do and caught her face in his hands. "You're wrong. I may be the prince but I don't deserve you. You, who have saved my life on numerous occasions, you, who have braved things I wouldn't have dared to do if I was a girl. And finally, you, who has loved me more than I deserve for treating you as if you were a prize I won. I don't deserve to but I love you." He looked at Alanna's tear-stained face and chuckled. "You never used to cry this much." He noted before he kissed her hair, followed by her eyelashes and then her mouth. The sudden slamming of the door broke them apart. Alanna stared into the angry and hurt hazel eyes of George Cooper.