The Woman Who Rides Like a Man by Tamora Pierce Page B

lamps. He watched her as she moved around the tent. "What are you grinning about?" he wanted to know as she doused the last light.
    She lay down and snuggled up against his shoulder, smiling contentedly. "Well, 'women of bad reputation' go without veils among the Bazhir," she confided. "All this time I haven't worn a veil, but it took me until tonight to get a bad reputation."
    Jon chuckled and kissed her. "I'm glad to hear that. I was worried about you, among all these handsome men."
    "You didn't have to," she grinned. "They respect me as a shaman and a warrior, but they don't even remember I'm a woman most of the time."
    "Silly of them," Jonathan whispered. "I can't forget it—not that I haven't tried, these past months."
    "I'm sure you have," Alanna drawled, remembering how the women of the Tortallan Court always flocked around her Prince.
    For a while they were silent in the dark, thinking, and being content just to hold each other. Then Alanna ventured, "Jon?"
    "I intend to become the Voice of the Tribes." He stroked her hair.
    Alanna sat up. "How did you know that was what I wanted to ask?"
    She could feel his shrug. "I just did."
    Slowly she lay back down. "Ali Mukhtab said the ceremony is dangerous."
    "I need the power I can get from it. The Bazhir are incredible people, Alanna. Their history is as old as ours—older. And we lose too many men to the Bazhir. It will be better for everyone if they take part in Tortall, instead of tying up our armies within our own borders."
    "I've been happy among them," she admitted. "I'll be glad when they aren't at war with our soldiers."
    "Have you been so content that you won't consider leaving?"
    Alanna stiffened, feeling wary. "I have to bring Kara and Kourrem through the Rite of Shamans before I can go. Why?"
    "Once that's done, I had hoped you would come home."
    "I doubt that the scandal over my fight with Duke Roger has died down," she reminded him.
    He silenced her with a hand over her lips. "Come as my betrothed."
    The word lay between them, growing larger and larger. Finally Alanna gasped, "Jon, I can't."
    "Why not?"
    "Because I'm a scandal. I killed your cousin. For six years I was disguised as a boy—"
    " I knew what you were, for most of that time."
    "You should marry a princess who'll bring you power and gold," she went on. "That's your duty. And you should marry a virgin."
    "You were a virgin when we first made love."
    "No one else knows that!" she cried, frustrated. Remembering the tent's thin walls, she lowered her voice. "They'll say I was in bed with a whole regiment, behind your back."
    "Do you think your friends will permit that kind of talk? You have more friends at Court than you know. As to my marrying someone who will bring me power—what of you? You're a woman knight and a Bazhir shaman. I could marry the daughter of a Bazhir chief, and not gain as much stature as I will if I marry you. Besides," he went on, his voice suddenly hard, "I'm tired of worrying about such things. I want what I want, not just what's good for Tortall. I've spent my entire life watching what I say and do, for fear of upsetting the merchants, or the Gallans, or the priests, or anyone. They should worry about upsetting me —not the other way around!"
    "Is that why you're asking me to marry you?" she whispered. "Because you want to prove to everyone you don't care?"
    For a long moment he didn't reply. When he spoke, his voice was very low. "I thought you loved me, Alanna."
    "I do!" she whispered fiercely. "I do! But—" What he had said—the resentment in his voice—worried her. And how could she explain that it was wonderful not to have to trouble herself over Court plots and plotters? Not to have to watch how she acted or what she said, apart from not offending her new tribe? For the first time she could be fully and completely Alanna; she was still learning just who "Alanna" was.
    "Marry me, sweet one," he whispered. "I love you. I want you for my wife."
    It was too much, all