Disclaimer: None of this stuff is mine, except for the plot…

 Hello everyone!!

I totally love the couple A/J though I do agree they would never have made it married, so I decided since Alanna goes on about that stuff about Thayet being brought up in Royalty and so on, so she would be good for Jon, what would happen if Alanna was brought up in royalty?

 Be warned though, Alanna does not come to the palace for a visit, fall in love and live happily ever after…

 Ok, so enough of my babble, and just read on…and review…

An Unexpected Bliss

 Proposal

Slipping softly out of his bed, the young man stood silently by his window, enjoying the soft caress of the cool breeze on his bare skin. Shivering suddenly, he rubbed his hands over his shoulders, warming the cold skin.

 Rummaging through his clothes chest, he retrieved a pale blue shirt and soft black breeches and began to dress, not bothering with a tunic.

 The slender form on his bed stirred, catching his attention for a moment. Fully dressed, the young man watched the sleeping figure, beautiful even while asleep. She was curled gracefully under his sheets, brown locks spilling over his pillow like warm chocolate.

 The sound of clip clopping of hooves on the well-worn path drew his gaze back out of the window. He brushed the rich velvet drapes out of the way with long fingers, wondering who could be arriving at this time of morning.

 There were not many people about at this time, other than a few sleepy guards, milling about wearily after night-duty. Two particularly burly guards, the gate-watchman, began to pull open the black entrance gates. They pulled back slowly, grinding across stones and gravel. The young man watched on curiously, black brows furrowed. Surely his parents would have made it known to him, had there been important guests arriving. 

 Taking one last glance towards his still dreaming lover, he left the room, hurrying down recently washed stone steps, through the corridors and outside.

 The morning air was crisp and sharp, hitting him the face as soon as he stepped out. The young man inhaled deeply, feeling the clean, fresh air fill his lungs.

 When he arrived at the main gate, he was met by a small gathering of important nobles, two of them being his parents.

"Jonathan, dear, you've arrived." His mother greeted him with a warm smile.

 He smiled back before asking, "Yes, but what have I arrived to?"

 His mother looked surprised. "Didn't I tell you?"

 "Tell me what?"

 Lianne opened her mouth to answer him, but was interrupted by the arrival of a troupe of horses, five in all. Three of the horses had the colours of the royal family of Lower Tortall, while the other two were dressed in the colours of their royal guardsmen. 

 The two guardsmen dismounted and stood by their king, waiting for him too, to dismount. Behind them came both Prince and Princess, neither of them eager to leave their horses. His mother had stepped forward along with his father to greet the other King, and he supposed it was up to him to make formalities with the two children, not that they were children really, just a few years younger than him in fact.

 He went forward reluctantly, though he had not met the Princess, the Prince he had encountered and he disliked him totally. The man was a stuck-up, self-righteous bastard. Well, maybe that was going a bit too far, he was good at what he did, and maybe he had a right- no, scrap that, he didn't have a right to be self-centred just because he was a great sorcerer.

 Jonathan realised that while he'd been off in the clouds the twins - or so he had been told - were waiting expectantly for greetings and a welcome. The blue-eyed Prince blushed and stepped forward to welcome them.

  "Welcome Prince Thom," he bowed towards the younger boy, "Princess," and raised the girls hand to his lips. "I welcome you to our palace and hope that you can make yourself at home while you are here."

 Thom smiled, or was that a smirk? "Delighted, I'm sure."

The princess – what was her name again? – curtsied, but did not smile, nor show any sign of friendliness. It was Jonathan's first meeting with her, and he assumed he would have to make at least an acquaintance with her, as she would be queen of some other kingdom one day.

  The princess had wavy copper hair, same colour as her brothers. She was not wearing much face-paint, or maybe even none, but he supposed that was due to the long ride as all the court ladies he knew were very partial to face paint. She had a tinge of red on her cheeks for he long ride, making her look healthy. But what caught him most were her eyes, bright purple, and though they were the same colour as her brothers, they showed a liveliness and vivacity that he had never noticed in her brother. All in all, he concluded that though she was not beautiful as some of the court ladies, she was striking, incredibly arresting.

  But still, her personality couldn't be that great. No, he had heard that her brother did not care for many people in this world, not even his father, but she, well he had been told that Thom cared for her more than anyone else. 'Well, that would be it,' he thought, 'two of a kind.'

 

 He noticed that the two were conversing between themselves animatedly; about what he couldn't really care less. His parent's had left with King Alan, no doubt to talk about what had brought them here. Whatever it was, he hoped they wouldn't stay long. He fidgeted, not really wanting to be rude and interrupt, but standing here getting bored out of his mind wasn't really an option either.

"Ahem," he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

 Both twins looked at him, and he felt eerily as if their bright purple eyes were pushing him into a deep hole in the ground. 'So much for becoming acquaintances.'

 "Well, would you like me to show you around the palace? Or would you like to be shown to your rooms?"

 Alanna's eyes brightened at the thought of exploring the palace, but before she could say anything Thom spoke for both of them.

 "I think we'd like to be shown to our rooms," he decided archly.

 'Conceited, arrogant, pompous, pretentious-' "Oh. I mean, yes of course. Would you like to wait here for someone to get you, or would you like to come inside?" Jonathan smiled, trying to put in as much sincerity as he could muster.

This time Alanna got in first. "We'll stay outside."

"Of course, well, I hope you enjoy your visit." 'As long as you stay the hell away from me!' Jonathan was out of there faster than his legs could carry him. He pondered over returning to his room; maybe Delia was still there… 'Damn! The twins… got to send someone over…' He stalked of through the hallways with their brass ornaments and polished gold picture frames, not noticing a single one because he was formulating a plan on how to avoid the twins, mainly Thom, at all costs.

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"So…" Thom glanced at Alanna, "what do you think of his highness?"

"The Prince?"

Thom rolled his eyes. "No you fool, the Queen. Of course the Prince!"

Alanna glared at her sometimes, incredibly irritating brother.

"Don't 'you fool' me! Remember, dear brother, that I can beat you in a swordfight any day!  Imagine the embarrassment, if I challenged you publicly, and you lost! Won't your charming little friends laugh, when they see-"

"Okay, okay! I get it!" snapped Thom, knowing very word Alanna was saying, was true, and what's more, if he annoyed her enough she would probably carry through with the threat.

"The prince… well, I don't really know him…" Alanna said slowly, "but after what you said… he must really be horrible, if you hate him so much."

 Thom nodded, glad his sister agreed with him. "Now I just wonder how long he'll take to send someone over…"

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  Queen Lianne brought her fine china teacup to her rosy lips, looking the perfect picture of a King's wife. And she was the perfect wife to the King in many ways; she was a fine figure of a woman, respectable and beautiful. She was interested in all that a woman should be, good at doing all a woman should be good at, she had bore Roald a fine son, brought him up well to be responsible; Roald had no worries when it came to passing down his crown. And most of all, she gave him love, something to keep him going, something for him to look forward to, to come back to after a long day.

 Now she may have forgotten this for a moment, or maybe it was her eagerness to get her son married and settled that prompted her to encourage her husband to accept King Alan's offer, but all she thought at the time was it was an excellent plan for her son.

 "I am proposing a union between your son and my daughter."  King Alan looked expectantly at the other King, waiting for a response, or an opinion.

 Roald furrowed his brow in thought. He wasn't overly sure that this was the right thing to do. Jonathan barely even knew the girl! In fact he was sure this was the first time they had met. His wife seemed eager to accept, but she was always looking to get Jonathan settled down and married. Jonathan, on the other hand, didn't want to get married; he knew that much from talking to his son, or more, from Jonathan complaining about having to settle down quickly just because he was the Prince.

'But then, maybe the girl would be good for him, possibly she-' His train of thought was interrupted when Alan spoke again.

 "This marriage, of course, will assure peace between our nations."  King Alan smiled inwardly, knowing this would clinch the deal for him. Alanna, well, Alanna would learn to be happy with the life she was given.

 King Roald smoothed down a crease on his silk shirtsleeve. "Yes, I suppose it would." He paused for a moment and continued. "Yes, we will accept, Jonathan will marry your daughter."

 Alan stood up with a satisfied smile on his face. "Excellent, I'll leave it up to you to make plans as you wish. I shall have to be off, I must return home as soon as possible."

 Lianne stood up and showed him to the door, where a servant took over. She turned to see her husband hunched over with a troubled expression on his face.

 "It was the right decision, and a good one for both our nations. Jonathan will be happy with her, she is very sweet, very petite girl." She felt the need to reassure her husband.

 King Roald sighed and leaned back on the comfortable red leather chair. He looked up and smiled tiredly at his wife.

 "Yes, yes, I suppose your right," he conceded. "Now all we have to do is tell him…"

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Now that you've read it, (and hopefully liked it…) plz review!

                                                                                     ~ Lyra ~