Page 12 of Once Upon A Bear

Gideon rolled his eyes and started walking again. Trust Guinevere to lighten the mood after he made it somber. “Nobody even knows I’m a beekeeper.”

“That’s not true,” she said earnestly. “The whole town knows you’re a beekeeper, and everyone is thrilled you got rid of that hive of bees in the square. That was enough to make everyone in town fall in love with you.”

“I’m sure you’re exaggerating.” He shook his head. “I didn’t do anything.”

“On the contrary,” she said. “You took bees that were harming our town and stinging children and giving me far more patients than I wanted to deal with, and you put them somewhere where they’re not causing harm and they’re useful. Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.”

Of all the ridiculous things he’d heard lately…Gideon let a growl rumble in his chest. “I wish people wouldn’t assign such noble intentions to me. I just like honey.”

Guinevere burst into laughter. “I didn’t even—” She laughed harder. “Of course you like honey.”

He rolled his eyes.

“You’re a bear,” she giggled. “I don’t know why I never made that connection before. Of course, you want to have beehives. How much of their honey do you actually use yourself? Does anyone at the estate even know that you keep bees?”

“They know,” he said gruffly. “My mother thinks it’s the best honey in the world, but she’s my mother. Of course she has to think that.”

Guinevere smiled. “It’s a good thing your mother loves you so much,” she said. “I haven't seen mine in many, many years, and I don’t know if she even realized that I had magic.”

How long ago had she lost her mother? He didn’t want to bring up painful memories, though, so he asked a different question. “Where did it come from?”

They were nearing his den, and he wanted to turn toward it, but instead he forced himself to turn away. He was not a bear at the moment, so he didn’t need to go there. He didn’t need to remind her that he could turn into a bear at any time.

Not that she had forgotten.

“I think it came from my father’s side,” Guinevere said, leaning down to pick up a stick in their path and whipping it back and forth as if it was a wand.

Did she realize that was what she was doing?

Did she realize the motion was making Gideon’s stomach turn?

“My grandparents raised me after my mother passed away. She brought me to them when she got sick, since her parents were gone too.”

He shouldn’t have asked, but…. “Your father?”

“We don’t know where he is,” Guinevere admitted, trying to keep her tone bright, but he could see through it. Her words felt hollow, and she wouldn’t look at him. “I hope that wherever he is, he is doing well, but my grandparents passed away without knowing where he was. We haven’t seen him since before I was born.”

She said the words so matter-of-factly, as if it was normal for her to admit that she was alone in the world, and he supposed it probably was. But the idea of Guinevere having no one in the world made him sadder than he’d been in a long time.

He sighed and reached for her hand, squeezing it gently before letting go, both to comfort her and to stop the motion that made his guts churn. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I wish you weren’t so alone.”

“I’m not alone,” Guinevere said, her shoulders sliding back as she tossed the stick, corrected her posture, and strode ahead with determination. “I have my friends. I have Beatrice, and Linnea and Thea at the café, and now I have you—my most interesting patient to date.”

Gideon snorted, the noise more bearlike than he’d expected it to be. He didn’t usually snort, so he didn’t have much experience with it. “I hope that you aren’t expecting me to be the most interesting patient you have in your life.”

“We’ll see,” she said brightly. “I’ve broken one curse before, but I don’t think that one was nearly as interesting as yours.”

She’d broken another curse before? No wonder she seemed confident that she’d be able to help him. “How interesting was it?”

Guinevere glanced around as if they were going to find someone else in the middle of nowhere in this forest, then turned to him and whispered, “Lord Alexander was under a curse.”

Gideon’s ears perked up. Alexander had also been under a curse? What a surprising turn of events. He’d had no clue…which meant perhaps Alexander had also been unable, or unwilling, to talk about his situation.

Either way…maybe he could talk to Alexander about being cursed.

Well, not that he could actually say anything about it, but perhaps Alexander would be willing to talk to him.

Maybe they had even been cursed by the same man. It didn’t seem probable that there were many other sorcerers running around the Northlands—though, to be fair, it was possible. Who knew how many people were hiding magic since it was illegal? After all, Guinevere was here, and she was concealing hers.