Page 28 of Once Upon A Bear

Guinevere eyed him apprehensively as he made his way to the table and picked up the bottle, leaning closer to investigate it.

He sniffed it, his bear senses picking up on things that he never would have gotten with his human nose. It held notes of the herbs inside, a hint of honey, and a sweet and spicy scent that must have been her magic, because it was completely entwined with a scent that was the essence of her.

He’d thought that turning into a bear in front of her would be hard, but it had turned into a blessing he’d never expected, because now, he could pinpoint the exact part of this potion that was uniquely hers.

The potion might taste vile, but it didn’t smell vile.

It smelled wonderful.

“Are you ready?” she asked quietly.

Gideon nodded. He was more than ready. He wanted nothing more than to drink the potion and have it change everything for the better.

“Are you?” he asked as he watched her fidget with her dress.

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I want to believe that it will work.”

“Even if it doesn’t, we’re one step closer,” he told her.

“I suppose that’s true,” she admitted. “But if it doesn’t, I will feel like a failure.”

“Why?” he asked, setting the potion down and turning to face her, propping his arms across his chest. “You shouldn’t feel like a failure for trying.”

If someone had made her feel like a failure, he would like to have a word with them.

“I never learned how to do it right,” she said, with a half-hearted shrug.

“You don’t have to do something right the first time. It’s okay to make mistakes and to try again.”

“I’ve never managed it, though. Shouldn’t I learn, at some point, how to succeed at something I do regularly?”

“That’s what practicing is for, and you’re welcome to practice on me, as long as you don’t give up on me before we figure it out.”

“I would never give up,” she assured him.

“I know.” Somehow, he knew that Guinevere would never give up until she’d helped him, or whoever she was trying to help. But the fact that she thought she was a failure if it didn’t work right away…that was hard to hear.

“Give me the potion,” he said.

If it took him drinking this potion to prove to her that she was capable, then he would do it, whether or not it worked. And he had to admit he was growing more and more nervous that it wouldn’t work after hearing her talk about it.

But he wouldn’t have Guinevere thinking that she wasn’t capable.

So he uncorked the potion and tossed it back, drinking it in one go, the vile concoction nearly making him vomit before he could get it all down.

He’d thought perhaps Alexander was exaggerating.

Alexander had not been exaggerating.

It tasted as if she had ground up the toenails of every person who hated him into one awful slurry that looked deceptively like honey and was absolutely not.

But it was gone. He had drunk it, and now he would wait to see the transformation that would take place. He fought the urge to retch as he handed the potion bottle to Guinevere, who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“What’s wrong?” he asked her.

“You drank that so fast,” she said.

“You don’t believe in yourself,” he pointed out. “The least I can do, when you made me a potion anyway, is drink it. Plus, I don’t think drawing it out would have made the experience more enjoyable.”