Page 4 of Once Upon A Bear

“I’d be happy to spar with you if you’d like a larger partner,” Hopkins offered.

Gideon glanced at his father’s guard and nodded. “If I’m free later, I would appreciate that.”

The words were sour on his tongue. He didn’t know what Hopkins thought of him and the way he disappeared all the time. He’d heard the rumors. He knew they all thought different things.

It didn’t matter that none of them were true.

Nobody expected Lord Gideon Rendon to be a bear.

It wasn’t possible—who in their right mind would expect Gideon to be cursed when everyone knew that magic wasn’t real? Or if it was real, it was illegal.

“I look forward to it,” Hopkins said, before turning back to Cook and kissing her cheek. “I’ll see you later, Melanie.”

Gideon raised an eyebrow at Cook as Hopkins hurried out to the courtyard, fighting the urge to smirk when she started blushing.

Her name was Melanie? Maybe it was the fact that he’d grown up with her ruling this kitchen, but he’d always just called her Cook.

And the fact that she was blushing over Hopkins was adorable. Hopkins seemed young for her, but who was he to judge? It was wonderful that Cook had found love a second time after losing her first husband. If anything, they made him jealous, because they had each other.

No one would want to love a man who was cursed to be a bear.

He shook his head as he covered the open jars of honey. There was no use in getting lost in jealousy and things that could have been. This was his life and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Can I borrow a basket from you?” he asked.

“Yes.” Cook simply pointed to the baskets hanging on the wall, not making eye contact.

Gideon bit back his chuckle. Maybe she wasn’t quite comfortable being caught with Hopkins in the kitchen.

“Thanks,” he said as he loaded the honey into the basket before making his way toward the courtyard.

“And Cook?” he asked, turning around to look at her.

She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. She’d never been one for many words, but she had been around for most of his life, and he could read her like a book.

“I’m happy for you,” he said gruffly, and the lines around her eyes softened.

The smile made her look so much younger. He’d never really thought about it, but she must have been quite young when she became their cook. Putting up with him and his brothers had probably aged her faster.

“I don’t want to hear another word about it,” she said, waving her wooden spoon at him. “Go on.”

Gideon grinned as he ducked out the courtyard door and made his way toward the front gate.

He had honey to deliver.

Gideon preferred to walk to town.

His brothers always rode, unless Sophia wanted to walk. But the first time Gideon had tried to ride his horse to town after the curse, he’d turned into a bear and had lost the horse, which had spooked at the sight of him.

His parents had been kind about losing the horse, of course, but ever since then Gideon had walked to town.

It wasn’t as if he could tell them that he’d turned into a bear and that was the reason the horse had spooked. Apparently, silence had been built into the curse when he was given it…and any time someone had seen him as a bear, they’d only seen a predator.

He’d given up on trying to work around the curse after the first year or two. It never worked and only left him frustrated.

As he walked, he hummed under his breath, a habit he’d picked up in his early days as a bear when he was simply trying to keep himself calm while trapped in such an unusual form. He couldn’t let the fear win. He’d learned that the hard way.

It had been a few years since then, and humming seldom failed to distract him from his fears and the fact that life was passing by while he slept in his den.