Page 72 of Glass Hearts
I snort. “Fair point.”
“Judging by the purple under your eyes, you might as well hop on top of my back and get a bit of a rest while we head down. I know a shortcut through the forest.”
As gracefully as I can muster, I climb onto Max’s back. It is tricky to get used to the jerky motion of riding on a bear—a bear!—But once I get comfortable, sleep finds me instantly.
* * *
“Wake up, Mistress, we are at my family’s cave. It’s getting late, and we should probably stop.”
“Please, just call me Ella.”
“Very well, Ella, welcome to my home.”
A very large, regular-looking cave sits open as a large female bear stalks out with two cubs at her side.
“Sir Maxwell the Fifth, you wretched bear! Leaving me with these kids all day! And bringing a young human woman here? What are you thinking?”
“Gwendolyn, this is my new friend, Ella. I saved her, I was a right hero today, saved her life, I did! She can hear us, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Gwendolyn. Sorry for stealing Max for a bit,” I sheepishly add. If a bear could gasp, I feel like she would have.
“Dad’s a hero!” One of the little bears cheers as they both tackle their dad.
“Oh! Please be careful. The man he murdered for me stabbed him a bit.”
Gwendolyn roars at this. Right. Bears have big teeth. Let’s not bring up the stabbing.
“It’s okay, Gweny, she stitched me up good. It was just a scratch,” Max says as he continues to wrestle his children.
“Not to pry, but I thought bears don’t mate for life? I read that you all lead more promiscuous lives?”
“We do, normally. But my Gweny is special, and I don’t want any bears touching her. She is mine.” I smile and nod, loving how they don’t let their laws of nature define them.
We head into their cave, and it is dark as the sun sets. “I suppose you can’t see as well as we can. If I had known we had company coming, I would have tidied a bit.”
“No, this is perfect.”
I spot fireflies in the distance, and I ask kindly if they can provide me with a bit of light for a little while. My heart warms as I spot a large gathering of twinkling lights heading our way and enter the cave.
The little bears gasp in excitement as little fireflies fill the cave, shining like little stars on the rocky ceiling.
As the cubs fall asleep, Max fills Gwen in on all the events that happened when he became my brave, furry hero.
“Pfft. And humans call us beasts!I never liked that Randal man,” Gwen sums up at the end of his story.
“I can confirm that the humans are the beasts. Max filled me in on how hunting has been getting bad out here. Even though the Princes are no longer mine, maybe they would barter a deal for all the shit they put me through.”
Max gruffs and starts to sleep, before muttering, “Not woman talk again, she was my friend first. Sheesh.”
“Oh, shush you big goon.” Gwen turns her head to me. “What really happened before all this, dear?”
Through tears and laughs, I tell her the entire story of my brief love affair with the handsome princes who stole my heart. At one point, I lie down, leaning on Gwen, her large paw on my belly as if to comfort me.
Advice from mice, therapy from bears. This is my life, it seems.
“Are you sure they chose your stepsisters? Could they have fallen under your stepmother’s control? It seems like this evil woman holds a lot of power using the mage.”
Hope blooms in my chest. I squash it down immediately. The last time I held hope, it all went to shit.
