Page 41 of Once Upon A Bear

But Lord Kellan seemed to be fine.

With him sitting up, she inspected the back of his head, where there was a slight gash. The hair around it was discolored, but the wound itself had stopped bleeding.

“Oh, my boy,” Lady Rendon sighed, leaning closer to look at the wound. “I thought I was done with you and your brothers bleeding all over the place now that you’re adults.”

“I’m not an invalid,” Lord Kellan grumbled as Guinevere stood and placed her hands on her hips, assessing him once more from the front. Sitting up didn’t seem to have caused any issues.

“Now to stand,” she said. “If you think you are able, my lord.”

“Please, call me Kellan,” he said, waving his hand at her. “My title is not necessary from someone who just felt more of my body than anyone has in years.”

Guinevere colored pink, and rather than look at Lord Kellan or his mother, she glanced at Gideon.

His jaw clenched and his grip on his brother’s hands was suddenly pain-inducing, given Lord Kellan’s reaction as he pulled his hands away from his brother.

Guinevere tried not to smile.

She loved watching siblings interact with each other. Since she didn’t have any of her own, it wasn’t something she got to see unless she was with a patient who had siblings.

And in this case, both of them were her patients.

As if reading her thoughts, their mother turned to her, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. “Did Gideon see you about the fact that he’s walking funny?” she asked.

Guinevere looked at Gideon, who shook his head slightly.

“I must practice patient confidentiality,” she said, though she couldn’t help wondering if perhaps there was some reason for Gideon to not tell his mother that she’d helped him. The Rendons seemed such a close bunch. Why wouldn’t he tell his mother that she had stitched him up? But then perhaps maybe he couldn’t, since it was tied to his curse.

Of course, she wouldn’t tell his mother unless he asked her to.

“Let’s give this a try,” Lord Kellan said gamely as he reached for Gideon’s hand again.

Gideon glanced at Guinevere, then down to his brother. “I know you want to go fast, but since this is the first time you’ve been knocked flat on your back by a great beast, perhaps we should try slowly.”

“I’m ready, help me up.”

Gideon shook his head. “No, I think we should go slow.”

Kellan glared at his brother, who grinned impishly. And if she didn’t know better, she would guess that Gideon was trying to annoy Kellan on purpose.

“Mother, tell him we don’t have to go slow,” Kellan said.

“I daresay the two of you can figure this out,” their mother said. “Kellan, listen to your brother.”

Kellan turned to glare at his mother, and Guinevere laughed. This family was a good one. She could tell.

And perhaps someday she might get to experience being part of a family like it.

Chapter sixteen

Gideon

Gideon had spent all his life coming in second to his brother.

It was the nature of these things. He had been born second. He would inherit second, and as his brother was two years older than him, he often came second in all their antics and adventures over the years.

But Gideon did not want to come in second to his brother when it came to Guinevere’s attention.

He pulled his brother to his feet and watched carefully as Kellan stood. The sooner Kellan was back to normal, the sooner Guinevere was not paying attention to him. He trusted Guinevere implicitly when it came to healing his brother, but he had not enjoyed watching her get so close to him to make sure that he wasn’t broken.