Chapter Three
Livia
“Once upon a time, in a cottage by a stream, there lived three men. Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin. Tall, strong, and scary, they had the perfect combination to keep everyone away. The villagers at the foot of the mountain on top of which they lived, feared them sufficiently enough that they were called monsters of the night, ghouls, or deathly beasts whose paths should not be crossed.
“Some people said they were infinitely scarier. They slept through the winter and ate honey and berries in the summer. They could hear sounds that humans couldn”t, and they were faster than man on earth. Other animals quivered in their presence, then fled in fright. Some animals bowed in respect to them before they slowly backed away.
“One thing was certain. They were best left alone, and soon they were entirely forgotten.
“But one day, far in the treacherous forest, a golden-haired beauty by the name of Goldenia was being chased by a barbaric army of men. Goldenia’s father had wanted her to marry the cruelest man of them all, and in fear, she had run away into the forest.
“Goldenia tripped over rotten branches, skinned her knees, and bruised her cheeks. She ran until she couldn’t feel her legs anymore, deeper and deeper into the darker parts of the forest. Nothing could be worse ahead of her than the devil she knew chasing after her.
“She had already decided on her death, but it would be on her terms and no one else”s.
“Her determination spurred her on, and she ran and ran tirelessly. As the sun set in the sky and gave way to darkness, she lay hidden in the shadows of the night forest, waiting until she could no longer hear her name being shouted.
“Exhausted, slumber overcame her, and she fell asleep, curled inside the alcove of a tree’s rotting roots. She had no idea how much time had passed—only that she was dying of hunger and thirst, and her body had grown as cold as a corpse. She was convinced she had run the whole day and half the night.
“Slowly, she crept out of her hiding place, hurt and heartbroken that her father cared so little for her when faced with a bag of gold. She stumbled through the gnarly forest, ready to accept her fate as the fight in her dwindled.
“Suddenly, the treacherous, thorny earth gave way to a gentle rustle of leaves beneath her bloody feet. The scent of damp earth and rot gave way to the crispness of pine and wildflowers, of woodsmoke, and of homeliness as the sun started to rise in the sky.
“It was as if she had stepped over a magical portal into a charming part of the forest. She wasn’t from the village below, so she was unfamiliar with the parts around her.
“Her father had to sail a boat across the waters for them to meet her new husband, only to discover she had been tricked by them both. He had sold her, and her future husband intended to use her as a slave, not a bride he doted upon.
“Drawn by the swirls of smoke coming from a chimney in the roof, she hurried forward, wanting nothing more than to warm her frozen feet and rest her aching head and heart for a moment.
“She knocked repeatedly on the door, and when no answer was given, she turned the knob, and the door clicked open.
“Immediately she was swathed in a blanket of warmth from the large fireplace, the sweet aroma of porridge, and three comfortable beds. She called out as loudly as she could. She waited for what felt like an eternity for an answer before Goldenia promised she would take what she needed for now, and when the owners returned from wherever they were, she would find a way to repay them.
“She rested her wary limbs in front of the fireplace and warmed her feet. She tasted the porridge, and soon, satiation gave her a warm glow from the inside. Warm, fed, and tired, she sought out one of the beds on which to lay her head, only for a moment… just for one moment.
“While it felt as if she had been asleep for days on the warm, comfortable bed, only minutes had passed when she was awoken by the strange, almost comforting weight of the gaze of three strangers standing around the bed on which she had laid her head.
“Goldenia sprang up from the bed, repeatedly blinking, as she tried to tell herself she was not imagining the three huge and handsome men standing around her with puzzled expressions on their faces. They were very much real.
“At once, she thought she had run away from a cruel man into the arms of three cruel men. But surely a girl who had been good all her life didn’t deserve such a brutal twist.
“‘What is this?’ asked the men in unison. ‘We stroll our land while our breakfast cools and come back to this?’
“One of them then said, ‘She warmed my chair with her sweet bottom.’
“The second said, ‘She ate my porridge with a spoon that touched my lips.’
“And the third said, ‘She sleeps in my bed, where I dream of a soft woman’s body to heat my loins.’
“And so it was decided.
“‘This makes her ours,’ they all said together.
“Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin tended to her scrapes and bruises. They fed her meat and vegetables and kept her warm and safe, and it was almost immediately that she fell in love with each of the three men who took her as their bride.
“But something troubled her three husbands, and Goldenia wasn’t going to rest until she discovered the reason, they would turn somber after telling her they loved her as if they were hiding something from her. She soon pulled the reason out of them.
“They were both men and bears. At first, she didn’t believe them until they showed her, shifting from their human forms into the bodies of bears.
“Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin were wrecked with the worry that Goldenia would flee from them in fear. But their sweet, gentle bride stood her ground. She bravely reached out and touched their thick fur. She said their names and smiled when they growled softly against her.
“She loved them in any form, and nothing could change that.
“Goldenia was convinced she had found her happy ever after with her three bears. Their cottage was so deep in the woods that no one would ever find it.
“But someone did find her.
“The cruel man she was supposed to marry had come to collect the bride he had paid an exorbitant amount of money for, and he wasn’t leaving without her. He brought with him hundreds of men, crazed and hungry for a kill, driven by the promise of a huge reward.
“To protect their beloved Goldenia, Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin had been forced to fall back on their true selves. They were forced to bring out the bears in them to fight off the men who were going to take away their beautiful bride. There was nothing they wouldn’t do for her.
“But the cruel man would not be bested, and he brought more and more men. And they were more and more menacing.
“He quadrupled the rewards for the heads of the three bears and the heart of their bride for making a fool of him. The town below the mountain became deranged and obsessed with killing the bears and their bride for money.
“Soon, the three bears found the cruel man who hid in a tower while other men fought his battles for him, and they killed him.
“But that did not stop the war.
“Men who changed into bears were considered the devil’s work, and Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin had to die. Knowledge of their existence became widespread. Men from a hundred other villages came to fight them. The war against them grew relentless. Their message was clear. Give the men back their human bride, and the bears’ lives would be spared.
“But Bernard, Barrett, and Bruin could not bear to see their bride under such duress. Her gentle heart couldn’t take the never-ending violence the cruel man brought to the door of her husbands.
“And as the melodious stream that ran near their cottage turned crimson with blood, their bride lapsed into an inescapable melancholy. She wanted the war to end. She didn’t want any more bloodshed.
“Weakened by her sorrow, she prepared to have her heart broken in three when she decided she was going to hand herself over to the men to end the dark war between them.
“But the three bears were not going to let her go. There was only one thing they could do to keep the light alive in their beautiful bride’s eye. They put aside their pride and during a lull in the battle, they packed up only what they needed, and set sail across the ocean.”
I pause, and can’t help the smile on my face when I finish telling Faith the original story of the three bears.
“That is the most beautiful love story I ever heard,” Faith sniffs, her eyes sparkling as she holds her hand against her heart. “A perfect fairytale. But then what happened?” she asks eagerly.
“Well, they landed on English soil,” I say, “And also learned their bride was expecting their first child. The three bear shifters decided it was best for their family that they didn’t draw any unwanted attention to themselves, and by that, they meant no one could know they were bear shifters.”
“How did they do that?”
I smile at Faith’s enthusiasm now, but she still believes it’s a made-up fairytale.
“They decided to lock down that side of themselves for good by never shifting again. Eventually, they lost more and more of their ability to shift until it became impossible to do so again.”
“They lived happily ever after?” Faith asks.
“Oh, yes. They became merchants, which made them some of the richest men in the world, and their bride, whom they loved more every day, couldn’t have been happier because her family was finally safe. The end.”
“I know you did a lot of research, but it feels personal. How did your fascination with this start?” Faith is really curious now, and I can see the look in her eye that says ‘Do I even know you?’
She knows nothing about my mom’s mental state to start with. She knows the version of her death that my father created and pulled off. My mom fell off a broken balcony. Still, I don’t want Faith to think of my mom the way my father had.
“My mom…” I say, swallowing the sadness in my tears and replacing them with excitement and finally some peace for both my mom and I.