The Adarna and the Bear

A curse she's desperate to keep. An elusive cure to save his king. Two quests collide, but only one can succeed.

Runa, guardian of a hidden sanctuary for magical creatures, is spellbound to never lie. This has always made for interesting covert operations. When a mission goes horribly wrong, she finds herself cursed to be a bear by day. But as long as she never triggers the second part of her curse, being a bear has its advantages.

Juan, third prince of an isolated kingdom with a secret family legacy of his own, travels incognito in search of the legendary Adarna bird to cure his dying father. When he breaks his leg defending a family of wood sprites, he is sure that it will be his end, but he is rescued by a white bear. Taken to a mountain castle, he is tended to by invisible servants and visited nightly by a mysterious hooded woman.

When Juan realizes the woman and the bear who saved him are the same, he determines to find her countercurse, unaware that his success will likely doom her and all the creatures she protects.

Retelling East of the Sun, West of the Moon and Ibong Adarna

The Intertwined Tales is a multi-author series of clean fairytale retellings. Each novella entwines a famous fairytale with a lesser-known story to create one happily ever after. These standalone stories can be enjoyed in any order.