Red Hood's Revenge

nice change from her previous view of the trees and the backside of Talia’s horse.
    Talia glanced over her shoulder. “How are you feeling?”
    Snow covered a yawn. Before she could speak, Talia pulled her horse to a halt, blocking the road.
    “You’re falling asleep in the saddle,” Talia said.
    “I just need to stretch.” She climbed down from the horse and tossed back the hood of her riding cloak, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand. She dug through her saddlebag until she found a small parcel of willow bark. Normally she would have brewed a tea with the bark, but in a pinch, it could be used raw. She popped a strip into her mouth and grimaced at the bitter taste.
    “You’re eating trees!”
    “Only the bark,” Snow said. “To keep my back from tightening up. We don’t all have fairy magic coursing through our bodies to keep us graceful and limber, you know.”
    “Your back,” Talia repeated. “Right.” Concern made her words unusually awkward. “You’ve used a lot of magic this week. Preparing the storeroom for Rumpelstilzchen, breaking the spells on the children, then tracking Charlotte and Roudette. Are you sure you’re ready for this? Your injury—”
    “Is fine. Tymalous said so himself.” Snow threw the rest of the bark back into the saddlebag and yanked it shut. In truth, her head had been throbbing for most of the day. “If the king’s healer says my skull is healed, who are you to argue?”
    “I’m the one who sees you every day, who sees the way your eyes tear up when you overexert yourself magically and notices the way you rub the back of your head when you think nobody’s watching. I’m the one who saw you crumpled on the steps after being slammed against a wall by a mermaid’s angry air spirits.”
    Snow said nothing. Tymalous had pronounced her skull healed from the fracture she had received during that fight. He had also warned her that some damage yet lingered beneath the bone and that the effects of such injuries could last for years. All of which Snow already knew. Just as she knew she wasn’t going to spend the rest of her days as an invalid.
    “You need me,” Snow said. “You need my magic to help sneak up on Roudette and counter whatever tricks she might have prepared.”
    Talia slid from her horse. She lowered her eyes, her words momentarily losing their edge. “Not if it’s going to hurt you. Trittibar can be my magical backup.”
    “Trittibar?” Snow laughed, nearly spitting out her bark. “You two would kill each other before you even reached Roudette.” She sighed and rubbed her eyes. “I promise to rest once this is over. Will that satisfy you, Mother? I swear you’re as bad as Danielle.”
    “Rest now. We can ride double.”
    Snow stiffened. “I have some medicines in here that will wake me up. Give me a moment to find them, and I’ll be—”
    “How many times have you lectured me about those medicines?” Talia demanded. “How each one takes its toll, and how most of the time the best thing for a body is rest, not drugs?”
    “When did you start listening to me?” Snow muttered.
    There was a time she would have joined Talia without hesitation. They had ridden together countless times on missions for Queen Bea. Snow had grown up without brothers or sisters, but she couldn’t imagine a sister being as close as she and Talia had become over the years. Two princesses, both exiled from their lands, both given a new home by Beatrice.
    Sometimes she wondered if that wasn’t why Beatrice had sought them out, to unite each of them with the one person who might understand what the other had lost. Talia had become her closest friend, but things had changed last year when Snow learned Talia’s feelings for her went beyond friendship. Neither of them had spoken of it, and most days Snow did her best to pretend she didn’t know, but—
    “Stop wasting time,” said Talia. “Even if you make it to Stone Grove without falling off your horse, the last thing I want is an exhausted sorceress flinging magic around while I’m trying to fight a killer.”
    Snow stuck out her tongue, but Talia had a point. She finished buckling the saddlebag and surrendered to logic, walking over to join Talia.
    Talia’s grip was strong and calloused. She hauled Snow up with ease, settling her in the front of the saddle. Mumbled protests erupted from Snow’s belt pouch. She settled the pouch into her lap with a quick apology to Trittibar for nearly sitting on