Red Hood's Revenge

and Siqjab both. The fairy church teaches that their race was sent to protect us, even from ourselves. The hedge was simply meant to shelter me from the unworthy. So my would-be rescuers lived. Impaled by thorns, trapped within the hedge, they survived for weeks or months. Sometimes even longer. Every effort was made to free them. Nothing succeeded. No blade could cut the vines, no shovel penetrated the earth. Not even fire would burn the hedge. Those who tried to fight the hedge often ended up impaled as well.
    “The first temple arose to care for those trapped princes. The sisters used bowls attached to long poles to deliver food and drink. They used those same poles to send medicines to ease the pain. For those who asked, they would send other medicines to end it all.
    “One prince survived for three years, five months, and eleven days. That was the longest, though he was mad at the end, his mind destroyed by his imprisonment and the heat of the desert sun. Others died when their wounds festered or disease took them or they simply gave up, refusing food or drink until they withered away.
    “The temple did everything they could to turn princes away. They asked any prospective rescuer to spend a week working in the temple, tending the poor fools stuck in the hedge. It was enough to save a few souls, those smart enough to recognize what awaited them, but most were too headstrong to be dissuaded. They were royalty. You know how they can be.”
    “I’ve learned,” Danielle said dryly.
    “Each one was certain he was worthy to pass through the hedge and save the sleeping princess trapped beyond. Each one failed, and with every death, Arathea fragmented further. By the time Prince Jihab arrived, Arathea had spent most of a century at war, and the Temple of the Hedge had spread across the country, offering their services to all in need. Most of the royal bloodlines donated generously to the temple for the care of their sons. By the end, the temple’s coffers rivaled those of the fairy church.”
    Danielle glanced at Snow. “How are they at treating injuries to the head?”
    “I doubt there’s much Khardija could do for her that Tymalous hasn’t already tried.”
    “I’d still like to ask, if there’s time.”
    “If there’s time.” Talia pursed her lips. “Snow won’t be happy.”
    “I’ll deal with Snow.” Danielle looked around at the plain walls, the frayed panels overhead. “I take it the temple’s fortunes changed?”
    Talia massaged her scarred hand. She rarely spoke of what came next, not even to Snow. “Prince Jihab and his family brought enchanted axes against the hedge. The hedge had claimed Jihab’s father years before. By the time Jihab arrived, the curse was dying. For weeks they hacked their way through, until finally they reached the palace. Jihab entered alone. When he was unable to waken me, he returned through the hedge, the first prince ever to emerge alive. He declared me dead and ordered the palace sealed from the outside. Rumors spread that the temple had known, that they had lured princes to the hedge in order to fund their growth. Jihab was a hero for discovering the truth, and the temple was nearly ruined.
    “Nine months later, I awoke.” She flexed her hand, remembering the pain of bone still broken after a hundred years. “Everyone I had ever known lay dead. Jihab’s family murdered them in their sleep, to prevent them from ever awakening to challenge their rule. I’ve no doubt he would have done the same to me, if not for his uncertainty as to what my death would do to the curse. He left twenty men to guard the hedge, and the temple remained to help care for the handful of surviving princes. Jihab refused to let his axes be used to free them.”
    She shook her head. “When I awoke, childbirth had left me torn and weak. I staggered from the ruins of my home and made my way through the path Jihab’s men had carved. The hedge was dying, but retained enough evil to bloody me as I escaped. Its final act of hate. My awakening had broken the remains of the curse, and the hedge died soon after.
    “One of Jihab’s soldiers nearly killed me that day, thinking me a demon escaped from the thorns. When they realized who that bloody, whimpering creature was, they brought me to the temple. The sisters did what they could to tend my wounds. They sent someone to retrieve my children from the castle—”
    “You left them behind?” Danielle asked. Talia simply looked at her