Red Hood's Revenge

distracted.
    Danielle watched Snow closely as they rode. Snow’s scarf hid all but her eyes, making it difficult to read her mood, but it was clear something was bothering her. Normally she would have been joking with Talia or singing an obnoxious drinking song. The danger posed by Zestan and the Wild Hunt should have only made the songs more cheerfully obscene. Instead, Snow rode in silence. Fatigue at having used so much magic, or something more?
    Roudette raced ahead of the others. She appeared to be testing the limits of Snow’s binding spell, running until she stumbled, then waiting for the others to catch up. She repeated this time and again, each time getting about fifty paces before the curse stopped her. Once she even managed to scare up a lizard the size of Danielle’s arm, which she gulped down as eagerly as Jakob did sweets.
    Whereas Snow was uncharacteristically quiet, Talia was almost chatty, commenting on various landmarks as they rode: hills of orange rock rippling like waves on the sea; an abandoned village, half-buried in the sand; a stone wall that stretched for more than a mile.
    “Why build a wall in the middle of the desert?” Danielle asked.
    “To hunt gazelle.” Talia pointed into the distance. “A mile away, a second wall would have angled toward the first. The Kha’iida herded the animals into the narrowing walls, trapping them in a circular pen at the end. The animals could only escape by leaping over low spots in the walls, at which point they would fall into the pits on the outside. Some tribes still use them.”
    “I thought such traps were forbidden by Siqkhab,” said Snow, speaking up for the first time since setting out that morning.
    “They are,” Talia said cheerfully. Snow didn’t answer.
    Enough of this. Danielle whispered to her horse and Snow’s, asking them to slow down. When the others pulled ahead, she guided her mare closer to Snow. “What’s wrong?”
    “Aside from being stuck in the middle of Arathea, you mean?” Snow brushed her hands against her robe. “I feel like I’m carrying enough sand in my hair and clothes to start my own desert.”
    “You’ve been quiet ever since you cast that spell last night. Is that what’s bothering you? You made the right choice. You saved Faziya’s life.”
    “Maybe.” Snow shrugged. “We’ll have to see how she heals. Dragging her across the desert won’t help matters.”
    “You don’t like her, do you?”
    “It’s not that.” Snow turned away, adjusting her sleeves to pull the cuffs down over her hands.
    “Snow?”
    Snow sighed. “It’s not Faziya. It’s her .”
    “Roudette?” Danielle asked.
    “Talia. She’s different here. She’s been acting differently ever since we arrived. It’s only gotten worse since we found Faziya.”
    “This is her home.” Danielle paused. Despite fairies and humans both hunting for them, Talia was home. Whereas Snow was even farther from Allesandria than ever. A part of her had to envy Talia the chance to see her homeland once more.
    “Look at her.” Snow’s sleeve flapped as she jabbed a hand at Talia and Faziya. “They’re as bad as you and Armand used to be, back before you had Jakob and you turned boring.”
    “Boring?” Danielle stared, trying to gauge whether Snow was joking. “We’re not—”
    “The first night the two of you met, you danced until midnight. When was the last time you stayed awake that late? Between tending to Jakob, working with your tutors, and taking over Beatrice’s responsibilities around the palace, how often do you and Armand exchange more than a tired peck on the cheek before crawling into bed?”
    “You’re trying to change the subject,” Danielle said.
    Narrowed eyes scowled at Danielle. “Between you huddling over that mirror, whispering to Armand and Jakob every time we stop, and Talia making out with Faziya all night long—”
    “Really?” Danielle asked. “The whole night?”
    Snow looked heavenward. “I exaggerate. You should know that by now.” She sighed. “I’m not used to being the one without anything warm to press up against at night.”
    “You poor thing. A whole day in Arathea, and you haven’t met anyone? I suppose you could always ask Roudette.”
    “Don’t make me curse you.”
    Snow’s tone was playful, but Danielle could hear something more beneath the words. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous.”
    Snow shook her head. “Not exactly. I know how Talia feels about me. For more than a