Red Hood's Revenge

year, I’ve wished I didn’t. I know how to deal with a man who wants me, how to take one I want or get rid of one I don’t, but with Talia, everything’s different. She’s my friend. I should be relieved she’s found someone, for my sake and for hers.”
    “You’re not relieved?” Danielle asked carefully.
    “Oh, I am.” Snow laughed. “But look at them. I miss that feeling. I haven’t had that since Roland died. I would have married that man, you know. If my mother hadn’t killed him.”
    “I’m sorry,” Danielle said. Snow never really talked about the man her mother had hired to cut out her heart. Instead of killing her, Roland had fallen in love with Snow’s beauty. He had brought a deer heart to Queen Rose in order to protect Snow’s life, but eventually Rose discovered his deception and murdered him in front of Snow. “I never imagined you starting a family.”
    “Oh, gods, no!” Snow laughed again. “Marriage is one thing, but children? I’ve seen the trouble Jakob gets into. I’d have turned that boy into a frog long ago.” She sighed. “It would be nice to feel love like that again, though.”
    “Give it time,” Danielle said. “You can’t force love.”
    “Speak for yourself.” Snow withdrew her hands from her sleeves and waggled her fingers. Tiny sparks danced from her nails. “There are four popular recipes for love potions, and at least a dozen more obscure formulas. The most common last only a short time, but with the right ingredients—mermaid blood being one of the best—you can—”
    “Just promise me you won’t enchant any of the Kha’iida once we reach this oasis,” Danielle said, laughing despite herself.
    “I don’t have the right equipment for potion making anyway,” Snow said. Danielle could hear the smile in her voice. “Of course, there are other kinds of enchantments.”
     
    After three days, they were down to a single waterskin. Even with Talia slipping away each morning before Faziya awoke, gathering the dew that collected on the leaves, it would be a close thing whether they reached the Kha’iida in time. If Faziya was wrong about where her tribe should be this time of year . . . she tried not to think about that.
    Each night Roudette’s wolves kept watch over the group, and Talia kept watch over Faziya. Faziya still didn’t use her left arm at all, keeping it bandaged tightly against her body. Snow had said little, beyond checking the wound twice each day. Faziya claimed she was starting to feel stronger, and the pain wasn’t as bad.
    Talia didn’t believe her. She heard how Faziya groaned in her sleep. She saw the tightening of her body whenever the horse jostled her. Faziya needed better food and rest if she was going to recover.
    Nighttime also brought the sounds of the Wild Hunt. The howls had been fainter last night, but Talia worried about what might await them at hai’ir tel. If Rajil knew which tribe Faziya belonged to . . . but few city- dwellers paid much attention to the Kha’iida tribes, save for those times the Kha’iida came to the edges of the cities to trade.
    Shade and shelter were harder to come by now. They had left the rocky, scrub-dotted land behind, entering a stretch of what the Kha’iida called qa rablakh, the sea of sand. Last night they had ridden far later than Talia liked before finding a patch of hard sand between two dunes. Roudette had dug a pit while Talia had spread their robes and blankets to rig a crude tent. A layer of sand over the top had helped it to blend into the landscape, but she had spent the entire night on edge, trying to imagine how they would escape if the Hunt found them.
    The desert stretched as far as she could see in all directions. Her horse’s hooves sank into rippled sand with each step. For the past day, the only plants had been little more than bare sticks and thorny stumps poking through the sand. “How long until we reach the valley?”
    Faziya inhaled. “We’re getting close.”
    “How can you tell?” asked Talia.
    “Can’t you smell the water?” Faziya laughed. “You city-dwellers are so soft. So civilized. You wouldn’t last a month in the desert.”
    “Says the woman who’d fall off her horse without help,” Talia answered, keeping her arm wrapped around Faziya’s waist. “I thought you desert barbarians were supposed to be tough.”
    Faziya leaned her head against Talia’s shoulder. “Tough enough to put up with you .”
    Talia kissed her head,