The Stepsister Scheme

guide in Fairytown?”
    Talia stopped walking. A tall wooden beam blocked their way. “Yeah, well, it worked. I met up with a strange little girl who had a duck’s bill instead of a mouth. Don’t ask. She removed the curse, and here I am.” She rapped the beam. “This is where we’ll need help, Princess. If you could call a few hearty rats, we’ll be on our way.”
    “What aren’t you telling me, Talia?”
    “What do you mean?” Faint light penetrated the rathole behind them, but Talia was barely more than a shadow.
    “You’re the one who told me fairies never do anything for free,” said Danielle. “What did you give that girl in exchange for her help?”
    “Nothing important. Come on.”
    Her nonchalance only confirmed the worry in Danielle’s gut. “Tell me.”
    “Princess, we don’t have time for this.”
    “You can’t reach Snow without my help.” Danielle waited.
    “Without your rats’ help, you mean,” Talia muttered.
    Danielle didn’t answer.
    “She wanted what they all want,” Talia snapped. “My unborn child.”
    Danielle felt like someone had reached into her chest and squeezed her lungs. “You didn’t—”
    “That’s why I didn’t want to tell you,” said Talia. “I knew you’d overreact, especially given your current condition. Don’t worry about it, Princess. Just conjure up some rats and let’s get going.”
    “But you’re not pregnant.” Danielle’s eyes widened. “Are you?”
    “Not hardly. But fairies think about things in the long term. That’s why they outbargain humans nine times out of ten.”
    “I’m sorry,” Danielle whispered, touching her own stomach.
    “Don’t be. Now come on. The sooner we get Snow free, the sooner we can snatch Armand and go home.”
    She was too eager. Danielle reached out to touch Talia’s arm. Talia jerked away.
    “What else aren’t you saying?” asked Danielle. There was no response. “Wind would have gotten you back to the pixies that same day. You hadn’t gone far when you called for a guide. That was more than a month ago. What else did she ask of you?”
    “Nothing.” Talia’s voice was so soft Danielle could barely hear.
    “Was it the pixies? Did they punish you somehow?”
    That earned a weak snort. “Those uptight glowbugs are lucky I didn’t go back and shove them all into a jar.”
    “I thought you must have drowned,” Danielle said. “I was afraid Wind hadn’t reached you in time.”
    “No, she reached me. Saved my life.” Her tone was an equal mix of anger and pain.
    “Something else happened to you on the journey back,” Danielle guessed. “Arlorran warned us it was dangerous to cross Fairytown without help. You were making your way to the crevasse, and—”
    “I wasn’t,” Talia whispered. “I wasn’t coming back.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I left, dammit. I left Fairytown. I followed the road the other way, between the dwarven towers, out of the hedge, and away from this cursed place. I got as far as Little Hill.”
    Little Hill was a trading town about ten miles south of Fairytown. Danielle leaned against the stone, trying to understand. “You weren’t going back to the palace.”
    “How could I? I had failed, Princess. Armand was still trapped. You and Snow were both lost.”
    “That wasn’t your fault,” said Danielle. “The queen would have understood. She—”
    “Will you please stop being so damned nice?” Talia’s voice had grown loud enough to make Danielle wince. She wondered if Charlotte could hear them through the walls. “I abandoned you.”
    Danielle started to reassure her, then bit her tongue. For whatever reason, it was clear Talia didn’t want comfort right now. “Why?”
    “Because of Rose.” Talia drew a deep breath. “You saw what she did to Snow. How easily she stripped my ‘gifts’ from me. I... I couldn’t take the chance of falling back into that never-ending sleep. I just couldn’t.”
    “I understand,” said Danielle.
    “Do you?” Talia made a snorting sound, somewhere between a cough and a laugh.
    “I know what it’s like to be cursed,” Danielle said.
    Footsteps crunched in the dirt as Talia returned, until Danielle could feel her breath.
    “Armand took you away from your stepmother’s home,” Talia whispered. “The kiss of your mother’s blade freed you the second time. Do you know what broke my spell, Princess?”
    “The stories—” Danielle stopped. If she had learned anything, it was the difference