The Stepsister Scheme

all of them from—”
    “The last fairy destroyed me,” Talia said. Her dark eyes were numb and empty. “She perverted the curse. Instead of death, the spell brought unending sleep. Not just to me, but to everyone in the palace. She raised a hedge of thorns around our home to shelter us from the world. For a century we slept.”
    “Until your prince came,” Danielle said.
    Talia slammed the whip’s handle against the basket hard enough to elicit a squawk of protest from Karina.
    “With our palace gone, my uncle claimed the throne. For years they hacked their way through the hedge until they broke through. My ‘prince’ was the great-great-grandson of the man who ordered the murder of my parents, my brothers and sisters, everyone who might one day awaken and challenge their rule. The only reason they allowed me to live is that they didn’t know what my death would do to the fairy’s spell.”
    Danielle wanted to reach over and offer some kind of support, feeble and worthless though the gesture might be. But she doubted Talia would appreciate it. “What happened next?”
    “The prince awakened me,” Talia said. “The tales got that much right, at least.” She rubbed her hands together, like she was trying to clean them. “A hundred years I slept, and not once did those fairies return to see how my family fared. The one who cursed me did it out of spite. But it was her companions, through their blindness and apathy, who destroyed us.”
    Danielle turned toward Snow, who had set the pomegranate seed aside and was staring out the side of the basket.
    “Is that how it was with you?” Danielle asked. “Your life sounds so awful in the stories, but they say you found happiness in the end.”
    “For close to a year, I lived with the hunter my mother had hired to kill me,” Snow said. “But then she learned of his betrayal and tortured him to death. I destroyed her for that.” Snow shrugged and reached for another bag. “Did we bring anything else to drink?”
    “Are all of the tales like this?” Danielle asked. “Did Jack Giantslayer fall into despair and poverty? Was Red Riding Hood murdered by wolves seeking revenge for the death of their kin?”
    Talia snorted. “No, Red survived. But that kind of thing changes a woman.”
    “Changes her how?”
    “The Lady of the Red Hood is one of the most feared assassins this side of Adenkar,” Snow said.
    Danielle stared, trying to read their faces. “You’re joking.”
    “It’s true.” Talia rolled up her sleeves and touched one of the scars on her forearm. “Bitch nearly killed the queen a few years back.”
    Danielle lay back, trying to absorb everything they had said. Look at how much her own story had grown and changed in the past months. The only common thread was how perfect life was supposed to be, once she had married Armand. Her hands went to her stomach.
    Talia wiped her face. “I don’t mean to argue with old King Phillipe, but in my experience, the best weapon is a good weapon.” She grabbed Danielle’s wrist and slapped a knife into her hand. “Normally I’d start with footwork, but this isn’t exactly an ideal training circle. Your sword’s almost as light as this knife, but you hold it like a drunken woodsman with an ax. You’re too tense, and it slows you down.”
    Danielle tried to relax her grip.
    “Not that loose,” Talia said. She rapped the blade with her knuckles, and the knife spun out of Danielle’s hand. The blade jabbed a hole in one of the blankets. “Use the thumb and forefinger to guide the tip. That’s where your control comes from.”
    She demonstrated with the knife, then handed it back to Danielle, who tried to imitate Talia’s movements. She flicked the tip of the blade back and forth.
    “Small movements. You’re not strong enough for a brute force, hack-and-slash approach. Fortunately, you don’t need one with that sword. A light kiss with the tip in the right spot will kill a man as dead as a broad-sword through the heart.” Talia touched her throat. “Here’s your best target, if you can hit it. A feint at the groin is good, too, if you’re fighting a man. The sight of a blade coming for their jewels will make most men leap back and lower their guard.”
    “I don’t want to kill anyone,” Danielle said, staring at the knife.
    “I’m sure your stepsisters will be delighted to hear that.” Talia caught Danielle’s wrist and twisted the knife from her hand. “It means they’ll have