Don't Mess With Time

Chapter Forty

Theresa could see that Amber was still worried.

Not because she displayed the typical symptoms of worry.

No, Amber had far too much of Hester in her to do that.

She looked angry and stalked down the path as if she was looking for an excuse to hurt something (or someone) along the way.

Theresa had been silent for a while as she walked beside the other girl.

She waited for her to say something, to admit that she was worried for her sister, but of course she didn't.

Theresa knew she was jumping on a grenade here, but right now it seemed as if she was saving everyone in the blue forest from Amber's eventual explosion.

"I'm sure Hilda's okay."

Amber whipped her head around and scowled at Theresa.

"And what makes you say that?" she hissed.

Theresa grinned.

"She has to be pretty scrappy if she's related to you."

Amber glared for a long moment before her lips twitched in amusement.

She turned on her heel and muttered something about stupid princesses.

"Yeah, but I'm your stupid princess," Theresa said with that same smirk plastered on her face.

Amber blushed bright red and she looked anywhere but at Theresa.

"I don't even care where Hilda is. She's probably the one that disqualified Milly anyways."

Theresa raised an eyebrow.

"Why would she do that?"

"Because she's a Never and Milly's an Ever."

"But you're still working with me," Theresa pointed out.

"You even saved me from the stymphs. You could have just kept running."

Amber deliberated on her response for a moment.

"That's different."

Theresa smirked.

"And why is that?" she asked innocently.

Amber shrugged her shoulders uncomfortably as if there was an itch between its blades that she couldn't scratch.

"Whatever, Theresa."

The princess didn't intend to let this go, and under normal circumstances she certainly wouldn't have until she had Amber blushing and grumbling incoherently, but she made herself when she saw a momentary expression of worry grace Amber's face.

"Well, you don't care, but I'm sure she's okay anyways," Theresa said, trying not to laugh at the absurdity of the words.

Amber shrugged again.

"She's self sufficient, resilient, and smart. Just like her sister."

Amber looked down and allowed her hair to fall in front of her face to cover the red tint it had just acquired.

Theresa wondered if she was getting close to the perfect moment to make her move.

She was pretty sure she was, but she had also thought they'd had at least five perfect moments which Amber had ruined.

But Theresa was determined.

And when Theresa stood her ground, mountains were put to shame by her stubborn immobility.