Chapter 9
JOHANNA STARED OUT the little window while the coach made its way back to the palace. She felt dumb and ignorant. There were places out there where magic was taught routinely to children. Why did she have to be born in a place where it was swept under the carpet, denied and even forbidden?
She imagined Father going up to a building called a “dragon temple” and coming back with a box for her to contain and focus her magic. Her life would have been . . . so much happier. Instead, she’d been angry, she’d bumbled through dealing with magic and trying to hide it. She’d thought that by going to a church that forbade magic she could change people’s opinions of her. Obviously Master Willems still thought that.
What a fool she’d been.
On the driver’s seat, Anton and the driver were te
