I sat down looking into emptiness as I was very angry after we left the place. The council locked us inside the manor “for protection.” The word sounds wrong in my mouth. I know a cage when I see one. Thick wards pressed into the walls. Guards outside every door with smiles that don’t reach their eyes.

They’re not protecting us. They’re containing her. They don't want her to be powerful like she said. Maybe everything she was thinking earlier was right. They just want to control ...