Chapter 1

Ordinary World

 

I.

Thin woods

Dirt road skirting forest

Sisters washing laundry in the river

“Do you ever wish some prince would just come whisk you away?”

 

Never, never.

Squeeze water from a dirty skirt

Both up to our knees in current

A little too cold, I shiver

“Never.”

 

“Never?” Shocked.

“We’ll have no princes.”

Silent girl doing washing with me. Silent, not complicit in my treason.

The mage is our only King.

 

“Which of the boys in town do you fancy?”