Chapter 20
AFTER THE SHEPHERD had gone from sight, Kylian led her past the pond through the fields. Mist pooled in the valley turning the vineyards into ghostly shapes.
The monks accompanied them as silent sentinels. Johanna felt oddly calm inside. Somehow, ever since that dance at the palace, she had known that it would come to this meeting. Whatever attracted him to her, he needed to be disabused of the notion that she should come with him. She would calmly explain to him that she was committed to Saardam and Roald, and that it was neither shameful nor strange to love someone who wasn’t normal.
They went up the lane that led to the house. From the field came the sound of honking geese.
One of the monks ran into the field waving a stick to chase them off.
“Those things are a menace,”
