“I’m not going to say that I was trying to protect you, because it wasn’t like that.”
“No, I know it wasn’t. You were protecting yourself.” she told me, with a slow sigh. “You just curled up there, licking your wounds. Literally.”
“...are you angry?”
“Do you want me to get angry?”
“...I don’t know. Truly, I don’t know.”
At moments I felt that I deserved a reproach from her, but...
“I can’t be angry with you for believing that you were doing the right thing.” she justified herself, and leaned back a little in her armchair. Johanna turned toward the window, it was not yet midmorning and the sun was pulling silver glints from her eyes. “After all, you yourself told me: you are a natural-born leader, and your people follow you because they believe you know what you are doing. No, I can’t
