My helper started French braiding my hair. "It doesn't need to," Kamharida said, as kindly as if she was my own mother. "It is as acceptable to be resilient and to mourn in the back of your heart as it is to be fragile and for that mourning to take everything you have. Some people are left breathless from pain, and others can walk on broken legs."

I stood quietly as she tied off my hair, feeling tense and miserable.

"Leah," she said, and I turned to look at her. Her face was full of compassion. "Don't torture yourself for being made of steel instead of glass. A broken woman would never have been able to face down the Beast of Phazikai and spend hours in his company. Let your heart mourn as it sees fit. It doesn't shame his memory to continue to live. Our loved ones would always want that for us."

I crumpled under the kind words, tears coming unbidden. Kamharida gathered me into her arms and I started sobbing, holding onto her like she might be able to keep me from falling into a million tiny pieces. She held me, and stroked my back, and crooned to me in a language I didn't recognize. I didn't need to understand the words to know the intent, and the comfort she offered me grew roots into my soul.

We were in this together, all of us humans with a second chance, whether we were princesses or servants. This wasn't heaven, hell, or purgatory. It was a different choice, accepting an unknown price for a guarantee of continuing on, no belief required. The price of my survival was a year and a day in the company of Dain. It was learning to move through this world without attracting more danger. It was four skulls, set briefly down on my breakfast table by their killer, and delivered to the beds of those who had sent people to murder me for the sake of hurting the crown prince of Stag Court.

"Thank you," I said in a thick voice, still held in her embrace. "Thank you, so much."

"You have a difficult road, your highness, but you are not without friends," Kamharida said, letting me go. She took my hands and squeezed them. "Stag Court has been at war with itself since the crown prince's birth, and you are shifting the balance. Whether you're to be his ally or enemy remains to be seen, but either way, you will have support."

I swiped at my cheek, sniffing. "What do you think I should do?"