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I knew he wasn’t talking about Nala. I had been a child raised by the Nightshade. Nevertheless, it didn’t stop this feeling that somehow this was all my fault.

I let out a shuddering breath. “What can I do to help?”

“Come with me. We’ve got some exhausted healers, and I have a feeling that I can use your siphoning magic in reverse.”

“Alright.”

The men needed to be healed… the kingdom needed to be healed. The sheer number of injured men nearly overwhelmed me. I stuck with Klaus for hours, seeing everyone from street children to noblemen helping to care for the injured. Once we had reenergized the fading healers, I started on the manual tasks, changing waters, cleaning rugs, and carrying medicines. Even when Klaus suggested I take a rest, I refused to do so.

It was night before Araki found me again. He yawned, dark circles under his eyes as he joined me to help scrub blood stains from bandages.

“You need sleep,” I observed.

Araki gave me a half-smile. “You do as well.”

I wrung out the bandage I was working on and stiffly stood. “I can keep going.”

Araki’s hand closed around my wrist. “We have a long path to follow still. We will be of more use if we take the time to rest, so we have the energy to give what needs to be given.”

I sighed as I leaned into his side. “You’re right.”

“Of course I am.” Araki chuckled. He turned to me, took both my hands in his, and smiled, his violet eyes glowing. “And I still need a queen. The position is yours if you want it.”

I laughed. I stood to my toes and kissed him. To think, when I started the mission, it was so that I would one day be queen, and it looked like I would after all.

“Yes,” I whispered. “I will be your queen.”