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During the night, Nix and Amador kept watch over me while Lucas and a team of a hundred of his best men collected all the coconuts in the region.

Elias oversaw the process, keeping the line moving to waste no time in finding a one-in-a-million coconut. I heard his voice carrying through the palace while I remained chained to my bed.

When daylight broke over the horizon, throwing the sky into a hazy pink, I closed my eyes and let sunlight wash over me. This might be the last sunrise I would ever see. I hadn’t turned last night, but I had felt it in my body like a lead weight. My eyes ached, my muscles were sore, the bones on my wrists and ankles were bruised, and my skin was rubbed raw. My fangs had grown sharper—my nails, too—even though I had stayed awake all night. I was looking more like a monster with each passing hour.

The manananggal was growing stronger the closer we got to the full moon. A deep, dark pit in my heart was yawning wider, making everything oily and rotten, threatening to eat me from the inside out.

The whole morning, I sat at my window and watched a long line of people from the city push wheelbarrows or lead donkeys pulling carts teeming with coconuts through the front gates.

By now, word had spread about me, and yet my people had come.

Anything to save their queen.

War was knocking on our door, and yet my people were still trying to help me.

Nix and Amador took turns keeping an eye on me, making sure I didn’t lose my mind and escape, but if these were my last hours as a human, I was determined not to let them go to waste. I had to believe there was a cure out there, that I could stop this and save my kingdom from a needless war.

Whenever I walked to my window, cheers from people calling my name rose from below. At first, I thought they were jeers, but the more I listened, the more I realized that people were rooting for me to survive.

“They love you,” Nix said, coming to my side. She looked tired, too, from worrying about what was coming just as much as I was.

“Why, though?” I asked. “I’ve hurt people.”

“They want to help you, like you’ve helped them. You’ve changed the city, made their futures brighter. No hunger, no one is unhoused, no more human slaves…”

Amador added, “Even I have to commend you. You’re one of Biringan’s best.”

Coming from her, that meant a lot. I wondered if I’d done enough, though. I’d had such a short time on the throne. “I hope they can forgive me,” I said. “I want to be better.”

“They know that,” said Nix. “And they’ll do anything for their queen.”

As the sun stretched across the sky, the line to the palace never grew any shorter.

But with the passing day came Jade Mountain’s troops. From my window, I spotted movement to the south of Lake Reyna. At first, I thought it was a warping of the evening light or the wind moving across the palm trees, but the longer I looked, the more I realized it was smoke.

“They’re almost here,” I said.

Nix came to my side and looked out across the land, squinting. “I don’t see them.”

My heart pounded. “My vision is getting sharper, then.” I could see farther than I had ever done before.

“I have to warn Lucas,” Amador said, rushing out of the room.

Nix stayed with me, watching as the army drew nearer—the army led by her brother, my ex-fiancé. He had come to liberate the kingdom from my rule.

She held out her hand for me, and I took it. She didn’t flinch away from the sharpness of my nails.

“I’m sorry,” I said.

“No, I’m the one who’s sorry,” she said. “It should have never gotten this far. I should have just gone home when I had the chance.”

“It’s no use blaming yourself. If you have the chance before Jade Mountain gets here, you should escape with the other civilians.”

“I’m not leaving,” Nix said, eyes shining. “I didn’t leave then, and I’m not leaving now.”

“The sooner you go, the farther you’ll get away from here.”

“But what about you?”

“Everyone’s safety matters more to me right now.”

Nix looked like she wanted to cry. She wrapped her arms around me and hugged me close.

When Amador threw open the door and came into the room again, she said, “There’s a literal mountain of coconuts in the throne room.”

“Any luck?” I asked, blinking away tears.

She shook her head. “Lucas is still searching for the pearl. And Elias is gathering the guards—”

“Jade Mountain will be here soon,” I said. “We have no time to lose. Get as many civilians as you can to safety. Tell Lucas I want the palace secure. I will not surrender while I still live and breathe in these walls.”

“But what about—”

“Forget it. There’s no more time,” I said. Along with the coconut milk, I could smell Amador’s sweat and her blood pumping in her veins all the way from across the room, and I closed my eyes to refocus. I would not let the manananggal take over yet. I had to think of the people who were trying to help me. I had to help them now before it was too late.

Amador rushed out of the room again, her high heels clacking as she ran down the hall.

I called the staff and guards to give them my orders, and they listened. My word was law, but Jinky was the only one who protested. When I called her into my chambers and she finally saw me, she burst into tears. The reality of the situation must have sunk in just then.

“I won’t go,” she said, sobbing. “I can’t leave you here alone.”

“Yes, you can. You will go with your family to the tunnels. I relieve you of your duty. A lady-in-waiting has no duties in battle.”

“But, Your Majesty,” she said, voice cracking. “I cannot abandon you.”

“Please, Jinky. Let me do this for you. I can’t let you die here. If you won’t listen to your queen, will you at least listen to a friend?”

Jinky, chin wobbling, nodded and left. The palace was already quieter, save for the pounding of metal armor and heavy boots of guards rushing to their posts in the palace. Outside my door, there came shouts. Jade Mountain was at our borders. My hands shook when I clenched them into fists. While I would not hide from Qian and the rest of his army, I couldn’t stay in my room and wait for him to come.

Nix stood at the window, watching as Biringan City was slowly evacuated. On the streets, floods of people left their homes, carrying what they could on carts or in their arms. Children, being led by their hands, looked around with confusion and a little fear. Elderly people with canes needed help on the stairs, taking to the underground tunnels. There were so many people. I needed to give them time to evacuate before the worst descended upon the city.

When Amador came back, unusually disheveled and winded, she was alone. She had been running all over the palace on my behalf in heels and a long skirt, and she looked frustrated and annoyed.

“Where’s Lucas?” I asked.

“He won’t listen to me. He’s still looking for the pearl,” Amador said. She slapped her hands against her sides. “It would seem that he refuses to give up on you.”

Nix squeezed my hand, and I squeezed back. It was time.

“I need to get to the throne room.”

“MJ, are you sure that’s wise?” Nix asked. “What if…what if you turn…?”

“And become the thing that Qian knows I am?” I finished for her. “I’m still me right now, I know. We can’t risk it. Don’t remove the iron. Just unchain me from the bed. Please.”

They looked at me, worry making the two of them hesitate.

Nix glanced at Amador, her mouth a thin line, and then she took the key from around her neck and approached my bed. She unlocked the chains tied at the foot of my bed and held them in her hands.

“Lock the chains together,” I said, “and I’ll carry them.”