That was her real gift, over all her others. To find the smallest shred of hope and amplify it like a beacon. I charged her up, but she illuminated everyone around her. I loved my people. To her, everyone was her people. She really was a princess, not because she’d lived in a palace or worn a crown, but because she took that mantle on her shoulders and never shook it off. She was the people’s princess, my people and every Rusyan’s. That hadn’t changed, no matter what had happened to her. Pain can poison people. It can twist and deform them. She suffered pain, but she never closed her heart.
