The smoke was the worst part.

Though the flames were creeping closer, they were far enough that neither Akari nor the young empress dowager were getting burnt. But when Akari held her breath, her lungs burned. When she breathed in, her lungs burned, too.

Coughing, Akari shoved a smoking door open, then ushered Empress Dowager Ransu Seulhwa through. Her eyes were watering, and even while she covered her face with the sleeve of her long robe, the smoke stung at her nose and mouth. She could barely make out where they were going. Had she not had decades of experience hurrying through these halls—as a handmaiden at first, then as a court aide once she grew older than the appropriate age to serve as a personal maid—even Akari would have been lost.

"We must hurry, Your Imperial Highness," she shouted over the crackle of fire and collapsing buildings. "Please— if you can run—"

"I apologize," Seulhwa said with a choked gasp. Soot streaked her lovely porcelain-like features, and she had long since torn off her layers of ornate silken brocade. She was barefoot, rid of her gold-threaded, adorned slippers that were more jewelled baubles than shoes. With her three-year-old daughter on her back and dressed only in plain inner robes, she looked half a peasant. "I fear I'm slowing you down."

"I am the one who should apologize," Akari protested, more on instinct than anything else. A thousand regrets flew through her mind. "I should have scouted the route out. I should have gotten Your Highnesses to safety earlier." It was true that Seulhwa was visibly unused to the weight of a child, or physical exertion for that matter. Akari took the girl from her mother's arms, hoisted the little one up, and began to run.

Princess Ryushina did not squirm or cry. Thank the heavens for small mercies. She remained so still that she seemed like a doll, with her eyes open wide and unblinking. The bells in her braided hair chimed faintly with each bounce as Akari ran through the corridors of the imperial palace. Even with a torn piece of what used to be Seulhwa's skirts bundled around the lower half of her round face, smoke seeped in.

Akari was terrified that the child would die of smoke inhalation before the flames ever reached her.

The palace burned around them. They passed the rubble of elegant jade carvings, flaming tapestries embroidered by a hundred different needleworkers, and torn paintings seared so badly that the scenes were impossible to discern. Corpses littered the hallways as well: palace guards, stable boys, kitchen girls. Akari did her best not to look at any of them for fear that she would recognize their names and faces. Instead, she concentrated on moving forward, on keeping mother and daughter alive.

Seulhwa was not making it easy.

Her breaths came in desperate gasps, and she was trailing further and further behind. It was perhaps unsurprising, considering the luxury and pampering with which she had been raised. She had never been far from danger, but she had always been protected. Her closest brush with death had likely come during childbirth.

"We're almost there, Your Highness," Akari encouraged as she pulled up beside the empress dowager, trying to hide how winded she herself was. It would be shameful to show weakness now. She briefly considered carrying both Seulhwa and her daughter, but then concluded that the smoke had rendered her a fool. That feat would be laughable even in her youth, and she was well in her years now. At eighteen, Seulhwa was, comparatively, in her prime. "Please."

There was blood on Seulhwa's face, the same crimson as her painted lips. She made an effort to wipe it away, but all that did was smear it across her skin. When she spoke, her voice was raw from coughing. "The princess must be brought to safety. Go on ahead first, and I will follow."

"Nonsense," Akari picked her pace back up. "You can run— you are running. We are nearly there."

Akari and several of the attendants from the empress dowager's natal household had made arrangements for exactly this scenario: a rebellion in the capital. Seulhwa had married young, even by the standards of most noble ladies, and had few allies at court save those who were loyal to the Ransu family. In truth, Akari had no particular loyalty to Seulhwa, but found her more agreeable than many of the other wives— rather, widows of the deceased Emperor Yuryun. She did not want to see this young woman die in flames when she should have had her entire life ahead of her.

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Fortunately, they rounded a corner into a corridor where the smoke was much thinner, and suddenly the escape route Akari and the others had laid out became visible. The entrance to the courtyard that led to a section of the imperial gardens was so near that Akari could have wept with relief. If they could make it to the garden, there were countless hidden pathways and secret routes that Seulhwa and Ryushina could take to safety; perhaps some of their allies survived, too, and could assist in bringing them to Seulhwa's family.

But even as Akari's heart sang with hope, Seulhwa once again called, "Go on without me!"

A glance behind her shoulder told Akari that Seulhwa had crouched down next to one of the bodies crumpled on the ground, holding its hand between both of her own. A palace guard, a young man no older than Seulhwa herself.

"Akari, he's alive!" Indeed, the guard was coughing feebly from where he was pinned down by a fallen pillar.

"There is no time, Your Highness." Akari tried to make her tone sound more respectful than panicked. "Leave him." Irritation and fear bubbled in her veins. She felt a monster as she gazed down at the face of the dying young man, with his half-conscious eyes fluttering weakly. What were his life and his fate worth compared to that of the empress dowager and the princess?

Seulhwa stood, wiping at the blood dripping down her chin. There was a quiet acceptance in her face that made cold certainty settle like a stone in Akari's stomach. "The truth is, I have been poisoned."

"Poisoned?" The word escaped Akari's mouth in a soft breath.

Seulhwa gave Akari a brittle, defeated smile. It was an expression that did not suit someone as young as she was, one that Akari did not think she would ever be able to forget. "I have little time left, they assured me of that. Forgive me, Akari. I was selfish to have wasted your efforts, but I—" Seulhwa's voice cracked. "I wanted more time with my daughter, if only for a little longer. And now, in my last moments, I wish to be of use to another."

Akari's throat ached from the smoke, or perhaps something else entirely. She did not know what to say. The words tumbled out anyway. "Your Highness, I swear that I will bring Princess Ryushina to safety. You have my word that she will live on, and you can rest peacefully."

She had seen enough empresses poisoned to know that even if they could make it through the fire and find a physician, there often was no cure. As much as Akari longed to continue to protest, she knew better than to waste precious time or sully these last moments with futile arguments.

She shifted the princess onto one arm. Seulhwa kissed Ryushina on the forehead, once, twice, three times.

"Mama," the child babbled quietly. Her mother shushed her softly and pressed another kiss on Ryushina's brow. Akari could not tell how much the child understood; she had never been gifted with children herself.

"Mama loves you more than anything, Ryushina." Seulhwa's tears made shining tracks down her face, cutting through the grime and ash. "Always remember that no matter what, Mama is on your side. Simply by being born, you are loved more than anything in the world. You need do nothing else for Mama."

Her gaze met Akari's and she pulled away. The princess was shaking in Akari's arms, and the weight of her felt so small and fragile.

Seulhwa bowed deeply to Akari, and it was the first time anyone of her station had ever done so to someone like her. She held her bow as she spoke. "Thank you for everything, Akari. I am unworthy of your kindness." She pulled the long, opulent hairpin from her bun, the last accessory she had on her person. The flames reflected off the golden surface as she pushed it into Akari's hands. "This is a meagre token, but it will give her something to remember me by."

The princess finally seemed to understand that she would be parting with her mother and began to whimper, reaching out toward Seulhwa with tiny, grasping fingers. A shrill wail of distress tore from the child's throat, and the bells in her hair chimed as she tried to struggle free of Akari's arms.

"She must never become like me," Seulhwa said, standing and taking a step back. Her eyes were locked on the crying child. She took one deep, shaky breath. "I entrust her to you, Akari."

"I will protect her with my life, Your Highness," Akari promised. It was the fiercest vow she had ever made, and it cut into her heart like a sword through flesh. There must be so many others Seulhwa trusted more, or more qualified to care for Ryushina. But there was no time for any of those questions, nor room for doubt. "The princess will know only safety under my care."

"Thank you," Empress Dowager Ransu Seulhwa said simply.

Akari did not wait to watch what happened next. She spun on her heel, Ryushina wailing louder than she had ever heard the placid child cry before. Akari held her close and ran.