Prologue

The Etiquette Chamber lay deep in the inner palace of the Han Empire, and the guard around it was iron. This was where the woman who would become Crown Princess resided.

Even so, as they watched Park Yu-shin—Crown Princess in a matter of days—not one of them noticed the figure leaning against the wall.

Mui's gaze was nailed to her. Darkness swallowed his face; not a flicker of expression showed.

"Master. What are you doing over there?"

The voice drifted out slow, thick with sleep. He had killed every trace of his presence, and still Yu-shin woke. Mui answered, low.

"Sleep."

Only when he met the eyes that found him through the dark did he understand why he could not leave for Cheongguk—why he kept hesitating.

He did not want to leave this one's side.

Cast out alone into a brutal world, he had become a beast. He had lived as a creature mad for killing on the battlefield, and still the rage driven hard into his chest, the emptiness nothing could fill, had never left him. At last, when he thought it might be better simply to die, he met Yu-shin as a child.

Like a young animal imprinting on the first face it sees when its eyes open and trailing after it ever after, she had followed him blindly from the time she was small. Every time he met that blind, unwavering gaze, he became a person again.

Park Yu-shin, who meant to live as a human being on the strength of a fierce conviction, and to die as one. To him she was closer to a daughter than a disciple—like the god who had given him a reason to keep living.

"You can't leave."

Mui let out a short breath of a laugh.

He hadn't said a word. His face was sunk in the dark; she couldn't even see his expression. How did she know?

"Park Yu-shin. You damn animal."

Yu-shin pushed herself upright on the bed.

In the darkness, he saw her fist close.

"If you leave, I'll find you and drag you back."

"You little shit, am I a prisoner?"

"You're supposed to live here with me. Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Mui swallowed a laugh, shoulders shaking.

The things she said always came from nowhere he expected, and they were what comforted him.

So how am I supposed to leave you?

"Go live with your husband. Why would I live with you? I raised you this far and married you off—my job's done. What more do you want?"

"We're not married yet. And your work isn't finished, Master."

For a heartbeat Mui tried to think what work of his could possibly remain.

Yu-shin went on as if she couldn't believe he didn't already know.

"You have to raise my kid. What do I know about raising a baby? I'm not even done growing."

Mui's mouth fell open in pure horror.

"You—am I a damn nursemaid? Where the hell do you get off talking shit like that?"

"Wow. Since when do you run cons, Master? You told me you'd give me anything I wanted."

"Who the hell are you calling a con man? When did I ever say that?"

"When you left me on the mountain. When I came back, you held me and cried. You said thank you for coming back alive. You said you'd do anything I wanted, so I only had to live longer than you."

Mui's eyes went wide.

That she remembered something from when she was ten astonished him.

A thorn buried deep in his chest. He had done it then because he believed it was the only way to keep her alive, but it had been reckless enough to freeze the heart. Guilt drove his voice up.

"You little shit, that was forever ago—you don't even remember it! And how does 'I'll give you anything you want' turn into me raising your kid?"

"Master, you remember every bit of it, so don't pretend you don't. Your eyes are filling up."

"Hey. You're about to be Crown Princess, and you're talking about watery eyes? Watery eyes!"

Yu-shin climbed down off the bed and came shuffling over.

Mui sighed.

A full-grown woman in nothing but a thin night robe, without a scrap of shame, dropped down and laid her head across his knee. Maybe he had raised her too much like a man. How was a creature like this supposed to survive in the imperial palace? The worry sat heavy on him.

"Don't change the subject and think you can slip away."

Yu-shin lost the fight with sleep and let her eyes close.

The sight of her rubbing at them, refusing to the very last to give in, tugged at him. Every time he saw how frail she had grown after walking the line between life and death, his chest ached. All the more reason to stay at her side and keep her from raising hell. And yet.

"I'm not joking. If you won't raise my child and you run, I really will come hunt you down."

"God. What kind of brat even says that? Raising you by yourself already rotted me clean through, and now another kid? And if you have a child, that's imperial blood. There'll be dozens of people to raise them!"

"How am I supposed to hand my child to people I don't even know? You're right here. Why would I."

She fell asleep before she could finish.

Mui bowed his head, following the warmth of her hand.

White cloth was bound around the wrist that held his so tightly. The place where he had set a keen blade. The reason that, the moment he walked out of the prison, he had come to Yu-shin instead of leaving the palace at once.

He had meant—foiled by the Crown Prince—to ruin both her wrists and both her ankles, so she could never again throw herself into something dangerous and reckless, and then to go. And now he was hesitating. It was not like him.

Mui tipped his head back against the wall. Tears slid from his closed eyes.

He did not want to go to Cheongguk. He wanted to live as he always had, ears shut to everything that kingdom was.

"The king's gone mad, they say. He's rounding up the loyal officials and throwing them in the dungeon to kill them."

"Hundreds are starving to death in Cheongguk every day. Corpses lying in the streets, they say."

From the moment he entered the capital, those voices had driven themselves into his skull and would not come out.

Why can't I pretend not to hear? What does Cheongguk mean to me now, after all this time?

"Mm."

Deep in sleep, the strength eased out of Yu-shin's grip. He moved to draw his hand free and could not.

At once she tightened her hold. He looked to see if she had woken. She was still asleep. Mui's throat closed.

You brat. Is this how I taught you? I told you—once someone turns their back, don't trust them. Kill them.

He looked at her face, peaceful in sleep, and drew a dagger from inside his robes.

The blade left its sheath without a sound and caught the light, razor-keen. Without hesitation he cut a strip from his own clothes, then pricked a fingertip until the blood welled.

A promise written in blood. That was enough.

He parted his clothes and cut free what had been sewn and bound against the inside—a cloth pouch he kept stitched into his garments always, so he would never lose it. He opened it, confirmed the three pouches within, slipped the blood-written promise in among them, and drew it shut. Then he tied it around Yu-shin's wrist, over the white cloth.

He stripped off his outer robe, rolled it tight, and set it beneath her head in place of his leg. He brought the blanket from the bed and covered her.

I will come back. Because I am Mui.

That night, not a soul saw Mui leave the imperial palace.

Mui