The Red Palace

by June Hur

I would not love, unless I was loved first and loved the most. I would be nothing at all, if I could not be first.

“When the time comes,” he said quietly, holding my gaze the way he held my hand. “You watch out for me. And I will always watch out for you.”

Eojin reaching out to touch the fallen strand of my hair, just long enough to tuck it behind my ear … and then he was gone.

I would never be anyone’s Greatest Love. I would always be a stolen kiss, a fleeting moment—a mistake.

“You’re not brother and sister,” she said instead as she wrapped a fresh layer of bandaging over the old one. “I can tell by the way he looks at you when you are not looking.”

This kingdom was filled with young women who were far more than I was, or could ever be. More beautiful, more respectful, more charming. Father had always wanted more, and Mother had never been enough. And that was my greatest nightmare—that Eojin would stay and find out that I was not enough.