The Luna Choosing Game

It had been three days since Boss made his proposition: either I sleep with him or I get fired.

I needed one more day’s pay to cover Elva’s most recent bill. Once I had that, I could resign and hopefully find something else.

Boss trailed his eyes down the length of my body. Staring openly at my breasts, he licked his lips. “Don’t think I won’t, Piper. I’ll be waiting for you.”

In the restaurant, all of the female patrons talked excitedly about the selection. To cater to them, Boss turned all of the televisions on the walls to the royal consort ceremony broadcast.

“Which one do you think is the most handsome?” asked one patron to her friends.

They’d ordered a plate of loaded nachos to share. I carefully placed it in the center of their table.

Another girl spoke quickly. “Are you kidding? The others are cute, sure, but Nicholas is obviously the hottest.”

The other girls quickly agreed.

Startled, I hovered at their table. They were right, of course. Nicholas was the most objectively attractive, but to hear people talk about him so casually still surprised me.

For three days, I’d tried to reconcile in my mind that the Nicholas I had known was also the eldest prince of the kingdom. But I still couldn’t quite manage it.

Nicholas had always been proper. But a prince?

“Piper, is it?” one of the girls at the table asked me. I jumped, realizing I was still standing there. Yet before I could apologize, she asked me, “Which one do you think is the most handsome?”

“Nicholas,” came my automatic answer. “Excuse me.”

Embarrassed at having been caught daydreaming, I forced myself to focus on work. And I succeeded – until I heard Nicholas’ voice come from the speakers.

“The kind of woman I’d prefer?” Nicholas said. “Someone loyal. Strong. Even tempered. And she has to like to children.”

“Check, check, and check,” came a voice from the table of girls. “He’s describing me! It’s meant to be.”

“Dream on. He’s clearly describing me.”

“You don’t even like kids!”

“Yeah, well, we’ll see which of us make it through the preliminary selection. Then you’ll see!”

screen showed the interviewer. “Children, hm? Does that mean we can expect you to have a big

gave a small smile, but his eyes were guarded. “It’s my duty

delight. “He’d

if he was staring straight through it.

My heart ached.

interviewer, and

thought of me at all since the

heart, hoping to soothe away the touch of

was wrong with me? We hadn’t seen each other in three years. I couldn’t still be hung up on him. Sure, I hadn’t dated anyone else

lonely. I had Elva, and I had Anna. I didn’t need romance to

When I returned to the dining

underground market is something that the royal family is investigating with the utmost seriousness. This illegal trade

the plate of food in my

at once, all eyes

any one wolf, weakens the whole

one of the other waitresses hissed at

“I’m sorry.” I quickly set to cleaning it. As I did, I cursed myself so loudly in my thoughts, I couldn’t

my shift, I was worn down and exhausted. After my accident, I pushed myself as hard as I could, focusing solely on work and forgetting all

lift my eyes to the television again, not even when the table of girls bemoaned their disappointment with

wouldn’t be on the list.

the sink. After washing away a particularly stubborn clump of food from a plate, I noticed how quiet it was

clean the stove, or prep for tomorrow. Almost always, he was the last to leave at night. But he was nowhere

who had said they would clean the dining room.

I was alone.

brushed the back of my exposed neck. The

been cleaning, I immediately swung around, ready to knock Boss

too late. Boss had been

knocked the plate onto the floor, where it smashed to

he pressed his hips hard

I was trapped.

the buttons of my shirt, revealing my lacey white

within me, I struggled against him. He only held tighter, rougher, fingers biting

I didn’t have the strength