The Luna Choosing Game

Nicholas held Elva safe and secure in his arms as he stood to his full height. Elva buried her face into the corner of his neck and shoulder. He gently patted her back.

He glanced down at Elva, his gaze so tender that it made my heart clench.

“There, there,” he whispered. “You are safe now.”

“Oh my God,” said one of the other girls in the room, fanning herself. “Of course he’s good with children.”

“Someone pinch me,” said another. “I think I’m dreaming.”

Nicholas’s soft expression hardened as he glared out at the rest of the room. “Whose child is this? Why is she here?”

I started forward, but the girl in the pink dress spoke before I could reach him.

“An outsider sneaked in, unless she’s a maid.”

Some of the other girls snickered at my expense.

“She can’t be a participant,” another girl fake-whispered, loud enough for half-the room to hear. “I thought we had to be virgins, and she’s got a kid.”

I wanted to disappear into a corner. Whether virgin or not, I was nothing compared to the rest of these girls.

My clothes weren’t as nice as theirs, and my figure wasn’t like what it had been at the Academy. I’d lost much of my musculature. I was skinny from too many nights of skipped dinners.

Elva’s wellbeing had always come before my own.

Her sake was the only reason I continued forward rather than hide in embarrassment. I stopped only when I reached Nicholas.

He looked at me, and I looked at him.

I’d forgotten how gorgeous his eyes were, golden brown with flakes of green. When we’d dated, I had spent hours looking at them, trying to memorize that color, but it had seemed different each time.

Before, when I’d stared long enough, I could earn a bashful smile from him. Now, his face was totally devoid of emotion. He looked at me like I was a stranger.

Did he… not recognize me?

I had changed, sure, but not enough to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away in his past and moved on, never once looking back.

maybe he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after leaving him, and

Maybe he hated me.

girl in

and even his voice was monotone. Another moment

I followed him. He led me to an adjoining room, separated by a

suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that

stopped to look at the man, who nervously backed

is an exception,”

The man

into the room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind

I might be sick. I had never

to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of the selection? And

She must have cried herself to

forward toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade

hands stayed gentle on Elva,

dare you hide my

once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

arms. She was three years old. That lined up with

been so young then, too eager and

was when he’d climaxed.

the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide

I said, hoping to give him

He’d even said so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty.

her name. But she’s not

eyes widened a moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

to struggle to get

me and Elva. “She looks like

identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered.

answer some unspoken question for him, and he started

What could

he immediately cut off the

gently, he lowered Elva down onto one of the

be mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet