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.

he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great

Maybe he hated me.

outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly,

Elva, so I followed him. He led

official-looking man in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t to be alone

to look at the man, who nervously backed

is an

sir. Of course, sir.” The man bowed twice as he

A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and I

thought I might be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas

to see me as I

must have cried herself to sleep,

his perfect façade cracked. He

Elva, his

hide my child from me?” he

skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

Elva, softly sleeping in his arms. She was three years old. That lined up

been so

where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been wearing a

but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like he was trying

said, hoping to give him

For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have struggled forever over the guilt for

her name. But she’s not

widened a moment, before the

he wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to get it out. He

between me and Elva.

wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way

silence seemed to answer some unspoken question for him, and he started to

straightened, startled. What could cause

arms, and he immediately cut off

down onto one of

be mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s