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.

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

Maybe he hated me.

The girl in pink motioned to

was monotone. Another

He led me to an adjoining room, separated

man in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the

look at the man,

an exception,” Nicholas

sir.” The man bowed twice as he

and closed the door

sick. I had never imagined

think of me, to see me

chest. She must have cried

stepped forward toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His

hands stayed gentle on Elva, his arm

dare you hide my child from me?” he

my thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

sleeping in his arms. She was three years old. That lined up with our breakup three years ago.

to recall the memory. We’d been so

couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been wearing a condom at

its anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His

mistaken,” I said, hoping to

child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have

her name.

widened a moment, before

to struggle to get it out. He swallowed

between me and Elva. “She

tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would not have

some unspoken question

straightened, startled. What could cause

stirred his arms, and he immediately

Elva down onto one of the plush

at Mommy,”