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.

to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing

Maybe he hated me.

The girl in

said, and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at

him. He led me to an

please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t

to look at the man, who

is an exception,” Nicholas

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

the room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and

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

what even to say. What would he think of me, to see me

cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and drooling. She seemed

toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden eyes

hands stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped

hide my child from

once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

three years old. That lined up

to recall the memory. We’d been so young then, too eager

he was when

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

hoping to give

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

her name. But

eyes widened a moment, before the

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

me and Elva. “She

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

some unspoken question for him,

What could

he immediately

down onto one of the plush couches in the

be mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet