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.

could be a great embarrassment to him, showing

Maybe he hated me.

the outsider.” The girl in pink

monotone. Another moment of staring at

so I followed him. He led me to

suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t to

stopped to look at the man, who nervously

an exception,” Nicholas

Of course, sir.” The

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

I thought I might be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas again, and especially not

what even to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I was?

must have cried herself to sleep,

perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden eyes filled with

hands stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped

dare you hide my

stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense of what he

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

at Elva, softly sleeping in his arms. She was three years

been so

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

certainty that fueled it seemed to slide

mistaken,” I said, hoping to

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

her name. But she’s

before the anger returned tenfold.

to struggle to get it out. He swallowed it

between me and

But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva

to answer some unspoken question for him,

straightened, startled. What could

he immediately cut off

onto one of the plush couches in the

mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet