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.

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

Maybe he hated me.

The girl

this,” Nicholas said, and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly,

him. He led me to

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

the man, who nervously backed up a

an exception,” Nicholas

sir.” The man bowed twice

I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and I alone in a small sitting

sick. I had never imagined I’d meet

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

at ease against his chest. She must have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed

and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned.

gentle on Elva, his arm looped more

dare you hide my child from me?”

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

three years old. That lined up with our breakup three years

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

was when he’d

fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted,

hoping to give him

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

her name. But

widened a moment, before

struggle to get it out. He

glanced between me and Elva. “She looks like

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

some unspoken question

straightened, startled. What could cause

and he immediately cut off the deep rumbling

onto one

mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet