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

Maybe he hated me.

is the outsider.” The girl in

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

led me to an adjoining room, separated

him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t to be alone with the

stopped to look at the man, who nervously backed up a

is an exception,” Nicholas

course, sir.” The man bowed twice as he

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

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

think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of

have cried herself

forward toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect

stayed gentle on Elva, his arm

my child from me?” he

skidded to a stop. I blinked once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

arms. She was three years

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

in clumsy haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But,

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

hoping to give him

Nicholas wanted children. He’d even said so 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 he’d

name. But she’s not

eyes widened a moment, before the

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

me and Elva.

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

to answer some unspoken question for him,

straightened, startled. What could cause

his arms, and he immediately cut

he lowered Elva down onto one of the plush couches

Mommy,” came