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.

I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after leaving him, and with

Maybe he hated me.

girl

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

He led

Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you

man, who nervously

is an exception,” Nicholas

Of course, sir.” The man bowed

after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind

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

to see me as I was? To see me here,

cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and

once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His

Elva, his arm looped more

you hide my child from me?” he

blinked once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

was three years old. That lined

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

haste. I 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 gaze

said, hoping to

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

her name. But she’s

a moment, before the anger returned

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

between me and Elva.

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

silence seemed to answer some unspoken question for him, and

What

he immediately

lowered Elva down onto one of the plush couches

at Mommy,” came Elva’s