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.

maybe he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing

Maybe he hated me.

girl

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

still held Elva, so I followed him. He led me to an adjoining

him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per

the man,

is an exception,” Nicholas

course, sir.” The man

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

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

to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of the selection? And with

have cried herself

toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect

on Elva, his arm looped more

my child from

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

She was three years old. That lined

the memory. We’d been so young then,

I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been wearing a condom at the

anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His

said, hoping to give

child from him would

her name. But she’s

a moment, before the anger returned

to say, he seemed to struggle

and Elva. “She

tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would not have

unspoken question for him, and he

What could

his arms, and he immediately

onto one of the plush couches in

mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet