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.

a great embarrassment to

Maybe he hated me.

is the outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly, then

still held Elva, so I followed him. He led me to an adjoining room, separated by a

in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the

to look at the man, who nervously backed

an exception,”

course, sir.” The man

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

I had never imagined I’d

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

his chest. She must have cried herself to sleep,

once, his perfect façade cracked.

stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped more

dare you hide my

of my thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense of what

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

three years old. That

memory. We’d been so

I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he

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

I said, hoping to give him some

hide a child from him

her name. But she’s not

a moment, before the

wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to get it

me and

tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine

question for him, and he started to

What could

he immediately cut off the deep rumbling

gently, he lowered Elva down onto one of the plush couches

at Mommy,” came Elva’s