The Luna Choosing Game

“How long did you wait, Piper? A week? Two? It couldn’t have been long.”

He sounds like he’s jealous. Or was that an illusion? He doesn’t care about me and is just mad at me.

Maybe the latter is more logical.

His dark eyes burned into me, leaving my heart in scorched tatters. Never in a thousand years would i

have thought Nicholas would be so vicious to me.

“It wasn’t like that.” I said, to try to defend myself.

He crossed his hands over his chest. He wasn’t going to listen to me,

“Why even come here?” he asked me.

“My application was selected…”

“Why even apply? Were you trying to get to me?”

“No,” I said.

“Maybe you regret your child’s father. Maybe you want me back.” He laughed once, bitterly. “Like you

have a chance.”

The words sliced into me as surely as if he’d been holding a knife. He had changed since I’d known him.

Three w

years ago, he’d been kind and patient. I’d given him my heart and he’d gently cradled it. So many

nights, we’d laid under the stars, trading kisses and stories.

Once, when he’d spent all night looking at me, I had told him, “You’re missing the

starlight.”

He’d replied, “I can see it in your eyes.”

The man before me now was nothing like the one I had known. The man here was arrogant, indifferent. and imposing in how he carried himself.

Breaking up with him had never been something I wanted to do. It hurt me still, thinking upon it, so I had tried to push it to the back of my thoughts

and caring for Elva, that I could successfully

seeing what he had become, brought all those feelings

+15 BONUS

I was misremembering the past. Maybe he’d never been kind. Maybe I had been

that young,

I said, adding some bite to

a mistake, and I

ran along my spine. “You are the only woman who ever dared to break up with me. Piper. I’ll never allow the same mistake

the sitting room, and then out into the parlor. I thought he might slam the door behind him, as enraged as he was, but instead, he gently

Elva continued resting, undisturbed.

to hate him.

children. He’d

wanted to hate

sunk to my knees beside the couch

world, maybe Elva would have been our child. If we had stayed together, maybe he would have

was a

very far from these golden

here. I needed to go home and look for another job, as soon

I

head beside Elva’s on the cushion. I was so drained, from the trip, from seeing Nicholas again, from…

quickly, my own eyes slid

Excuse

open

your pardon, miss, but the King Luna, and princes have arrived, I

rubbed the sleep from my eye. “Wait, there’s

looked up again, he was already disappearing out of the room. He left

the couch, watching me with curious eyes.

gave her my softest smile. It is. We have to be quiet though, okay? No

Luna are talking.”

“Okay”

my arms

atop some

one side. The

in my purse. He was pale with hollowed

and his voice camed far, like he was accustomed to

said, calming the crowd and

pleased by your presence and look forward to becoming more acquainted over

Luna leaned in and whispered something in