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

caring for Elva, that I could successfully distract myself from the pain

seeing what he had become, brought all

+15 BONUS

different now that I couldn’t help but wonder if I was misremembering the past. Maybe he’d never been kind. Maybe

I wasn’t that young,

said, adding some bite to my

a mistake, and I intend to correct

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

I thought he might slam the door behind him, as

Elva continued resting, undisturbed.

to hate

he hadn’t slammed that door. He might be a cruel, insensitive bastard but he liked children. He’d been kind to Elva. He didn’t

hate him,

to my knees beside the couch where

together, maybe he would have revealed his secret in time. Maybe the three of us could have

a nice

wasn’t reality. My reality was very far from these golden fixtures and

here. I needed to go home and look for

I

I was so drained, from the trip, from seeing Nicholas again, from…

quickly, my own

Excuse

open

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

uh.“I rubbed the sleep from my eye. “Wait,

disappearing out of the room. He

watching me with curious eyes. “Is it time

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

Luna are talking.”

“Okay”

pulled Elva into my

atop some type of stage The King

The three princes

in

voice camed far, like

calming the crowd and gaining their attention “Congratulations

are very pleased by your presence and look forward to becoming more acquainted

whispered