The Luna Choosing Game

My whole heart shattered. “No, no, that’s not true. Prince Nicholas likes you a lot.”

Elva pulled away to look up at me with large, watery eyes. “But she said Nick–lass is mad at me. She said

I was naughty.”

“We can’t listen to her, okay?”

Her cupped her face with my hands and wiped away her tears. New ones just kept falling. My anger for Lena renewed, and I half wanted to chase her down the hall to give her a piece of my mind.

No one makes my little girl cry like this!

“She’s just a mean lady who doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Nicholas likes you. He’s not mad. He waved at you, didn’t he?”

The words seemed to placate Elva somewhat. Her tears lessened, though her sniffling remained. Her brows furrowed like she was thinking it through.

“He did wave…

“Because he likes you.”

“…Okay.” Her voice was small. It didn’t seem like I had fully convinced her, but I doubted I could say anything that would.

She would have to hear it from Nicholas himself.

Maybe if I could talk to him alone, I could convince him to spend some time with Elva.

Lena would hate it, and so would the other girls. I’d have to make sure it happened at a time that didn’t conflict with any of his other obligations.

Surely he would meet with her though? If I told him she thought he didn’t like her?

Surely he hadn’t become totally heartless in the past three years?

No, I knew he hadn’t. I had seen the soft–hearted way he’d interacted with Elva before

He might hate me, but he liked her. He would be willing to do this, I was sure.

I just had to get him alone to ask.

The next morning at breakfast, Lilliana was the most popular girl in the room. Every other girl wanted to know every detail of her solo–date with Nicholas.

attention seemed to go straight to her head, and she calmly and smugly answered every question she

was asked, albeit with a haughty attitude.

I

“Prince Nicholas lifted me into the saddle like the princess I am soon to be,” she said. “The horse

for me could have been tamer, however. Something I will

now, maybe that poor horse had reason to

been said that animals had a sixth sense

along the edge of the property,” Lilliana said. “I felt

belong to

the property and the palace and what she would

himself, like his beautiful golden eyes

all of Nicholas’s qualities in how much it could

power. The

collected inside of me.

him as a person.

was all wrong for him. Hopefully he would realize that sooner

the other girls were sharing sharp looks toward each other,

thickened as she continued to

Ball was

girls, it seemed as if Lilliana was enemy number

to harm her, but I too wanted to see her eliminated from the

It was just pure objective

wasn’t worthy of Nicholas.

Chapter 0046

Ball, and I was dressed in my beautiful, shimmering yellow gown it was sleeveless, with

my maids had tied my brown hair into a tight up

was a near mirror figure of me, though her dress came up to her neck.

couldn’t stop giggling as she spun in

laughing, she looked like the physical

into a quick hug.

door, the strange maid stopped me. “Don’t forget

me

1

their length. It would have been a faux pas to show up

well, but she was further back in the room and not looking

thank

took her hand. “Let’s go to the ball,

a toothy grin. “The

for the results for the dress contest. The princes‘

were a rainbow of colors and materials,

how she intended to dance. Though she moved with such ease, she must have been used to it. Others were similar, carefully sidestepping their trains or lifting their long detoad

and I genely wasn’t sure

Notham arrived, at the girls hushed themselves We waited with bated breath as Nathan

First, he said. “Divis