The Luna Choosing Game

I stared at Julian, disbelieving my ears. Did he really just ask me for a solo date?

Yet everyone in the whole ballroom was looking at us. Julian still held the microphone up to his mouth.

This was definitely happening. It wasn’t a dream.

Which meant that Julian was up to something.

“Why?” I asked, before I could think better of it.

A few girls around me gasped. Only then did I realize my mistake and covered my mouth.

Julian also looked shocked, his eyes going wide for a moment. But then, just as quickly, he burst out

laughing.

His good humor seemed to erase the surprise of the other onlookers. Everyone seemed to think I had

been telling a joke.

With the microphone lowered, he said to me, “I insist this request is genuine, Piper.”

I didn’t believe him.

Julian always played the angles. Asking me on a date had to be some kind of move for his benefit, but I

couldn’t begin to figure out how. I’d only scratched the surface of the inner politics of the royal family.

waited for my

he was using me, even if I didn’t know how, but I

this was a competition. I was just a pawn in a

said,

microphone, he announced,

Most of the girls clapped politely. A few

date will be tomorrow,” he said, no longer speaking to me, but

stood. His face was

as he stared straight at

I

I wanted to tell him that this didn’t mean anything.

again, likely just for the

without publicly dismissing Julian. I had to stay

Nicholas didn’t need an explanation anyway. We weren’t anything to

anymore

hurt gaze had triggered something inside of me, like a memory response. Every

me screamed to soothe away his

nothing like

when I looked at Nicholas now, that look had dimmed. Now he seemed entirely

from me and, even an hour later, had

were positively charmed by Julian and his antics. Even after he had

could not stop telling me how funny