The Luna Choosing Game

I forced myself to my feet. The tailor, after making sure I was upright and unharmed, immediately rushed from the room to retrieve a towel and a servant to clean the mess.

My soggy notes were beginning to fall apart in my hands, to wet to even maintain their paper shape.

“Linda,” I said, going to her.

She scrunched her nose as I came close, as if the very sight of me disgusted her. I was disheveled now, true, with my gown damp in some places and my hair a mess. But even so…

“Can I have those names again?” I asked. I knew she had written them down same as me.

She quickly hid her notepad from my sight. “If you lost those names, then this is on you, Piper. You need

to learn to take responsibility.” She narrowed her eyes. “We wouldn’t want anyone to think you had unfair

advantage.”

“It’s not like that,” I said.

She continued on, like I hadn’t said anything. “At least half of our table will look good, and the royal

tell who did which

I said. “We’re supposed to work together. Adversaries

Luna is

not an

me and out the door. The other girls

sympathetic wave.

fabrics left strewn at the place where we had been, but we’d tried on so

we had decided upon. I tried to

very least, I could guess about Linda’s preferences, after having heard them drilled into

a compatible half of the table, even if it

writing down the fabric and color names I could guesstimate were maybe correct, I rushed down to the kitchen to look

the pages, when one of the

in audience with the king.” the servant said.

It wasn’t the servant’s fault that I was maybe about to die.

chase me. I doubted I would

I buried my fear deep down, rose my chin in defiance, and decided to face my inevitable end. I only hoped Nicholas could hear of it and intervene before

of the kitchen and around the winding hallways until we entered