The Luna Choosing Game

Whispers sounded around me, speculation on who was copying who. Lilliana had arrived to the banquet first, but not everyone was convinced that meant she had picked the outfit originally. Absolutely no one entertained the idea that it could have been a coincidence.

When I suggested such a thing to the girl beside me at the table, she rolled her eyes. “Nothing is a coincidence at the palace.”

“She’s not wrong.” Julian said. “It’s obvious to me that Lilliana is copying you.”

“Well, I didn’t copy her,” I said firmly.

Julian waved around his soup spoon. Think about it. By your own admission, you have now dated two of the three princes. Is it any big surprise that some of the girls are going to end up imitating you?”

That seemed like such a ridiculous notion. Lilliana especially wouldn’t have a need to copy me. She had already gone on dates with Nicholas, and she had been seated beside him for some time now.

Even if she wasn’t already favored by Nicholas, she was so regal all on her own. What use would copying me have for her, other than to bring her down?

“Lilliana has her own grace,” I said. “She doesn’t need anything from me.”

“Cute, but incorrect.” Finished with his soup, he pushed the bowl away. A servant immediately came to retrieve it. “Thanks.” Julian patted his napkin to his lip. “Lilliana is a fraud.”

girl opposite him gasped. He

do you mean?”

has been pre–planned, from the way she parts her hair, to the way she sits or

couldn’t remember saying more than a

crown. She’s been pretending

Lilliana. To care so much for power, that

life living behind a shell? Did she truly not

have been able to see the pity on my face.

up willingly, Piper. Girls like her do it all the

“It’s just so sad.

doesn’t choose her?”

“She’ll probably have to

that would come to pass. I understood she was desperate to be Luna, but to give up so much? Surely if

folly.

among these sharks. I had no desire