The Luna Choosing Game

By the next morning, the drug had worked its way through my system and I felt like my old self again. I

went down to breakfast, where I was reunited with Elva, who had stayed with Susie the night before by

order of Nicholas.

I was grateful for his foresight. Mortified as I was by my actions and sounds, I was at least spared the

embarrassment of explaining any of this to Mark or the nanny myself. Or worse still, to Elva..

A thought so stomach–churning, I dared not even think of it.

So when I did finally greet her, it was with a tight hug and big smile, the same as always.

Susie and I didn’t always sit together, but we chose to that morning. There were still many empty chairs with the previous elimination, and I was feeling vulnerable from what had happened the night before. I needed my friends.

Around us the girls were chattering about the curiousness of the evening’s events. Terry was to be one of the main judges of the night, but he never came to ballroom.

Also as curious, both Nicholas and Julian disappeared sometime in the night, only to reappear this morning, one with a black eye and the other with an injured hand.

“You don’t suppose the princes got into a fight with each other?” one of the girls asked.

“No,” Lilliana said flatly. “He is too mature to take part in such childish antics.”

“Julian does love to tease,” said someone else.

“Not enough to tempt a prince away from his decorum,” Olivia added. “Prince Nicholas been around Prince Julian for years. He’s surely built up a tolerance.”

“Well, then what happened with Sir Terry?“”

“Maybe he started the fight,” someone said, and another laughed. A third shushed them.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Olivia said, rolling her eyes.

turned in her seat to face me. I had Elva in

heard some truly

shook my head, pushing away her concern. I felt hungover some, with a cloudy head and tired eyes, but

and left

to pick at.

grounds?” I asked. It took great strength to keep my voice

at some point last night and returned to

relief and for the first time that day, I

For now, at least, I

last night continued to linger in my mind, even as we broke from eating

but feel Terry’s cold

breath.

who seemed to have my wolf. Who was she? Where had she come from? How

had so many unanswered questions. It felt worse now, somehow, because I would never be able to find the answers. Not since Nicholas

the kingdom, but it frustrated me

the underground organization was exposed, it would protect people like me from ever being manipulated into giving

or by Nicholas. I had my own heart and my own beliefs.

condemned, I wouldn’t let him stop me from protecting my daughter or any of those innumerous other souls out

nanny and Mark, I set off on my own to find Julian.

check the empty ballroom. I found him sitting alone on the bottom stair, deep

to be so isolated or so

he heard the click of my heels on the tile steps, he turned back to

I asked him. I had questions and demands, but he seemed almost…

his look of vulnerability faded. In its place was the

don’t mind company if it’s you,” he

eyes at his flirtatious charms and took a seat on the same step he was sitting

Julian was also there last night. He

the decency both to tell me it wasn’t my fault, as well as to make

Nicholas moved away.

taken advantage. He wouldn’t have. But Julian’s

circumstances of my

I was still

so angry about it. I did have desire for Nicholas. I had wanted him to kiss me on the balcony. In time, I might have wanted to have him do more.