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.

Elva in my lap, but she was busy stuffing her face with all the delicious

I heard some truly terrible rumors.”

felt hungover some, with a cloudy head and tired eyes, but otherwise okay Except for my continued embarrassment over my body’s reaction to Nicholas the

swallowed down the bile rising in my throat, and left my half of

to pick at.

grounds?” I asked. It took great strength

some point last night

a sense of relief and for the first

For now, at least, I

thoughts of last night continued to linger in my mind, even as we broke

couldn’t help but feel Terry’s cold hands on me or smell his

breath.

wolf. Who was she? Where had she come from? How had she gotten it? And why was she teasing me

It felt worse now, somehow, because I would never be able to

but it frustrated me that he could not

underground organization was exposed, it would protect people like me from ever being manipulated into giving away their wolves and their abilities. It was the only true way to keep Elva

cowed by Terry, or by Nicholas. I had my own heart and

my daughter or any of those innumerous other souls out there who just wanted to do the right thing, and lost their wolves

and Mark,

of the palace before I thought to check the empty ballroom. I found him sitting alone on the bottom stair, deep

like him to be

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

had questions and demands, but he

and his look of vulnerability faded. In its place

company if it’s

a seat

Julian was also there last night. He had bome

had the decency both to tell me it

Nicholas moved away.

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

the circumstances of my desire much

I was still

to kiss me on