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.

Susie turned in her seat to face me. I had Elva in my lap, but she was busy stuffing her

you okay, Piper? I heard some truly terrible

pushing away her concern. I felt hungover some, with a cloudy head and tired eyes, but otherwise okay Except for my continued embarrassment over my body’s

throat, and left my

to pick

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

“Word is, Terry left at some point last night and returned to

filled me with a sense of relief and for the

For now, at least, I was

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

Terry’s

breath.

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

unanswered questions. It felt worse now, somehow, because I would never be able to find the answers.

but it frustrated me that he could not see the

from ever being manipulated into giving away their wolves and their abilities. It was the

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

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

after seeing Elva safely into the care of her nanny and Mark, I set off on my own

thought to check the empty ballroom. I found him sitting alone on

to be so

tile steps, he turned back to look at me.

asked him. I had questions and demands,

its place was the same sort of

if

took a seat

night. He had bome witness to the full

tell me it wasn’t my fault, as well as

Nicholas moved away.

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

my

I was still

him to kiss me on the balcony. In time, I might have wanted to have