The Luna Choosing Game by Jane Above Story

Nicholas held Elva safe and secure in his arms as he stood to his full height. Elva buried her face into the corner of his neck and shoulder. He gently patted her back.

He glanced down at Elva, his gaze so tender that it made my heart clench.

“There, there,” he whispered. “You are safe now.”

“Oh my God,” said one of the other girls in the room, fanning herself. “Of course he’s good with children.”

“Someone pinch me,” said another. “I think I’m dreaming.”

Nicholas’s soft expression hardened as he glared out at the rest of the room. “Whose child is this? Why is she here?”

I started forward, but the girl in the pink dress spoke before I could reach him.

“An outsider sneaked in, unless she’s a maid.”

Some of the other girls snickered at my expense.

“She can’t be a participant,” another girl fake-whispered, loud enough for half-the room to hear. “I thought we had to be virgins, and she’s got a kid.”

I wanted to disappear into a corner. Whether virgin or not, I was nothing compared to the rest of these girls.

My clothes weren’t as nice as theirs, and my figure wasn’t like what it had been at the Academy. I’d lost much of my musculature. I was skinny from too many nights of skipped dinners.

Elva’s wellbeing had always come before my own.

Her sake was the only reason I continued forward rather than hide in embarrassment. I stopped only when I reached Nicholas.

He looked at me, and I looked at him.

I’d forgotten how gorgeous his eyes were, golden brown with flakes of green. When we’d dated, I had spent hours looking at them, trying to memorize that color, but it had seemed different each time.

Before, when I’d stared long enough, I could earn a bashful smile from him. Now, his face was totally devoid of emotion. He looked at me like I was a stranger.

Did he… not recognize me?

enough to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away in his past and moved

save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after leaving him, and with

Maybe he hated me.

the outsider.” The girl in pink

and even his voice was monotone. Another

He led me to

him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t to be alone with the contestants

at the man, who nervously backed up a

an

The

carried Elva into the room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving

stomach churned. I thought I might be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas again, and especially not like

he think of me, to see me as I was? To see me

against his chest. She must have cried herself to sleep, eyes

his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden eyes

on Elva, his arm looped more

my child from me?”

blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense of what he

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

arms. She was three years old. That lined up with

to recall the memory. We’d been so young then, too eager and excited

clumsy haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when

seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like

said, hoping to give

even said so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been

her name. But

before

seemed to struggle to get it out. He swallowed it

glanced between me and Elva.

tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would not have her

question for him, and

What could cause

immediately cut off

onto one of the plush couches in

be mad at Mommy,” came