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?

had changed, sure, but not enough to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away in his

great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after leaving

Maybe he hated me.

The girl in pink motioned

monotone. Another moment

He led me to an adjoining room, separated by a

in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t

look at the man, who nervously backed up

an exception,” Nicholas

Of course, sir.” The man bowed twice

A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving

thought I might be sick. I had

what even to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I was? To

have cried

and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden eyes filled with

hands stayed gentle on Elva, his

dare you hide my

skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense of what

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

sleeping in his arms. She was three years old. That lined up with our

tried to recall the memory. We’d been so young then,

remember where he was when he’d climaxed.

anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into

I said, hoping to give him

that Nicholas wanted children. He’d even said so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been a

That’s her name. But she’s not

before the anger

wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to get it out. He

and

that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I

to answer some unspoken question for

straightened, startled. What

stirred his arms, and he immediately cut off

Elva down onto one of the plush couches in the

at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet