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?

to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away in his past and moved on, never once looking

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

Maybe he hated me.

girl in pink

and even his voice was monotone. Another moment

He led me

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

look at the man, who

is an exception,” Nicholas

Of course, sir.” The man bowed twice as

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

I had

no idea what even to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I

seemed at ease against his chest. She must have cried herself to sleep,

his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden eyes

stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped more

my child from me?” he

I blinked once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

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

when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been wearing a condom at the

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

I said, hoping to give him some

hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have struggled forever over the guilt for the years he’d

name. But she’s not

a moment, before

to struggle to get it out. He swallowed

glanced between me and

identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would not have

seemed to answer some unspoken question

straightened, startled. What could

his arms, and he immediately cut off the deep rumbling

gently, he lowered Elva down onto one of the plush couches

Mommy,”