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 past and moved

he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him,

Maybe he hated me.

girl in

even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly, then he turned and walked

still held Elva, so I followed him. He led me to an adjoining

please remember that per

man, who

an exception,” Nicholas

sir.” The man bowed

after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and I alone in a small sitting

I might be sick. I had never imagined

he think of me, to see me

chest. She must have cried

Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned.

stayed gentle on Elva, his

my child from me?” he

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

at Elva, softly sleeping in his arms. She was three

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

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

certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like he was trying to

hoping to give him

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

name.

moment, before the anger

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

and Elva. “She looks

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

some unspoken question for him, and he started

straightened, startled. What

stirred his arms, and he immediately cut off the deep rumbling

onto one of the plush

Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet