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?

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

maybe he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after

Maybe he hated me.

outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at

him. He led me to

a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember

at the man, who nervously backed up

an

The man bowed

forward and closed the door behind

be sick. I had

think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of the selection?

must have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and drooling. She

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

hands stayed gentle on Elva, his

you hide my child from

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

was three years old. That lined up with our breakup three

recall the memory. We’d been so young

where he was when

retained its anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment.

hoping to give him

wanted children. He’d even said so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have struggled forever over the guilt for the

name. But

eyes widened a moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

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

between me and Elva. “She looks like

I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that

unspoken question for him, and

What could cause

stirred his arms, and he immediately cut off the

lowered Elva down onto one

mad at Mommy,” came