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?

unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed

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

Maybe he hated me.

The girl in pink motioned

this,” Nicholas said, and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly, then he turned

held Elva, so I followed him. He led me to an adjoining room, separated by

toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection

at the man, who

an exception,” Nicholas

course, sir.” The man bowed

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

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

of me, to see me as I was? To see me here,

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

his perfect façade

Elva,

my

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

been so young then, too eager

haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he

but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted,

I said, hoping to give him some

so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have struggled forever over the

name. But she’s not

widened a moment, before the

say, he seemed to struggle

and Elva. “She looks like

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

question for him, and he started

What

immediately cut off the deep rumbling

down onto one of the plush

be mad at Mommy,”