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?

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

pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment

Maybe he hated me.

The girl

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

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

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

at the man, who nervously

an exception,”

sir. Of course, sir.” The man bowed twice as

stepped forward and closed the door

stomach churned. I thought I might be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas

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

She must have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and

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

stayed gentle on Elva, his

hide my child

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

She was three years old. That lined up

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

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

seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like he was trying

hoping to give him

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 years

name. But she’s

before the

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

and Elva. “She looks like

mother was my identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva

to answer some unspoken question for him, and

straightened, startled. What

arms, and he immediately cut off

one

at Mommy,”