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?

Unless he truly had sealed me

be a great embarrassment to him, showing

Maybe he hated me.

the outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

Nicholas said, and 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

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

look at the man,

an exception,”

course, sir.” The

room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us,

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

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

seemed at ease against his chest. She must have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and drooling. She seemed

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

his hands stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped more

you hide my child from

blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

glanced at Elva, softly sleeping in his arms. She was three years old. That lined up with our

memory. We’d been so

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

fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His

I said, hoping to give

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

her name.

a moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to

between me and Elva. “She looks like

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

question for him, and he started

startled. What

his arms, and he immediately cut off the

lowered Elva down onto one of the plush

Mommy,” came