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 and moved on, never

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

Maybe he hated me.

girl in

was monotone. Another moment of staring at me

I followed him. He led me to

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

look at the man, who nervously backed up

is an

sir.” The man

room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and

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

would he think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of

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

perfect façade cracked.

Elva, his arm

dare you hide my child from

my thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

arms. She was three years

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

finished in clumsy haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d

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

mistaken,” I said, hoping to give him

so on television. For me to hide a child from

That’s her name. But she’s

moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

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

me and Elva.

that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would not have

unspoken question

startled. What could cause that

he immediately cut off the

gently, he lowered Elva down onto one of the plush couches

at Mommy,” came