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?

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

be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after leaving him, and

Maybe he hated me.

outsider.” The girl

monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly,

followed him. He led me to an adjoining room,

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

look at the man, who

an exception,”

sir. Of course, sir.” The man bowed

A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas,

sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas

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

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

Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade cracked.

gentle on Elva, his arm looped more protectively around

hide my child from

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

to recall the memory. We’d been so young then,

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

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

I said, hoping to give him some

For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would

That’s her name. But she’s

widened a moment, before the anger returned

he seemed to struggle

between me and

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

seemed to answer some unspoken question for him,

What could

stirred his arms, and he immediately

lowered Elva down onto one of

be mad at Mommy,” came