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?

to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away in his past and

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

Maybe he hated me.

is the outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

Another moment of

so I followed him. He led me

remember that per the selection

the man, who nervously backed

an

sir.” The

carried 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 small sitting

be sick. I had never imagined

of me, to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of the selection? And

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

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

gentle on Elva, his arm looped

hide my child from me?”

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

arms. She was three years old.

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

when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been

retained its anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like he was trying to

mistaken,” I said, hoping to

child from him would have been

That’s her name. But

moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

struggle

between me and Elva. “She looks

Her birth mother was my identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every

some unspoken question for him, and he

What could cause

and he immediately cut off

he lowered Elva down onto one of the plush

mad at Mommy,” came