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

save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing

Maybe he hated me.

the outsider.” The girl in pink

said, and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at me

led me to an adjoining room, separated

man in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per the selection rules, you aren’t to

stopped to look at the man, who

an exception,” Nicholas

course, sir.” The man bowed twice

carried Elva into the room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the

I had never imagined I’d

see me as I was? To

must have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and

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

gentle on Elva, his arm

my child from me?”

thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

We’d been so young then, too eager and

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

its anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to

mistaken,” I said, hoping to give him

child from

That’s her name. But she’s

widened a moment, before the anger returned

he wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to

glanced between me and

was my identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would not have her seen as

answer some unspoken question for

What

arms, and he immediately cut off the deep rumbling

onto one of the plush couches in the

mad at Mommy,”

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