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?

become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away in his past and moved on,

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

Maybe he hated me.

The girl in pink motioned to

into this,” Nicholas said, and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly, then he turned

held Elva, so I followed him. He led me to an

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

look at the man, who nervously backed up

an exception,”

sir.” The

and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas,

sick. I had never imagined

had no idea what even to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here,

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

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

Elva, his arm

my

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

memory. We’d been so young then,

haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed.

fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted,

said, hoping to

secret that Nicholas wanted children. He’d even said so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have

That’s her name. But she’s not

a moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

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

between me and Elva. “She looks like

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 anything

answer some unspoken question for him,

What could cause

he immediately cut off

Elva down onto one

at Mommy,” came