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, never once

be a great embarrassment to

Maybe he hated me.

outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

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

He led me to an

official-looking man in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per

look at the man, who nervously backed

is an exception,”

The man bowed twice

stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and I alone in a small

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

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

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

Elva, his arm looped more protectively

hide my child from

I blinked once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

glanced at Elva, softly sleeping in his arms. She was three years old. That

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

finished in clumsy haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been wearing a condom at the

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

I said, hoping to

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

name.

a moment, before the anger

he seemed to struggle to get it out. He swallowed

me and Elva. “She looks like

to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that

some unspoken question for

startled. What could

arms, and he immediately cut off

lowered Elva down onto one

Mommy,” came