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?

but not enough to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me away

I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years

Maybe he hated me.

outsider.” The girl in pink

said, and even his voice was monotone. Another

so I followed him. He led

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

is an exception,”

The man bowed twice as

into the room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas,

might be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas again, and especially not like

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

have cried herself to sleep,

stepped forward toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden eyes

hands stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped more protectively

hide my child

of my thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense of

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

recall the memory. We’d been so

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

it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like he was trying

hoping to give

hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have struggled forever over the

name.

widened a moment, before the anger

seemed to struggle to

and Elva. “She

to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that

answer some unspoken question for him,

straightened, startled. What could

he immediately

Elva down onto one of the plush couches in the

at Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet