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

could be a great embarrassment to

Maybe he hated me.

The girl in pink motioned

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

He led me to an adjoining room,

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

the man, who nervously backed up a

an

sir.” The man bowed twice as he

inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and I alone in a small sitting

I thought I might be sick. I had never imagined I’d

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

chest. She must have cried herself

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

stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped more protectively

my child from

to a stop. I blinked once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

three years old. That lined up with our breakup three years ago.

been so young then,

where he was when he’d

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

I said, hoping

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

her name. But

moment, before

say, he seemed to struggle to get it out.

between me and Elva. “She looks like

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

question for

straightened, startled. What could

he immediately cut off the deep

one of the

mad at Mommy,” came