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?

Unless he truly had sealed me away in his past and moved

he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to

Maybe he hated me.

is the outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly, then he turned and

held Elva, so I followed him. He led me to an adjoining room, separated by a

remember that per the selection

to look at the man, who nervously backed up

an

The man bowed twice as

them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind us, leaving Nicholas, Elva, and I alone

I might be sick. I had never

idea what even to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here, as part of the

ease against his chest. She must have cried herself to sleep, eyes

stepped forward toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade

gentle on Elva, his arm looped more

my child from me?”

stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t make sense of what he

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

tried to recall the memory. We’d been so young

he was when he’d climaxed. But,

to slide into

said, hoping to give

on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely

name. But

a moment, before the anger

wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to get it

glanced between me and Elva. “She

wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way

answer some unspoken question for

straightened, startled. What could cause that

stirred his arms, and he immediately cut off the deep rumbling

onto one of the plush couches in the

mad at Mommy,” came Elva’s