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?

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

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

Maybe he hated me.

girl in pink motioned to

said, 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

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

at the man, who nervously

is an exception,” Nicholas

sir.” The man bowed

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

I might be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet Nicholas again, and especially

even to say. What would he think of me, to see me as I was? To

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

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

stayed gentle on Elva, his

dare you hide my

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

sleeping in his arms. She was three years

been so young then, too eager

remember where he was when he’d

fueled it seemed to slide

mistaken,” I said, hoping to give him

hide a child from him would

name. But

widened a moment, before

to say, he seemed to struggle to get it

between me and Elva. “She looks

Her birth mother was my identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was

question

startled. What could

and he immediately cut off the deep

lowered Elva down onto one of the plush couches

Mommy,” came