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 past and moved on,

save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him,

Maybe he hated me.

The girl in

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

I followed him. He led

suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per

at the man, who nervously

an

The man bowed twice as he

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

be sick. I had never imagined I’d meet

think of me, to see me as I was? To see me here,

must have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and drooling.

his perfect façade cracked. He frowned. His golden

Elva, his

my child from

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

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

three years old. That lined up with our breakup three

memory. We’d been so young then, too eager and

when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he been wearing a condom at the

that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His

hoping to give him

said so on television. For me to hide a child from him would have been a cruelty. He would likely have struggled forever over the guilt for the

name. But

moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

say, he seemed to struggle to get it

and Elva.

I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was

unspoken question for him, and

straightened, startled. What could cause that

his arms, and he immediately cut off the deep rumbling

down onto one of the plush couches in the

Mommy,” came