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?

truly had sealed me away in his past and

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

Maybe he hated me.

is the outsider.” The girl

this,” Nicholas said, and even his voice was monotone. Another moment of staring at

led

official-looking man in a suit hurried toward him. “Your Royal Highness, please remember that per

to look at the man,

an exception,” Nicholas

sir.” The man bowed twice as he

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

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

idea what even to say. What would he think of me, to see

ease against his chest. She must have cried herself

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

his hands stayed gentle on Elva, his

my child from me?”

thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

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

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

when he’d

face retained its anger, but the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like

I said, hoping to

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

That’s her name.

widened a moment, before the

he seemed to struggle to get it out. He swallowed

between me and Elva. “She looks like

to Nicholas. Elva was mine in

answer some unspoken question for him,

What could cause that

arms, and he immediately

one of the plush couches in the

Mommy,” came Elva’s quiet