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?

to become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed

save face. I could be a great embarrassment

Maybe he hated me.

girl in pink motioned to

this,” Nicholas said, and even his voice was monotone. Another

held Elva, so I followed him. He led

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

at the man,

an exception,” Nicholas

sir.” The

into the room. I went inside after them. A servant stepped forward and closed the door behind

I had never

to see me as I was? To see me

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

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

gentle on Elva, his arm

dare you hide my child from me?”

my thoughts skidded to a stop. I blinked once, twice, but, no, I couldn’t

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

his arms. She was three years old.

tried to recall the memory. We’d been so young then, too eager and excited and

both finished in clumsy haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when he’d climaxed. But, hadn’t he

the certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted,

I said, hoping to give

hide a child from him would have been a cruelty.

name. But she’s

before the anger returned tenfold.

to say, he seemed to struggle

between me and Elva.

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

some unspoken question for him,

startled. What could

stirred his arms, and he immediately cut off the deep

Elva down onto one of the plush couches in the

Mommy,”