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?

become unrecognizable. Unless he truly had sealed me

could be a great embarrassment to him, showing up here, years after leaving

Maybe he hated me.

outsider.” The girl in pink motioned

was monotone. Another moment of staring at me blankly, then he

led

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

man, who nervously backed

is an exception,” Nicholas

Of course, sir.” The man bowed twice as

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

I thought I might be sick. I had never

to see me as I was? To

have cried herself to sleep, eyes closed and drooling.

Nicholas, and at once, his perfect façade cracked. He

stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped

you hide my child from me?”

I blinked once, twice, but, no, I

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

softly sleeping in his arms. She was three years

to recall the memory. We’d been so

both finished in clumsy haste. I couldn’t remember where he was when

certainty that fueled it seemed to slide into bewilderment. His gaze shifted, like he was trying to

hoping

wanted children. He’d even 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

name. But she’s not

eyes widened a moment, before

struggle

me and Elva. “She

wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva

seemed to answer some unspoken question

straightened, startled. What could cause

arms, and he immediately cut off the

onto one of the plush

be mad at Mommy,”