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 me away in his past and

he was simply pretending, to save face. I could be a great embarrassment to him, showing

Maybe he hated me.

outsider.” The girl in pink motioned to

even his voice was monotone. Another moment

him. He led me

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

man, who nervously

is an exception,” Nicholas

The man bowed twice

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

think of me, to see me as

chest. She must have cried herself to

toward Nicholas, and at once, his perfect

hands stayed gentle on Elva, his arm looped more protectively

my child from

I blinked once,

Eloquently, I said, “Huh?”

glanced at Elva, softly sleeping in his arms. She was three years old. That lined up with our breakup three years ago.

the memory. We’d been so young then,

he was when he’d climaxed. But,

to slide

I said, hoping to give

that Nicholas 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

name. But she’s not

eyes widened a moment, before the anger returned tenfold.

he wanted to say, he seemed to struggle to get it out. He swallowed it

me and Elva.

was my identical twin sister. But I wouldn’t tell that to Nicholas. Elva was mine in every way that mattered. I would

silence seemed to answer some unspoken question

What could cause that

and he immediately cut

down onto one of the plush couches

mad at Mommy,” came