The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0622

The butler showed me to Susie's room, and then quickly excused himself outside of her door. When he was gone, I knocked.

"Go away!" Susie called in a watery voice. She was crying.

I knocked more insistently as I pushed open the door.

*I said -* she started, cutting herself off she say me. "Piper?"

"Hi, Susie," I said.

"Oh, Piper!" She was sitting at her desk, the tears running down her cheeks. As I entered the room, closing the door behind me, she jumped from the chair and ran to me.

We shared a hug. Relief flooded through me.

I stepped back after a moment, to look her over. She didn't seem too worse for wear. Other than the crying, she didn't show any signs of abuse or neglect.

"What are you doing here?" Susie sniffed. "I'm sure word has gotten around by now."

*Rumors don't matter. Come back to palace."

*If you've heard the rumors, you know why I can't."

"Everyone will forget, the moment you appear. They'll all just think it's gossip and it won't matter," I say. "Since Jessica is the only other contender for Joyce, you wouldn't even have to face elimination."

*Piper," she sounded so sad. "I can't come. It's just not rumors. My parents... They know the truth about me."

*How could they?" I asked. She wasn't showing yet. Sure they might suspect, but to have real proof?

"I told them," Susie said.

I startled, speechless.

"I didn't want to lie anymore about any of it," Susie said. "I don't want to have to pretend to have feelings for Joyce, when the only one I really want is Mark."

The weight of the ring in my pocket near doubled, and I regretted holding it back even this long.

"He's here, you know. Mark. And Nicholas both. They are down in the sitting room with your parents," I said. Susie's eyes went wide as saucers. "Mark is here?"

"I don't think anything would have kept him away. If your parents wouldn't have let him inside, he would have scaled the walls and climbed through your window."

Susie laughed a little at that.

"Nicholas and I were able to stop him before he did anything drastic. Nicholas had a plan, as he always does, that his arrival at your door might open the way. My presence was required for this. It is, after all, more likely they'd let me in to see you than some strange man."

"True."

*Your parents knew who I was..." I began.

Susie blushed a little. "I talk about you often. You were my first friend."

My heart lurched and I pulled her into another hug. How grateful I was to be in her life! Though how much it hurt to hear she had such a hard time getting friends. She was so sweet and kind, she deserved so many more than just me.

I tug the ring from my pocket. "Mark told me to give you this." I held my palm out with the ring sitting in the middle.

Susie looked at it and gasped.

"He says it's overdue," I told her. "He wants to ask you properly."

Gently, Susie plucked the ring from my palm and held it up closer to her, to inspect it. She touched it with only her fingertips, treating it as a precious, rare, fragile thing.

For a moment, pure awe covered her face, softening all of her features. Then, in the next, she began to cry again. "What's the matter?" I asked her, stepping closer.

"My parents will never go for it," she said. "And even if they did. Or even if that didn't matter to me, Mark would be throwing his whole life away with this. He can't be Nicholas's Beta if -"

"Don't worry about that," I told her. "Nicholas will find a way to get it to work. If this is what you want, Susie, you can't let it get away. You have to follow your heart."

Susie blinked away the tears. She continued looking at the ring for another minute or two, before she rose.

"I want to see him," she said.

I nodded and we both headed for the doorway. With Susie leading, we didn't need the butler to guide us back downstairs to the sitting room.

Along the way, Susie slid the ring onto her finger. I couldn't help my smile. When she saw it, she smiled too, though hers was nervous.

*It really is a personal matter, Prince Nicholas, as I've consistently said "Susie's father was saying. He cut himself off when Susie and I returned to the room.

*Susie..." her mom said.

But Susie's eyes were on Mark, and his on her. Then his gaze dropped to her hand, where she'd already put on the ring.

"Susie," he said, the word overflowing with obvious love.

Mark stepped forward, moving closer to Susie's parents, closer than even Nicholas was standing.

*Please," Mark said, dropping into a deep bow. "Please allow me to marry your daughter."

Susie's parents both went wide-eyed. "What?"

*I am in love with your daughter," Mark said. "I cannot live without her."

"You don't know of her condition!" Susie's father said.

Susie's mother was quicker. She touched her husband's arm. "He does."

"I do," Mark confirmed. "The baby is mine. And I would raise it as my child, with Susie as my wife."

"I can vouch for this man," Nicholas said. "He is my Beta and a loyal man besides. He will treat your daughter

well."

"A Beta?" Susie's father said. "This is most unusual..."

*I will personally see to their success," Nicholas said. "If you would allow this union."

This seemed to be agreeable terms with Susie's parents.

*If the prince can attest to it, then it must be so," Susie's father said. "Especially as he is the child's father."

*This would save our darling daughter from scandal," her mother agreed.

Joy overtook the room, and Susie's father called for the butler, "Bring us the champagne!"

*Father!" Susie said, half-smiling, half-scolding.

"Not for you, my dear."

Susie and Mark moved closer to each other. They couldn't touch, it wouldn't be proper in front of Susie's traditional parents, but their body language spoke of their desire too. They leaned toward each other in every way two people could lean toward each other.

I was happy for them. Love seemed to radiate off them like sunbeams.

I glanced at Nicholas. He was smiling, clearly happy too.

I looked too long. Eventually he caught me. He held my gaze prisoner with his own.

In my chest, my heart raced.

I had no parents for Nicholas to ask for my hand. He would simply have to ask me. And, well, Elva too, though it was no secret who she wanted as a father.

With the soft way Nicholas was looking at me, I felt fresh hope build up in my heart.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .

Maybe it could be possible. If I turned down the King's deal, chose to for Nicholas and the kingdom. Maybe we could find a life together.

It wouldn't be how I imagined it exactly. We'd live in a palace. Things would be difficult. I'd surely fumble, trying to

do the right thing.

But we'd have each other.

And together, maybe that would be enough to save the kingdom.