The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 278

Nicholas

My mind would not let me rest at all that night. My body was at rest, finding comfort in knowing Piper was safe and within reach. But my thoughts constantly reminded me that soon, when the competition ended, Piper would be gone from my side.

Soon, I wouldn’t be able to protect her.

Tonight had just been a shadow of that future. I had very nearly been too late. If Julian hadn’t given Piper that pendant… If she hadn’t been able to press it…

How close we came to disaster.

A pendent like that wouldn’t matter soon enough. When Piper was gone from the palace, neither Julian nor I would be able to come to her rescue.

I had to make sure she was in a position to properly defend herself. I had promised to help restore her wolf to her, which would help her defend herself. But I had to do one better.

I had to take down Terry, to make sure he would never be able to hurt Piper or anyone else ever again.

All night, I stayed up and plotted. We had the letter that implicated Terry was directly connected to the underground organization. But that might not be enough.

Before I went to the King, I needed as much evidence as possible.

At the first sight of the approaching dawn, I carefully rolled Piper away from me and slipped out of bed. With luck, I would complete my task and be back before she would wake. She had a long day the day

before. I imagined she would sleep for a long time.

I quickly dressed then left my rooms. I walked down the hallways to where I knew the camera crews and producers gathered each morning. I asked Mark to meet me on the way.

Mark was exhausted, but obliged. He left Elva’s protection in the hands of our most trusted guards and met me in the hallway.

I had text him updates sporadically the night before. From that, and our friendship, I had no doubt he could discern the seriousness of the situation.

When we met, he didn’t say anything, didn’t even greet me. He just nodded. I nodded in return, and we continued on together.

We entered the crew’s room without knocking. Everyone startled, seeing me, and rushed to bow and show deference.

I waved away their concerns. “I’m looking for the footage from last night.”

One of the producers helped me. They had set up a series of monitors in the corner of the room where they always reviewed the previous night’s footage the next day. Most of the event was shown live to the public, but they were collecting the best moments to be released in a future compilation.

Unfortunately, they had not collected footage of Terry’s private tour with Piper.

“Terry had very specific rules about what we were allowed to film,” the producer said. “I felt we were walking on eggshells all night.”

I understood. “I assume you have footage of the dinner.”

“We do.” The producer scrolled through the timeline, skipping back to the dinner, where there was direct evidence of Terry’s excessive flirtations with both Piper and Susie.

Beside me, Mark suddenly tensed. I had told him about Terry’s behavior toward Piper, but I had failed to mention Susie’s involvement. A mistake, I know realized.

As the footage progressed, Mark began to growl low in his throat. Mark was usually quiet and reserved. I had never seen him lose his patience or his temper. With Susie, he seemed as protective as I was with Piper.

“We’ll bring him down,” I whispered to Mark. Mark looked at me, searching. Whatever he saw in me helped calm him down. My sincerity, perhaps. Or my determination.

To the producer, I said, “I need a copy of this footage. Now.”

The producer rushed to comply.

I saved a chunk of it to my phone, and the rest to a flash drive. Then I split with Mark and walked to the King’s personal chambers. Nathan opened the door for me.

The King and Queen were sitting at their table, eating breakfast.

“Nicholas?” the King said when he saw me. “You look like hell.”

“I have reason.” I walked to him and showed him the footage on my phone.

The King watched it all with a furrow in his brow.

“Terry’s behavior last night was beyond inappropriate,” I said. “He made Piper, Susie, and many of the other girls uncomfortable.”

My mother scoffed. “He’s always been a flirt, Nicholas. You know that. I’m sure those girls are being oversensitive.”

“He tried to feel up Piper under the table,” I said, trying to keep my voice steady and calm. Losing my temper never worked with my parents.

“And you have footage of that?” the Luna asked.

No, I didn’t. None of the camera angles caught Terry’s movements under the table. I grit my teeth, holding in my anger.

“Piper said ”

“And we accept the word of a commoner over that of nobility?” the Luna asked.

I gripped the back of the chair I stood behind. Anything to keep me from throwing something

across the room.

“There is merit to her concerns,” I said, gesturing to my cell phone still in the King’s hands. ” The footage shows – ”

“Piper is too sensitive. And this other girl, Susie, was it?” The Luna cut into her breakfast so hard her knife scraped across the plate. “She’s that quiet one, right? I imagine she’s much the same. A Luna would have to be able to reject men’s advances without becoming offended…”

“This wasn’t just advances,” I said, my voice lowering despite my best efforts. “Terry tried to her.”

The Luna lowered her cutlery abruptly, making a clatter. “Don’t you dare bring such vulgarities to my breakfast table.

“Dear,” the King said to her and she huffed out a breath. To me, he said, “That is quite the accusation, Nicholas. Do you have proof?”

“The shackle marks marring Piper’s wrists and ankles speak for themselves. And I saw for myself when I burst into the room…”

The Luna narrowed her gaze. “It was consensual, no doubt. But when you caught them in the act, she had to pretend otherwise, lest she be accused of breaking the rules.”

The wood of the chair under my hands began to splinter. “That is not true.”

“You have never liked your uncle,” the Luna said. “You are conspiring with that brat against him.”

“Dear,” the King said again, more forcefully.

She lowered her fiery gaze back to her breakfast.

“Nicholas,” the King said to me. “You must know that I need more than this to accuse my wife’s most admired brother.”

“This isn’t all he has done,” I said. “This is only the beginning.”

“Oh?”

I reached into my jacket pocket and produced the letter from Hawk to Terry. I passed it to him. My mother looked up from her breakfast again to track the movement.

My father opened the letter and read through it. His gaze darkened.

“What does it say?” the Luna asked.

When he had finished reading it, he passed it to my mother. She finished quickly.

In a panicked voice, she said, “This has to be faked.”

“How many excuses can you make for him?” the King asked her. “You are letting your love for him blind you, my dear wife.”

“But – ”

“We have been trying for years to bring down the underground organization, with limited to no results. Terry’s involvement could be the very reason we’ve never been able to get the upper hand.”

My mother fell silent. Defiance shown on her face, but deep within her eyes was a touch of heartbreak. To herself, in a whisper, she said, “It has to be fake…”

With the King’s assurance to investigate the matter, I rushed out of his rooms to return to my own. I couldn’t wait to tell Piper about my success.

Yet when I entered my bedroom, Piper was gone.

Walling up in bind see, with bol nowhere wight, & Ball rejected adamanty Sought against the feeling, melting myself everything was fine, Nicholas won a very important and busy man. But the hurt war perditent, rooted deep within me

Worse, I was now also humiliated, it was early, but still late enough for the servants and other candidates to begin to rouse and wander the halle. I had none of my own clothes, only Nicholas’s pajamas or Julian’s jacket.

1 kept on the pajamas, but pollled the jacket into my arms to return to Julian later.

Then, with my cheeks burning red, I began the long trek back to my room. I didn’t want anyone to see me like this, so I checked around corners and hid in alcoves to avoid all people.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I was nearly caught once, by a pair of servants dusting the picture frames along the hallway, but I ducked into a dark closet until they moved past.

Then, mortified, I rushed the rest of the way. The guards lifted a brow as they asked the identifying question, but they didn’t say a word when I answered correctly. They merely stepped aside

I exhaled a loud, heavy breath. Finally I was safe.

Was what I thought

Until I saw Piper standing in the middle of my bedroom.

“Where’s Elva?” I asked.

“The Nanny and a guard took her down to breakfast.” Julian glanced at my attire. A mischievous smirk tugged at his lips. “Long night, Piper?”

I looked down at myself. My blush spread down my neck and over my chest, disappearing under the top of the pajamas.

“I slept well,” I said.

“I bet you did,” Julian said. “Those princely pajamas look rather comfortable.”

I tugged at the cuff of one sleeve. “They are.”

“That’s good.” He sauntered closer. “Is that my jacket?”

“Oh, yes.” 1 held it out for him. Was this why he had come by room? To reclaim his jacket?

He didn’t reach for the jacket right away. Instead, he just stared at me, but I couldn’t quite discern the look in his eyes. There was an edge to his playfulness.