THE LUNA CHOOSING GAME - Season 4 Episode 19

Joyce regarded me with a cool expression. His gaze trailed over me with disinterest. I felt suddenly exposed in my thin nightgown and robe. I wrapped my arms around myself.

“Joyce? You were the one who wanted to see me?” I asked in disbelief.

He nodded curtly. “I wanted to see if you were reckless enough to follow that note out onto a balcony, even knowing all the safety measures we have in place right now.”

“Oh…” I lowered my head, ashamed and embarrassed.

“My brothers are fond of you,” he said. “That gives me enough reason to be concerned for you too.”

“I see…”

I thought back on my actions since receiving that note. My overwhelming desire to see Nicholas had tainted my own self-preservation. I’d even sneaked away from the guards who were supposed to protect me.

Thank G od it was only Joyce out here and not someone who actually meant to do me harm or I would have walked straight into a trap.

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The note had even been typed rather than handwritten. I should have known better. Even if Nicholas and I had left similar notes to each other in the past, he wouldn’t recreate that now – not with the

danger I’d been in.

Nicholas would have never wanted me to endanger myself by shaking loose my guard and meeting him out here in the cold night.

Joyce was right for having called me out. I was being dangerously reckless.

“Thank you, Joyce,” I said. “I’ll keep this lesson close.”

He tilted his head. He didn’t say anything, just watched me closely.

I shifted slightly, feeling like a sample under a microscope.

Joyce and I had been friendly enough, but our conversations had been few and far between. With my closeness to both Nicholas and Julian, it made sense for him to be curious about me.

But now that I thought about it… Wasn’t the balcony a strange place to meet?

I was proven reckless, so what would happen now? What was Joyce’s actual plan beyond this moment?

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And why did I feel a chill run down my spine, suddenly unnerved?

No, that wasn’t fair. Joyce was a prince – Nicholas and Julian’s brother! throw suspicions on.

He had a different way of doing things. This could simply be an extension of that. I had enough enemies. Imagining more would do nothing to help me. “Thank you for your thoughtfulness,” I said, hoping to end this entire scene. My embarrassment was immense. I wanted to hurry back to my room and bury myself under my covers until I stopped feeling so foolish. Joyce nodded, and I felt relief. “I’ll leave first,” he said. “Okay,” I said, though I wasn’t sure why that would matter. It was so late, I doubt anyone would see us together unless they knew to look. Although with the way tensions were so high, perhaps it was better to be cautious. If I was seen afterhours in the presence of yet another prince, I wasn’t sure the public would be so accepting.

Joyce went through the door, leaving me alone on the balcony.

I waited five minutes. I counted to sixty five times.

“59… 60…’

Then I headed for the door. I tried to turn the k nob. It wouldn’t budge.

I blinked, surprised. That couldn’t be right.

I tried to turn the handle harder, but it wouldn’t move.

It was locked.

Joyce locked it behind him?

Had he done so intentionally? No, no, that couldn’t be. It had to be an accident. He seemed the absent- minded type. Likely he walked through and locked the door on reflex. 2

Why would he want to purposefully lock me out here? That didn’t make any sense.

But, even accidental, this left me with a problem. The temperature was dropping, and I was stuck out on the balcony in my nightgown. Anyone could happen by. I had no way of defending myself. Without a cell phone, I had no way of contacting anyone, either.