The Luna Choosing Game

Chapter 0539

“They're pushing him past his limits,” Julian said again, “And it's about time too.” I looked at him sharply. Surely he couldn't be happy that his brother was being harassed into uncharacteristic outbursts.

He shrugged at my look. “He’s final ly acting like a living breathing human in front of the camera. Yeah, it's probably not the side he wants people to see, but even you have to admit, Piper, that it was unnerving as hell watching him pretend to be that i oh IE perfect emotionless statue.” I couldnt deny that exactly, but it wasn't great that Nicholas’s walls were crumbling without his consent.

He should be able to raise and lower his walls at his own will, not because

I others pushed him into it.

“If he wants to be the statue, he should be able to be the statue” I said.

Julian shook his head. “We know Nicholas would be a great king because we know him. He know how much he cares about everything, including the people. He's always at that orphanage, for instance. But you know who doesn’t know any of that, even about the orphanage?” “The people,” I said, realizing.

“The people,” Julian replied. “This competition wasn't just about finding Lunas for us. You know already that a big part was about raising the popularity of the royal family. Well, to do that, we were supposed to show pieces of ourselves to the public, so they could know our faces. We hid away from them for too long.” Vl 2/6 i

“If he hides who he really is, they have no reason to believe he would be the best king.” Julian pointed at me. “Bingo.” ‘But if the only time they see him break is when he loses his temper...

won't the public think he's being too volatile to be king?” I “They'll think he’s human,” Julian said. “They'll find him relatable. They'll trust him, more than they'd trust a statue.” h I supposed I could see the reason in that, and for Julian to believe it so strongly meant that he had given ita lot of thought. Julian might have given the outward appearance of being carefree, but the truth was that he was a massive over thinker.

He knew more about this than me, I a, or I could admit that. So he was probably right.

But, more than I was worried about the public perception of the Nicholas, I was worried about Nicholas himself.

I stood.

“Follow the beach down to the group of trees,” Julian said. “It's in a bit of an alcove, hid away from the house.

It's private. If he wanted to be alone, that's where he would have gone.” It was sweet of Julian to give me this information. The knowing smirk he gave me wasn't so sweet.

As I looked at him, he waggled his eyebrows. I rolled my eyes.

Of course, I was still going to go. I fully intended on following his direction and I wasn't going to even feel bad about it. But he was so ridiculous, I couldn't leave him without saying something.

"Mind your own business,” I said.

He laughed, and the sound helped heal some of the more fragile pieces of my heart.

I followed Julian's directions, walking down off the deck and then following the water line. All of the cameras, in Nicolas’'s absence had turned their attention onto Bridget.NôvelDrama.Org owns © this.

Nathan was even asking her questions, which she was answering with the brightest of smiles and dispositions.

I ignored them just as they ignored me.

The waves licked at my feet as I walked along the shoreline, following the coast up and around into where the trees began to block the house. 

The beach dipped inward there, like a letter C, with the water filling in a small pool.