Page 37 of Gathered Sparkle

There’s a long silence, all eyes falling on me, waiting. I want to tell them to leave it alone. To keep it all buried deep inside like I always do. It’s easier that way. Less painful.

But I’ve carried this weight alone for so long—eight years of grief, guilt, and loneliness. And now, seeing Ace again, alive... it’s ripped everything open. I’m too raw, my thoughts are spinning, and all the exhaustion I’ve fought against is finally giving in. The effort it takes to keep everything locked away feels like too much.

Maybe that’s why, for once, I decide to let it out.

I look around the room from Ezra to Koen, whose face is etched with worry. Nicholas, holding me tightly in his arms, his touch steady even though I know he’s hurting too. And then there’s Levi, watching with those wide, curious eyes. There’s something about this moment—about the way they’re all here, waiting—that makes me realizeI’m not alone anymore.

They’re not leaving.

They’re still here, even though I’m a mess.

Even though I’m broken.

Maybe they deserve to know.

I let out a shaky sigh, closing my eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath. My gaze drifts to Ezra, then to the floor, where the black suitcase that Ace brought still lies abandoned.

And then I just say it.

I tell them about Rosalee, Ace, and the night everything fell apart. How we made a stupid, reckless decision that cost me everything. How my twin, my other half, was gone, and how I lost Ace too. How I thought I had killed them both. How I ended up here, in Vegas, trying to run away from a past I could never escape. And how, for eight years, I believed I was alone, carrying all the guilt, all the pain, trying to drown it in alcohol, strangers, being a stripper, and anything that made me forget for a little while.

And now, how I found out that Ace—Alaric—has been alive all this time. Standing right in front of me, thinking I was someone else. Thinking I was gone, the same way I thought he was.

I don’t know how long I speak for. I don’t even know if I make sense. It all spills out in a tangled mess of emotions, the words tumbling over each other, and by the time I finish, I feel completely drained, nothing left inside me. But as my voice fades and my gaze moves toward the door Ace disappeared through, all I can feel is the weight of everything I’ve already lost.

And the gut-wrenching fear that maybe I’ve already lost him all over again.

CHAPTER NINE

Alaric

The moment I reach my room, I lock the door behind me, pressing my forehead against the wood. My chest is heaving, and it’s as if a vice is around my ribs, squeezing the air out of me. My pulse roars in my ears, drowning out every thought except one.

She’s alive.

Novalee.

I turn to walk to the bed, but my legs give out, and I sink to the floor.

Fuck.

My hands clutch my hair, pulling at it as if the pain will wake me from this nightmare, or dream, or whatever the hell this is.

How can she be alive?

And how the hell am I supposed to deal with it?

I thought I killed her. For eight years, I’ve lived in a cell built from grief and guilt, convinced that I lost her and that it was all my fault.

And now she’s here, standing in front of me, not as a memory, but as a living, breathing thing.

Trouble.

My breath catches, coming in short gasps, and the edges of panic claw at me. I should call my therapist, should try and breathe myself down,anything, but I can’t think straight.

I didn’t kill her.

A quiet sound breaks through the noise in my head—a soft meow. I blink, turning toward the bed, where Jinx is perched, her green eyes locked on me. She lets out another questioning chirp while hopping gracefully to the floor and padding toward me, pressing her head against my knee while purring softly.

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