𝘖𝘉𝘚𝘐𝘋𝘐𝘈𝘕 ° 𝘈𝘓𝘌𝘊 𝘝𝘖𝘓𝘛𝘜𝘙𝘐

[19] GILDED

"YOU SHOULDN'T FEEL SO GUILTY."

The castle garden offered them a brief reprieve from the party, a facade of privacy she hoped he stayed well aware of. He wasn't in Forks anymore, this was the big leagues, the largest gathering of vampires in decades. There was no telling who could be listening, watching them, the castle just steps away.

They would both do well to remember that.

Regardless, Jasper Hale held her gaze intently. "Carlisle wasn't just appeasing them in there. He meant it. None of us hold it against you."

A scoff escaped her before she could reign in her emotions.

He took her discomposure as an opening. He stepped forward, seizing her gloved hand in his. Passion burning in the golden eyes of a man who could not let her go. "Rory, I love you far too much to just stand aside like I'm not the reason you are in this position in the first place."

Despite her reluctance, she softened, releasing a small sigh. "What I told you before remains true. Regaining my memories didn't change my mind, it didn't change what happened to me and who I've become."

Their love has been sweet and pure, but it was all decayed now.

A nostalgic smile graced her face. "Jasper, I will always love you—"

Hope still flickered in Jasper's honey eyes. He was still so guarded, but his love for her was momentous. She was well aware he wasn't going to give up on her so easily, as futile as it would be. She'd come to accept his devotion to her would never fade. 

The sound of shattering glass interrupted her.

Their eyes shoot up toward the balcony right above them as she finished her sentence.

"—as one loves an old friend, not a brother, but someone just as important to me."

Her eyes focused on the crimson blood dripping down the side of the balcony rail. The breeze washed away any identification of their eavesdroppers, but there were few who cared enough about Rory to have such a reaction.

Fuck.

She didn't need to voice her panic, her face twisting in odd revulsion as if she were the one wounded by the words.

Thoroughly confused by her reaction, Jasper analyzed the emotions Rory was feeling with aching devastation.

Love.

Such a precious, fragile thing. To those unfamiliar with the state of being, of how love was not remain a stagnant fixation, but an unpredictable wave that crest and fell with the pull of the moon, just as a shift in a phrase, a word, a look.

It went both ways.

"You're in love with him."

Rory gave him a helpless look, one he recognized all too well. "I am," she admitted in a tender whisper.

He felt like he had been suddenly dragged under the depthless sea at the realization. They had thought her choice to leave was Rory's way of protecting the family, but Jasper didn't realize it was because she had chosen Alec.