Behind the Walls. NOVEL By Claire Darcy.

70. A Beautiful Lie.

ROWAN.

Ace stared at me for a long time, still as death. Dissecting my very core with her gaze. Every second that passed was another second of roaring anxiety.

Her lower lip quivered before she spoke. "You... have green eyes..."

I smirked a little, "Actually, I think they're kind of blue. I'd say it's just this light~"

"No," she whispered, still frozen in place, "They're aqua. Sea-green. I searched all the blue eyes I knew and none were that same colour."

"Alright," I agreed with a small smile and a shrug, "I guess I wouldn't know, anyways. I wear brown contacts. Originally, for my mother's sake. I've got my father's eyes. It enraged her to see them."

Ace only stared at me, her eyes full of tears that were yet to fall. Then she tilted her head and squinted her eyes as if she were trying to see something far in the distance.

"Whisp?" she breathed, her eyes pooling with tears. I swallowed hard, trying to hide the absolute torment that was going through my mind.

"The one and only," I smiled sadly, apathetic jazz-hands and all.

Ace stood suddenly up and backed away, stopping when she got to the wall. She was shaking her head in utter disbelief and whispering more to herself than to me.

"It's you... You're... Rowan is... It was... It was all a big trick... A lie..."

"I didn't want to lie to you, Ace, but I felt like I had no choice," I mumbled.

"But... Combat Cage?" she asked, knocking into the wall beside the second window and gripping the curtain for dear life.

"A stunt-double," I shrugged, knowing she'd seen Whisp and I in the same place at the same time, "Easy."

"W-What? But Tyler..." she whimpered.

"A red-herring; the perfect suspect," I admitted, feeling heat creep into my cheeks, "Since you already seemed to like him."

The tears in Ace's eyes rolled down her cheeks as she closed her eyes and shook her head at the ceiling. It tore my heart to pieces.

"I'm sorry, Ace," I whispered, standing up from the bed. I stood opposite her, my hands at my sides in surrender, "You hated Rowan, and I couldn't bear that thought. I couldn't stand knowing how much you despised me. And then that night... I was following Agen- I was following Bailey to find out what he was up to. And I saw you, and I freaked out, and I... You met Whisp, and as far as I could tell, you liked him. And it felt so good to be someone you liked... I didn't want to let you in on the charade and lose that. As far as I could tell, you didn't hate Whisp, and that was incentive enough to keep on the mask."

I felt a lump in my throat, and a sting behind my eyes that I hadn't felt in a very long time. I clenched my jaw and blinked a few times. Not here. Not in front of Ace. I couldn't cry now. Ace's eyes met mine, and her tears kept streaming. She seemed weak on her feet, leaning back against the wall, as far away as she could be.

"I don't hate Whisp," Ace breathed, "Never for a moment did I even dislike him. If anything I... I loved him."

But I still had to ask...

"...And now that you know it's me?" I asked, the words barely forming. I closed my eyes and braced for impact, all my cards finally on the table.

I felt like I was being seen for the first time, open to judgement, open to rejection and open to pain. This was nothing like standing unarmed in the Arena. This was a whole new level of weakness that I had never experienced.