ISLA
Isla knows, too - that's the saddest part of it all. She knows when the parts of Everest that are truly infected rise to the surface and when his ease and wit and humour are all his own. She knows that this is a terrible idea, a cowardly idea, that it's succumbing to a future she doesn't at all believe in, not in her heart of hearts. But when all is said and done, after she's infected... well, she won't really care about that any more, will she?
And after seasons of worry, of anxiety, of going so far as to avoid the person she wants to be with, of having to sit with the idea that he's only this person at all because of the Family's influence... Isla is done. She's done with promises of a cure dashed into pieces with the destruction of some magic hotspring or rare flowers that are too good to waste on an aviator with a kind heart. If others get to be selfish and decide to use a lily or a rose on their loved ones instead of on the purple isle looming nearby, then Isla gets to be selfish and stop worrying.
"I think I'd probably prefer to meet Dahlia for the first time without having her kiss me," she says slowly, releasing Ever's hand and nodding to the nearest little island in the distance. "So perhaps we can go there and see if Vox decides to appear? I wouldn't want him to capsize the boat accidentally..."
And after seasons of worry, of anxiety, of going so far as to avoid the person she wants to be with, of having to sit with the idea that he's only this person at all because of the Family's influence... Isla is done. She's done with promises of a cure dashed into pieces with the destruction of some magic hotspring or rare flowers that are too good to waste on an aviator with a kind heart. If others get to be selfish and decide to use a lily or a rose on their loved ones instead of on the purple isle looming nearby, then Isla gets to be selfish and stop worrying.
"I think I'd probably prefer to meet Dahlia for the first time without having her kiss me," she says slowly, releasing Ever's hand and nodding to the nearest little island in the distance. "So perhaps we can go there and see if Vox decides to appear? I wouldn't want him to capsize the boat accidentally..."
apres moi le deluge
after me comes the flood
after me comes the flood
