i could be the reason you can't sleep at night
Flora’s breath trembles on the edge of Sohalia’s words, but she lets herself lean into the arm around her, lets the circles on her back ground her like the slow ticking of a clock. She doesn’t cry—she’s cried so much already, for so long—but there’s a brittle gloss in her eyes that softens at her best friend’s voice. She nods, barely, once, a little jerk of her chin that says I know even if she doesn’t fully believe it yet.
"I told him," she says, voice raw but steady. "Right before all of this, before I went to Stormbreak—I told him I wanted to marry him." Her lips twist into something that’s not quite a smile, not quite a grimace. "Not like… a proposal. I just meant that I’d decided. That it was him. That I didn’t want anyone else." She exhales, and it sounds like a confession. Her fingers twist in the hem of her dress, knuckles gone pale with the tension of it. "And now he’s gone, and I don’t know if it even mattered. I don’t know if any of it did. Because you’re right. Maybe he doesn’t understand me. Maybe he never did." Which, given his telepathic abilities, was a hell of a realization.
Her voice goes quiet at the end, cracked open by the weight of it all, and when she looks back to Sohalia, there’s no mask to soften the grief. "And to top it all off, since I assume everyone is going to want to protect Haulani using the vial of Dahlia's blood, I'll have to move out of my house and give up the Hanged Man for as long as the Family are around." Flora’s gaze drifts back to the water again, but this time it doesn’t linger. Her lashes flutter, catching the last of the light before she closes her eyes entirely. "Or Dahlia said she'd come after everyone I care about."
"I told him," she says, voice raw but steady. "Right before all of this, before I went to Stormbreak—I told him I wanted to marry him." Her lips twist into something that’s not quite a smile, not quite a grimace. "Not like… a proposal. I just meant that I’d decided. That it was him. That I didn’t want anyone else." She exhales, and it sounds like a confession. Her fingers twist in the hem of her dress, knuckles gone pale with the tension of it. "And now he’s gone, and I don’t know if it even mattered. I don’t know if any of it did. Because you’re right. Maybe he doesn’t understand me. Maybe he never did." Which, given his telepathic abilities, was a hell of a realization.
Her voice goes quiet at the end, cracked open by the weight of it all, and when she looks back to Sohalia, there’s no mask to soften the grief. "And to top it all off, since I assume everyone is going to want to protect Haulani using the vial of Dahlia's blood, I'll have to move out of my house and give up the Hanged Man for as long as the Family are around." Flora’s gaze drifts back to the water again, but this time it doesn’t linger. Her lashes flutter, catching the last of the light before she closes her eyes entirely. "Or Dahlia said she'd come after everyone I care about."
