I have this some of the time

Isla

Nodding - because it's helpful to her, as well, to even hear Ever say something like I'm glad, as if it's proof that some kind of emotion still exists within him, Isla lets out a long, slow breath. "Then I'll keep telling you," she murmurs, clasping her hands in her lap and leaving her tea where it is on the table as though worried she'll knock it over if she reaches for it just yet.

"I know it isn't what I signed up for. But if a skyboat you were piloting crashed and you lost an arm or a leg, I wouldn't have signed up for that either. It doesn't mean I would love you any less." Isla shrugs. "The only thing that matters to me is whether you still want me to be here, in whatever capacity you're able to say so. Because if you don't, I will give you every bit of space you need."

It saddens her more than she can say to hear him compare himself to a sketch of his previous life, and gods, it takes everything in her power not to just close the distance between them. "You don't know how things might end up," she says softly. "You never had a chance to explore a relationship with anyone like this. And whether Mateo was close to finishing this quest or whether he hadn't even gotten it yet, I'd still want to stay."

sooner or later, we all have to wake
and try forgetting everything