Afterwards Elladora would dwell upon what she had said that day and what it truly meant. She had spoken quite without thinking – a rarity for her – but, for better or for worse, she had spoken from the heart and it would be utter cowardice to backtrack at this point. It would also be a lie and she had told enough of those in her days: to Ursula, to Iola, and even to Phineas at times. Her brother, excellent though she had always considered him to be, was an aloof man who didn’t suffer fools, academics, or anything in-between lightly. For four decades she had found him all things admirable, tried to emulate him where she could without seeming like a sycophant – he would hate her for it – and she had never before questioned him and yet…
Perhaps he really had treated Ursula poorly over the years? Elladora had always thought that the only way to be married was to never see one’s spouse but her view, she would concede, was fairly skewered. Whenever she had seen her brother with his wife they both invariably looked miserable and yet with only a few kind words Ursula’s entire being seemed to have lit up from the inside and any traces of this dream that had caused her such anxiety was suddenly gone from her lovely features. She looked, for the first time in what felt like years to Ella, almost happy and the fact that it was because of something she had said was not lost on Elladora.
Merlin, when had she become so soft? And, more importantly, why was Ursula the one who had brought it out in her? Her efforts towards making people happy were usually reserved for Evalina and Sirius – Phineas didn’t need her and she didn’t care about anybody else nearly enough: at least she hadn’t cared. Apparently Ursula had scaled the wall without her noticing.
“Of course I know,” Elladora replied with conspiratorial haughtiness, leaning a little closer. “Or else I would not have wasted my time to say it.”
fabulous set by Lady <3