He had been trying to feign a small, sympathetic smile at the stricken way his brother looked at him, but as Ozymandias moved away Endymion’s mouth pulled into a proper grimace. Oh, no. He was going for the window. Looking for an escape.
He resisted the urge to sweep over and tug his brother back off the sill by force. The temptation was there, though, but felt as though this conversation was best treated with the caution of entering a yet-unscouted-tomb, full of unknown traps and curses: nothing hasty, no sudden movements.
One step closer, then, was all he allowed himself; just in case Oz made some abrupt motion, threw himself out... instead, he merely listened to his brother making excuses about the weather and the lack of tents and swallowed, feeling every bit of that excruciating desperation in his own skin. And they were family; Oz didn’t have to keep lying to save face here, in private, with Miss Pomfrey out of earshot!
“It’s not too late,” he suggested with uncharacteristic seriousness, obviously not just talking about the time of year. “And no one would think the worse of you if you changed your mind.” Well, people might think some such things about him – but it would still be far better for him and Miss Pomfrey (and their families both) if they called it off now, than actually went through with it and were miserable forever.
He resisted the urge to sweep over and tug his brother back off the sill by force. The temptation was there, though, but felt as though this conversation was best treated with the caution of entering a yet-unscouted-tomb, full of unknown traps and curses: nothing hasty, no sudden movements.
One step closer, then, was all he allowed himself; just in case Oz made some abrupt motion, threw himself out... instead, he merely listened to his brother making excuses about the weather and the lack of tents and swallowed, feeling every bit of that excruciating desperation in his own skin. And they were family; Oz didn’t have to keep lying to save face here, in private, with Miss Pomfrey out of earshot!
“It’s not too late,” he suggested with uncharacteristic seriousness, obviously not just talking about the time of year. “And no one would think the worse of you if you changed your mind.” Well, people might think some such things about him – but it would still be far better for him and Miss Pomfrey (and their families both) if they called it off now, than actually went through with it and were miserable forever.
