Really, it was maddening just how much Jaime had burrowed himself into Isabela's life. She had a facade, managed to convince the world that she didn't care about anything aside from what typical pirates should care about. She was good at pretending she was shallow, and in many ways she was. But Isabela had a bigger heart than she would ever admit to anyone. The pirate queen who had walls of stone put up around her to protect her soft heart always prided herself on never getting attached to people. Not after the hellish marriage she'd had. She refused to be tied down, and she was afraid of commitment. Afraid of letting someone see her as anything other than a shallow pirate. Yet here she was, knowing she cared a great deal about Jaime, had even admitted to such feelings to him. And she cared about what he thought about her. And she hated it, hated that he had this power over her, but she needed him in her life.
After he was inside and the door was closed, she turned and looked at him. Maker she hated the things he made her feel. Just one look at him was enough to make her ache to be in his arms, to know she was the only thing in his world. But she was proud and she would not throw herself at him in such a way. Unless he decided to say something that made her go all weak, then she might. The instant he mentioned Zevran, Isabela could feel herself getting emotional. It wasn't that she was maternal, she still firmly believed she didn't have a maternal bone in her body. The emotion was from how all of that had happened. How cruel Jaime had been to her, to Zevran. She was actually more upset about how cold he had been to Zevran than to her, she was used to such treatment. She glanced down to the floor for a few moments, trying to keep the wave of emotions from coming out. Once she had a grip on them, she looked back up at Jaime. "What I'm the most upset about is how cruel you were to Zevran. Letting that demon think she could go after him." She didn't mention about Jaime's cruelty towards her. She was confident within herself, but when it came to her opinion of herself? It was rather low. After all, she'd betrayed people she'd called friends and started a war that she ran away from. Though perhaps it all stemmed from when her mother had sold her to that oaf of a man for such a low price. After all, being treated like you were nothing more than someone else's property left its mark on you.
"I would like to avoid her if possible, yes," she responded. Cersei was not a topic she wanted to talk about. And right now, there were more pressing matters they needed to talk about. At his invitation, she went and sat down next to him. "He could have been yours. And I wish he would've been." Isabela knew all too well what it was like to hate one, or both, parents, how it could shape someone. And she wished Zevran hadn't had to know that.