When a conqueror is at your door, you must find some way to pacify him- so she did.

I don't think Isla ever thought that Fable was a "good man." sure, she didn't know he was a god. But in her eyes, he was a man killing for his own desire, for control. Maybe she thought he'd be nicer in his marriage. But he wasn't.

As Fable said himself, he didn't know how to be a mortal man.

Fable had all of this power in his hands. The control, the loving subjects, the ruthless armies. The fact that he was the god of creation.

While Isla may have not seen the entire picture- that godhood- there was no evidence that everything would go well. All she could do was hope.

And that hope was crushed as the marriage progressed. Her talks with Enderian, the growing worry for Icarus as he sat under the influence of his father, being pregnant with Enderian's child, the things Enderian told her, the more she saw the "humanity" of Enderian and her people, then Soul, and Athena.

But even if Isla didn't know the entire picture; she still knew a bit. And she still chose to sacrifice her live, her happiness, her hope, her dreams to save her people. And then to save her son.

I think Isla would be proud of Rae. His tireless passion for discovery, his willingness to drive himself to the ground for others. But I do think she'd tell him to breathe. To ask for help. Just like she asked for help.

I think she'd hate that Icarus has fallen into Fable's hands. She knows the "love" he displays firsthand, and that's not something she'd want for Icarus. I'm not sure she'd even blame Icarus- to an extent, maybe, but moreover she would blame the man that manipulated Icarus into that.

Icarus didn't kill Haley because Enderian said so. Icarus killed Haley because he was searching for approval. Approval he never got. Not from Enderian. Not from Centross. Not from his own father.

So while Enderian may have been the vessel for blame in that situation- and she was truly at fault for a lot of it- Enderian didn't make Icarus kill Haley. All Enderian did was (accidentally) emphasize that part of Icarus that desired so much to be loved, to have approval.

But Fable's the one who put that insecurity into Icarus's head.

Not to spoil too much what happens in the next part so if you don’t want a vague idea of the first chapter then ignore this post but…

Like Rae and Centross talk about it and their feelings towards Len. They both acknowledge that it would take one death and a bit less support from those around them to turn out like Lennarius.

Even Isla has a moment where she’s like “I don’t care if killing you [talking to someone] will make me a monster as long as my child and his friends are safe.” All it would take is a death or two and grief to turn Isla, a character who has been nothing but kind and supportive to others (ignoring the point where she threatened Momboo into bringing Rae back), into a monster like Lennarius.