Under the Mask
Isabelle Lightwood is not all she appears to be.
The Isabelle Lightwood everyone saw was brave, ruthless, confident. A heart-breaker. That was how she liked to appear. But it was a lie.
She was a coward. She couldn't even bring herself to admit her own feelings. She felt like it was wrong, even though they weren't truly brother and sister. There were so many times she could have said it, said those words that always burned at the back of her throat, but she never did. Isabelle Lightwood never made a fool of herself, and she was afraid that by revealing her thoughts to her, she would become vulnerable. Rejected. And that was unacceptable.
So she continued loving, from a distance. He was so blind, oblivious to the adoring gazes that everyone gave him. Except her. She had enough strength, enough practice as a liar to lie even to herself.
She had so many chances to tell him. But after Alec told her what he felt towards Jace, she couldn't bring herself to hurt her brother.
And then Clary came along.
Isabelle didn't initially like the little redhead. She was her polar opposite- petite, innocent, shy. The lovestruck look she kept giving Jace wasn't helping either.
But Isabelle found herself drawn towards Clary after awhile, and realized that she couldn't hurt her either. And she knew that Jace would never look at anyone else ever again.
So she loved silently, like she's been doing for all these years. She longed for his golden eyes to look at her like he looked at Clary, but he never did. His eyes held love, but it was the love of a brother towards a sister.
Simon could lessen the pain. She pretended not to care about him, but she just needed someone to love her. And he couldn't even do that right.
What was the use of being beautiful if you weren't loved?