“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry.” Mia laughed, harsh and broken. “You’re sorry.”
“I didn’t have a choice.”
“You had a choice. You could have told me the truth. You could have trusted me the way I trusted you.” Mia finally stepped inside, letting the door close behind her. “But you didn’t. You lied to my face and used me as a prop in your ritual, and now you’re standing here with freaky gold eyes saying you’re sorry.”
Ava didn’t have a defense. She’d known this was coming. Had rehearsed explanations, justifications, appeals to necessity. None of them felt adequate now.
“You’re right,” she said. “I should have told you. I should have trusted you with the truth and let you decide whether to help me.”
“Then why didn’t you?”
“Because you would have stopped me.”
“Of course I would have stopped you!” Mia’s voice rose. “That’s what friends do! They stop you from selling your soul to demons!”
“And then my parents would still be bound. Nine generations of my family, owned by Hell.”
Mia stared at her. The anger didn’t fade, but her shoulders dropped slightly.
“So you sacrificed yourself instead.”
“I tried to. It didn’t stick.” Ava gestured at herself, at her changed eyes, at the body that had gone to Hell and come back altered. “Victor helped me argue my way free. But the cost: I still owe twenty-five years to a demon after I die. We both do. That was the price for the chance to fight.”
Mia was quiet for a long moment.
“I’m still angry,” she said finally.
“I know.”
“I don’t know if I can forgive you. Not yet. Maybe not for a long time.”
“I know.”
“But I’m glad you’re alive.” Mia’s voice cracked on the last word. “I’m so angry at you, and I’m so glad you’re not dead, and I don’t know what to do with both of those things at once.”
“You don’t have to figure it out right now.”
“Good. Because I can’t.” Mia wiped her eyes with her sleeve. “I need time. To process. To decide if I can trust you again.”
“Take whatever time you need.”
Mia nodded. Stood there for a moment, looking at Ava, at her changed eyes, at the friend who had betrayed her trust and come back different.
“Your eyes are weird,” she said finally.
“I know.”
“They’re kind of beautiful, though. In a creepy way.”
“Thanks. I think.”
Mia almost smiled. Almost.
“I’ll call you,” she said. “When I’m ready to talk more. Don’t…” She stopped. “Don’t do anything stupid in the meantime.”
“I’ll try.”
