Blood Promise Page 0,76

you go with her?"

"What?" Lissa stammered. "Why would I do that? Rose dropped out. No way am I going to."

"Yeah, I suppose." Mia turned speculative. "You guys are just so close-even without the bond. I assumed you'd follow each other to the ends of the earth and figure out the details later." Mia's own life had gone through so much upheaval that she took that kind of thing in stride.

That weird, fluctuating anger I'd been feeling pop up in Lissa every so often suddenly reared its head and turned on Mia. "Yeah, well, if we were so close, then it seems like she wouldn't have left in the first place. She's the selfish one, not me."

The words stung me and clearly shocked Mia. Mia had a temper of her own, but she sat on it and simply held up her hands in an apologetic way.

She really had changed. "Sorry. Wasn't trying to accuse you of anything."

Lissa said nothing else. Since my departure, she'd beat herself up about a lot of things. She'd gone over and over things she could have done for me before or after the attack, things that might have made me stay. But it had never occurred to her to go with me, and the revelation hit her like a smack to the face. Mia's words made her feel guilty and angry all at the same time-and she wasn't sure who she was the maddest at: me or herself.

"I know what you're thinking," said Adrian a few minutes later, once Mia had led Jill away and promised to meet up later.

"What, you read minds now?" asked Lissa.

"Don't have to. It's written all over your face. And Rose never would have let you go with her, so stop agonizing over it."

They entered the royal guest housing, which was just as lush and opulent as it had been when I'd stayed there. "You don't know that. I could have talked her into it."

"No," said Adrian sharply. "You couldn't have. I'm serious-don't give yourself one more thing to be depressed about."

"Hey, who said I'm depressed? Like I said, she abandoned me."

Adrian was surprised. Since my departure, Lissa had been more sad than anything. She'd occasionally been angry at my decision, but neither Adrian nor I had seen such vehemence from her. Dark feelings boiled within her heart.

"I thought you understood," said Adrian, with a small, puzzled frown. "I thought you said you'd-"

Avery suddenly interrupted, giving Adrian a sharp look. "Hey, hey. Leave her alone, okay? We'll see you at the reception."

They were at a point where the groups had to split, girls going to one part of the lodging and guys to the other. Adrian looked like he wanted to say more, but instead he nodded and headed off with Reed and a couple of guardians. Avery put a gentle arm around Lissa as she glared at Adrian's retreating figure.

"You okay?" Avery's normally laughing face was filled with concern. It startled Lissa in the same way Adrian's moments of seriousness always startled me.

"I guess. I don't know."

"Don't beat yourself up over what you could have or should have done. The past is gone. Move on to the future."

Lissa's heart was still heavy, her mood blacker than it had been in quite a while. She managed a tight smile. "I think that's the wisest thing you've ever said."

"I know! Can you believe it? Do you think it'll impress Adrian?"

They dissolved into laughter, yet despite her cheery exterior, Lissa was still struck by Mia's offhand comments. They plagued Lissa in a way she hadn't thought possible. What really bothered her the most wasn't the thought that if she'd come with me, she could have kept me out of trouble.

No. Her biggest issue was that she hadn't thought of coming with me in the first place. I was her best friend. As far as she was concerned, that should have been her immediate reaction to my departure. It hadn't been, and now Lissa was racked with even more guilt than usual. The guilt was all-consuming, and she would occasionally transform it to anger to ease the pain. It didn't help much.

Her mood didn't improve as the evening progressed, either. Not long after the group's arrival, the queen hosted a small reception for the most elite of all visitors who had come to the Court. Lissa was quickly discovering that the queen always seemed to be hosting some party or another. At one point in her life, Lissa would have considered that fun. She