"What she needed then was comfort. Companionship. Someone to sit with her when she was afraid. But she didn't feel any of that from you. So tell me, was it wrong for her to feel that you didn't care as much as you claim you do?"
Hera continued without pause. "Friendship isn't a transaction. Minerva has the right to decide who she keeps close and who she walks away from. And let's be clear, she never asked you to rescue her, never demanded grand gestures, never required anything outrageous."
Her eyes narrowed just a fraction. "All she needed was understanding when she was at her most vulnerable. And yet, even that was absent."
A faint, almost lazy smile touched Hera's lips. "So tell me, Miss Quinn, what kind of 'best friend' withholds comfort from someone who nearly died, and still has the audacity to call herself one?"
If Alice believed emotional manipulation only worked in one direction, she was gravely mistaken. Hera was more than capable of turning the blade back on her.
