AllFreeNovel Stories worth discovering

The Black Citadel

Page 77

by B.A. Mchale

"I was angry because they're hurt and you were standing there."

"I was standing there because I was making sure there weren't four injured things when we were done."

The words hit harder because they were true.

I folded my arms. "I knew they were trapped."

"No. You knew they were hurt."

"I could feel the current."

"After I showed you the wire."

"That doesn't mean I wouldn't have noticed it."

"You didn't." Heat crawled up the back of my neck.

Corian stepped closer, keeping his voice low enough that the rest of the team didn't have to become part of the argument.

"This is exactly what we talked about in training. You knew something was hurt, decided that was the whole field and moved before you checked anything else."

"They needed help."

"Yes."

"You keep saying that as though it doesn't matter."

"It matters. It doesn't matter more than you."

That shut me up for half a second.

Corian continued before I found another argument. "You being able to heal them doesn't make you expendable. If something is screaming, bleeding or dying, I still need you to look at what is around it before you run in."

"I didn't run."

"You were moving fast enough."

"I stopped."

"After I ordered you twice."

The shame arrived beneath the anger.

I hated that more.

"I heard you the first time."

"Then why did I have to say it again?"

I didn't have an answer I liked.

Corian did.

"Because you decided your judgment mattered more than mine before you even knew what I was looking at."

My mouth opened.

Closed.