"How could you leave it there!"
Aeric wiped the dust from his forehead, and sat back on the rocky ground with a confused expression on his face, but Alzera's fiery glare pinned him like a physical blow.
Her blue eyes flared, locking on him with an intensity that made him flinch. She was waiting for him to say something but Aeric was presently speechless.
"I asked you a question, courier!" she uttered angrily. "You plainly disobeyed me!"
"I— I don't understand?" Aeric stammered, taken aback. "Disobeyed? You were in danger. I just saved your life."
"Saved my life? Pfft!" She shot back, her tone icier than the cavern's draft. "You have no idea who I am or what I could do. My life is never truly in danger. What you did — you abandoned the beast cores. Your job was to carry them, Dagwood. Not to play hero."
