I shook my head hard, then reached across the ward lines. “Come across,” I said firmly.
Cariocecus just stood there, blinking at my hand. Phelan grasped my shoulder.
“Leannán—”
“I know what I’m doing,” I told him, even though I didn’t. He knew it, too, but he let it go. At least this time, it seemed he’d realized that he needed to just let it go for now.
I had no doubt we’d talk about it later, though.
“Come across, Cariocecus,” I said, still holding my hand out to the amber-eyed man.
“They’ll burn me,” he said. “They have before.”
“Not if I’m inviting you across,” I said. “Take my hand. I’m letting you in.”
“You shouldn’t,” he protested in a voice that was little more than a whisper.
I swallowed the urge to swear at him. “You’re bleeding and I don’t think you’ve got any friends left besides us to patch you up again. Take my hand, dammit.”
“Listen to her,” Phelan said. “Take what she’s offering.”
“But I failed.”
“Standing at the edge of our wardings, bleeding and apologizing for whatever the hell’s left you bleeding that you couldn’t stop isn’t going to help us. You stitched up and telling me what the hell is going on will. Take my hand, Cariocecus. I’m not going to ask you again.”
He stared at me for a long moment.
He took my hand, squeezing hard.
I pulled him through the wards.
Cariocecus stumbled as he came across, eyes blinking wide in wonder, as if he hadn’t quite expected to survive the passage. He twisted, letting go of my hand once he was clear of the boundary. “That—that was strange.”
He turned back toward Phelan and I just in time for his eyes to roll up into his skull and for him to collapse in a boneless heap at my feet.
Yay! A good start to my Monday!
Good. More allies. I wonder what enemies *he* brings to the group.
He seems a bit timid to me. I wonder what’s up with that.