“Not terribly tired, honestly.”
I pursed my lips. “Me either.”
Settling on top of his sleeping bag, he sipped the soup as he stared at the fire. I adjusted so I could sit next to him.
“Do you…do you remember the vampires?” I asked, barely a whisper.
He nodded. “I do. I remember traveling to see friends who lived near the Stronghold. Our mothers had been classmates and friends, and we would play together as children, and then became friends ourselves. Kita and Valsavo. Sister and brother.”
“It was different…”
“S’Kir was different. The God had not been lost. There was no temple. There was no spine. The vampires and the druids had a king. There were skirmishes between us, but they were small, and usually, resolved quickly. We made friends with the vampires and they with us. Rilen and I would get into all kinds of trouble with Kita and Val. Leaving horse pens open, spooking sheep. Getting lost in the forest, camping in the south. Swimming in the Western Sea.” He glanced at me. “Probably a lot like you and your friends when you were younger. Just with vampires.”
Chewing on a piece of bread, I thought for a moment. He seemed willing to talk, and I didn’t want to spoil that.
“So they were your friends.”
“They were all of our friends,” Roran said. He laughed ruefully. “Kita was my first bedmate. We were wicked together, and…well, at the time, the things we did were dirty and kinky.” Shaking his head, I could see real mirth in his eyes. “If she could see me now…”
“Is she still alive? Do you think?”
The mood sobered a bit. “I don’t know. She was courting another vampire, so she was in the far, far east when the Spine rose. If she didn’t take her Eternal Slumber…”
“Eternal Slumber?”
“Druids take the Drink. Hemlock, nightshade, foxglove, and apple seed essence in the vampire’s draught. We fall asleep and never wake up. Vampires are a little more… violent. They have a virulent ability to heal and resist poisons, so they take Eternal Slumber. A ritual beheading, attended by friends and family.”
“Like our Last Night celebration.”
“Not exactly, but that would be the best parallel.” Roran sipped his soup. “We were so young when I saw her last that I don’t know if she would have taken that path. I know she wanted children.”
I turned the soup jar in my hands, picking up Jallina’s habit when she was thinking. “Would you have married her?”
“I would, but not with her desire for a family.”
My heart stuttered in my chest. “You… don’t want children?”
“Very much so.”
“Then…”
He laughed and patted my knee. “Vampires and druids can’t have children together. If a mixed couple wanted children, they had to adopt, or agree to try a natural pregnancy from outside the marriage. Vampires…um. They don’t like to share.”
I chuckled. “Neither does Dorian. I thought he was going to rip Vitas’s hand off.”
Roran smirked. “Dorian does like to share. Just not outside the bedroom.”
That was very, very true. “So would you have stayed with Kita?”
“I was so young, and it was so long ago, I can’t answer that. I miss her friendship more than anything else. I miss being able to wind our way from the Western Sea to the Dawn Sea with nothing better to do than talk, sleep, eat and make friends with local residents.”
“Release the cows on the cornfield.”
The laugh was deep and honest. “Yes, that too.”
I let the silence stretch a moment before I brought up the next question.
“Do they drink blood?”
