“Hello,” I called so he wouldn’t be startled either.
Slowly turning in a circle, looking at the room, his meandering, dark amber gaze finally landed on me in the door to the remains of the common room.
“Oh.” He wasn’t startled at all. “Lady Stormbreaker. Forgive me if I don’t bow. My back is not what it used to be.”
I laughed. “I don’t stand on protocol, sir. I prefer to be called Kimber.”
His head of silver hair bobbed with respect. “Kimber. I’m… Oz.”
“Oz.” I tried the name on my tongue. “That’s an interesting name. Your skin says that you are from the East, near the Spit.”
“A bit further.” He laughed, his eyes wrinkling with mirth.
“So you’re a vampire?”
“When I want to be.” He smiled.
What kind of answer was that? I blinked and nodded. “You’re part of the rebuilding crew then. Did you travel here after the Spine fell?”
“I did,” he said. “I was curious to see what the druids were up to, as there were stories that had grown old and stale.”
“Much like the druids,” I grumbled.
Tossing his head back, he laughed. In that instant, he reminded me of King Belshazzar the way he moved his head as he let out the laugh.
“Mistress, both races have stalled in their time apart,” he offered. “But I have noticed that the druids are a bit…stale.”
“Like crackers that were left in the oven too long.”
“Overbaked. In desperate need of some butter or to be dunked in soup.”
“Oh, I’d love to dunk a druid in soup. Headfirst.”
The chuckle echoed in the mostly empty room, and I realized I had said that aloud. I sighed.
“Forgive me, that was out of line. I shouldn’t speak of my fellow masters in such a way.”
“It’s fine. We’ve all wanted to dunk someone’s head in soup.” Oz stepped out and continued his inspection of the room around us. “Will they try to save this?”
I glanced around. “I hope.”
“Didn’t this used to be a throne room?”
Shaking my head, I followed the dance of light around the walls and falls. “There have been no druid kings or queens for millennia.”
Oz’s eyes were full of shock. “No one holds the crown?”
“We don’t even have a crown in a museum for you to see. The temple masters have ruled us since the Spine rose. We have provincial councilors, governors, town councils, and mayors who either govern locally or bring their provincial concerns to the temple masters. No kings or queens.” I pursed my lips. “And if you’ll forgive me, from what I saw on the other side of the Scar? We are better off as such.”
“Nothing to forgive,” Oz answered. “The absolute mess that the vampires find themselves in sort of speaks for itself.”
He surveyed the room one more time and headed for the remains of the front door, inspecting the detailed threshold with its carvings and molding.
“Mistress Kimber, there is more inspection to be done. Thank you for your company. I do hope I wasn’t an imposition and that I see you again.”
“Of course, Mister Oz.” I smiled. “Thank you for helping us rebuild our home—I hope we don’t suffer many more attacks from the mad queen.”
“I do as well,” he said, nodding a final goodbye and stepping out through the door.
