Of Empires and Dust (The Bound and The Broken, #4)

by Ryan Cahill

Tamzin looked towards the sky, then dropped to the ground, folding her legs beneath her in a single smooth motion. She gestured for Ella to sit across from her. This time, Ella obliged. “What do you know of what you are?” Ella looked at the dirt, shaking her head absently. “Nothing. Not truly. Until recently, all I’d heard of druids were stories. I still don’t know if that’s what I am, but⁠—” “It is.” Tamzin leaned across and rested her hand on Ella’s knee. “You are what our kind call a Blooddancer. A druid of the warrior blood. In millennia past, we were the guardians of the gods – Fenryr, Kaygan, Dvalin, Bjorna, Vethnir… There were more once upon a time, so many more. And as our gods died, so did we.” She squeezed Ella’s knee. “You are a druid. Simply proved by the fact that you are here. But even if that were not so, I can feel it in your soul.”