How I Met My Mates
It howled through the iron battlements, carrying the scent of ancient glaciers, frozen ash, and a strange, metallic static that made the hairs on my arms stand on end.
Below us, stretching as far as the eye could see under a starless, obsidian night sky, lay the white expanse of the Frost-Bite Continent.
I was wrapped in a sweeping winter mantle of midnight-blue wool lined with thick snow-fox fur.
Underneath, my titanium armor hummed with a quiet, continuous heat, powered by the five-fold bond thrumming softly in my blood.
The Star-Metal Crown was stowed safely in the armored command transport behind us, but the Sovereign mark on my collarbone burned through my dark tunic, casting a faint si