Mercedes crossed the skies in silence.
There was no escort.
No entourage.
No banners of the North fluttering in the wind, nor any formal announcement of arrival. Only an enormous wyvern with dark-blue scales cutting through the winter clouds at absurd speed, carrying on its back a woman whose presence made the very air seem heavier and colder. The creature flew with its wings stretched to their fullest, tearing across the sky as if it knew that slowing down would be a terrible decision.
The Monarch of Ice sat motionless in the saddle.
Her body remained perfectly upright, her hands holding the reins only enough to guide the mount, but nothing in her posture conveyed calm. Her face was closed, hard, almost expressionless, yet her eyes carried such profound coldness that even the wyvern avoided moving its neck too much, as if any wrong gesture might draw that silent fury.
Mercedes had received the message too late.
"Vex was kidnapped."
The sentence still echoed in her mind.
