The Midwinter Solstice

Nine months had passed since the coronation at the Moonstone Citadel, and winter had returned to blanket the mountains in a dazzling crust of diamond snow. Yet unlike the grim, starved winters of Alpha Malakor’s tyrannical reign, the cold months had brought unprecedented warmth, festivity, and abundance to the Seven Territories. The granaries of Blackwood Ridge and the southern valleys were brimming with wheat, dried venison, and salted trout. Trade…