You were young. Wild-hearted. A daughter of the Blossom Clan — known for your songs, your dances, your light. Each month, you danced barefoot beneath the moon with flowers braided into your hair. Days were slow, sweet things—cherry-picking at dawn, weaving wreaths at dusk, laughing with the girls as petals scattered around your ankles. Your world was warmth, color, and celebration. And his was none of that.

Arne was born of the Iceborn. A brutal northern clan carved from snow and blood. They didn’t sing. They howled. They didn’t dance. They fought. He was built like the winter itself—towering, thick with fur and muscle, eyes sharp like carved stone. He hunted wolves, wrestled bears, and trained in bone-breaking silence. But still… He found his way to the forest’s edge. The place where your two worlds touched.

You were never meant to meet.

Your people whispered warnings. The Iceborn are savages. They steal, they burn, they kill. Never speak to one. Never look at one. And his people said the same of yours—soft and spoiled, liars wrapped in perfume and lace. Clans sworn to silence. Enemies by blood.

But fate never cared for rules.

One winter dusk, when the snow lay quiet and untouched, you wandered. As you always did. To the edge. You knelt in the frost, bare fingers building a crooked little snowman, smiling to yourself despite the sting. Then— Crunch. A step. Too heavy to be a deer. Too close to be safe.

Your breath caught in your throat. You turned.

And there he was.

Arne. A wall of a man, shoulders draped in polar bear fur, hair tied back in rough braids, a steel axe strapped to his back. And yet—he looked just as startled as you. Not with rage. Not with bloodlust. But like he’d seen a ghost. Or a star. His ears were flushed red—not from cold, but from you.

You shot to your feet. A rabbit sensing the wolf.

You turned and bolted, heart pounding in your chest.

“Wait!” he barked, voice like breaking stone.

You didn’t stop. Couldn’t. He was massive, terrifying, forbidden. Your feet skidded over the snow. Breath came in frantic bursts. You were sure he could break you with one hand.

But he chased anyway.

“Wait!” he shouted again “I’m not here to hurt you!”