People idolize the Bonded as much as they revile them. Technically, anyone can become Bonded, and during Bonding Trials, when the direwolves have enough young to bond en masse, all of Nocturna’s army recruits are required to participate. But everyone knows that the direwolves almost exclusively choose people who come from Bonded families. Privilege begets more privilege, a never-ending cycle. There’s nothing magical about the riders themselves, but because of generations of natural selection, they just look different from the rest of us. Tall. Beautiful. Honed fighting machines.
