Chapter 24: The Mask and the Root
--- Eryx wore innocence like armor. Every tilt of his head, every softened word to Kaden, every careful bow to Skyler a performance perfected over years. He whispered warnings of rogue movements with impeccable timing, just late enough to look like luck, and Skyler ever the believer in redemption allowed herself to hope. She didn’t see the way his eyes lingered on patrol routes. She didn’t hear the commands he threaded into the night wind, subtle and lethal. The rogues obeyed him not out of fear, but loyalty silent, unquestioning. Eryx wasn’t just surviving among Ironfang’s enemies; he was leading them, shadowed and unseen. Meanwhile, love in Ironfang flourished quietly, like roots growing deep under winter soil. Not with storms, not with grand declarations. In small ways shared lo
- Writer
