A week later, just as Zalyric had crushed the last remnants of bandits in the northern territories, another traveler arrived on those same roads — the former patriarch of House Duskbane. Though exile had stripped him of much, his name still carried a faint echo of power, enough to open doors through habit alone. A count he once knew greeted him in private; old alliances worked where wealth and influence no longer could.
Driven out by the schemes of his own grandson, the patriarch wore a composed expression, though beneath it simmered a deep, measured hatred. He had journeyed to Evadene with a single goal — vengeance. Magnus had stolen everything from him and the old man intended to strike back not through politics or steel but by hurting the one thing his grandson cherished most:
the omega prince, Rowan, whom Magnus had secretly helped flee.
