Hello Cownose! Thank you very much for the review, I'm glad you enjoyed this book so much and left your thoughts here. I thought it would be prudent to clear up the confusion at the bottom. People are surprised to see Innerbridge alive not because they didn't know he escaped but because they simply didn't expect to encounter him at that junction/to end up being cornered by him later on. There were things said during a conversation early on with Lorenzo, Sasha and Lady Riskar that they believed there was a strong chance they wouldn't have survived the blizzard during their escape from the Tseontaeg hideout. Everyone is cognisant he's alive and Lady Riskar insists otherwise to Haraldi because, knowing how much it cost to complete that mission, she doesn't want him to doubt in her mission or her competency to deliver on it.
As for the interchanging pronouns with they, that is a natural thing I do. Often characters who are he/him or she/her end up being referred to that way through force of habit, something unfortunately missed through editing with Next Chapter and myself. Those of House Yastillot and the Kingdom of Serpents are they/them exclusively whereas everyone else abides by he/him or she/her. Hope this clarifies things a bit!
As for the interchanging pronouns with they, that is a natural thing I do. Often characters who are he/him or she/her end up being referred to that way through force of habit, something unfortunately missed through editing with Next Chapter and myself. Those of House Yastillot and the Kingdom of Serpents are they/them exclusively whereas everyone else abides by he/him or she/her. Hope this clarifies things a bit!